Everything From Georgia Tech DL Christian Garrett After Thursday's Practice

On the injuries last season and how difficult it was not being 100% healthy…. 

“I think it's just all about adapting to your role in the team. Obviously it's not what I wanted. Of course, I want to contribute in a way that could help us win. On the flip side, I'm not opposed to doing what I gotta do on the sidelines to just cheer guys on and bring a good attitude to help us win as well.” 

On being solely being a defensive tackle instead of a tweener… 

“It definitely helped me. Helped me just get better at one position and just learning one position and getting good at it. Focus on the details,  focus on getting all the little things right. So just help better my game and the team.” 

On his training on his own… 

“Yeah, I've been working with a pass rusher. His name is Marcus Howard. I've been working with him since like probably 2022, right after my freshman year of high school. He's helped my game a lot. He helped me grow. He helped me understand the small things, hands, feet, get off and just yeah, I work with him almost every weekend.” 

On being one of the older guys on the team with game experience and all the new faces in the room… 

“I mean, we've got a lot of new faces in the room. Camaraderie is gonna come. So you just have to know, be yourself, but get to know people and just adjust to becoming a leader. I'm not really opposed to being a leader. If that's the role that they want to give me, then I'm perfectly fine with doing that. So it's just everything.” 

On the mentality of the defensive line group and what he is working on… 

“The mentality of this room is fast, physical, and just violent and aggressive. That's the kind of defense coach plays, and that's the kind of defense he brought to Georgia Tech. I feel like that's a perfect fit for us. I feel like that's what we're going on. Personally, I'm working on mostly the run game from adjusting to defensive end to defensive tackle, just focusing on a 12-inch square, where to hit blocks, focus on double teams, hit pressure, feeling pressures, things like that.” 

On the aggressive style of defense this season… 

“I feel like I'm a more attack kind of player, and I feel like him coming here will definitely better my game and better help us win in the long run.” 

On how he feels about the defensive line as a whole… 

“Yeah, I feel like anytime you lose guys of the caliber of last year it's going to be hard. But I feel like this group right here, we got a lot of we got a lot of stuff that comes together and works well. So I feel like it wouldn't be too much of a change. I feel like we could definitely be better than last year. Show improvements and finish better than we did last season.” 

On the guy he most enjoys going against in practice… 

“It's a young guy, name's Kevin Peay.. We go at it all practice. We're friends. We used to live together. We used to hang out. We still hang out and everything like that. So we just go to battle every day.