JOL TV: Brent Key talks about the Jackets win over Colorado

Georgia Tech pulled off a 27-20 win at Colorado to open the 2025 season despite one of the worst opening three drives in recent Yellow Jackets history. Tech head coach Brent Key spoke to the media after the game about the win and his resilient team.

Opening Statement

“First of all, thank our fans. I mean, it was a lot of people who came from Georgia Tech out here to Colorado to cheer us on, and doesn’t go without saying how thankful the entire team and we all are for our fan support, and we want to hopefully, or we hope that continues the rest of the season. So proud of the football team, proud of these guys that, you know, we couldn’t have played worse in the first half. You know, self-inflicted errors, three turnovers in the first three drives, penalties, you know, bust on different things. You know, allowed to score early on that first drive. But, you know, we talked about playing the next play. And that’s all we talked about. We talked about, next play, next play, next play, and you know the resiliency of these guys really showed. And you got three turnovers in your first three drives. And it was real easy for everybody to start pointing fingers and talking and whatnot. You know, that’s the identity that we want to have and will continue to have. So it was a good football game. We were able to come out on top. So very thankful for that. We had a lot of work to do when we get back and get ready for the next game.”

On his team’s resilience

“No, I mean, It’s like I said, that’s why I’m proud of the fighting back and, you know, overcoming these things. There’ve been a lot of times in the past where that wouldn’t happen at all, You know, the finger pointing can start. And you know, to be 18-20, or in Haynes case 33-34 years old, it’s hard to get those guys to have that mentality and our team does. And look, There are things we gotta continue to work on and clean up but at the end of the day, that’s why it’s a team game. Aidan (Birr) had some bigs kicks that really kept us in there. And he was as confident and money on it as you could be. Got two hands on a couple of their kicks which could have been big. They both ended up floating through there, So yeah, really really happy about them. And again, you asked things you don’t know. What do you find out? Really? The first game, there’s a lot of things you don’t know. You think about it. You hope that’s the case. You hope that’s the way they’re going to play.”

On the offensive line moving around Colorado

“Yeah, I mean, that’s the name of the game. And you guys hear me talk all the time about position flexibility and position versatility. When one guy gets down, you’re not necessarily putting the next best offensive lineman, that sixth guy, the seventh guy, they’ve got, we had, eight guys. You know, seven or eight guys played on the O-line tonight. And I want to do that. I mean, you got to be able to get the guys experience and guys out there playing, They’re going to continue to improve. So proud of those guys, they had a lot of things that they could have folded the tent on and then they didn’t. (O-Line coach) Geep (Wade) done a great job getting those guys prepared, from a mental standpoint, to be able to play the next play and put those things behind and get corrections made, but it’s good to see him taken over. I thought they played very physical, especially in the run game, and they were, they were wanting to lean on those guys and impose their will, and that’s what we talked about. Body blow is going to add up and they’re going to accumulate.”

On playing a lot of freshmen and starting Dre Fuller at end

“You know, AJ (Hoffler) is banged up, and he’ll be back soon. But what leads you to play on is the fact is the production over the last four weeks, you know, and how they played over preseason camp, in training camp, we got a lot of really good young players in the football team. We’ve got experience in a lot of places, but we also have a lot of really young guys. So the more they get out there and play, the more accustomed they’re going to be. And there was plenty of things out there that happened first time, whether it’s the awareness of when a special team goes or but I don’t think the game was too big for any of them, and that’s what’s important, and that’s what we always strive for, is to we talk about closing that gap between practice.”

On the fake toss play Haynes King scored the winning touchdown on

“It’s pretty cool, isn’t it? It works. All right, yeah. It’s a play off of a play. You know, you get guys teams are playing man coverage and matching guys out of the backfield. And, you know, you run a lot of the toss, the toss, pitch stuff, and it really opens a huge seam inside for that, for the quarterback run. And that’s what happened. And, you know, I thought our guys leaned on them, you know, for the game and by the and, that’s what you want. You want guys. You want those, those accumulated body blows to add up, and also now those arm tackles don’t become, you know, they’re not getting to the ground.”

On Blake Gideon’s first game as DC

“First time playing out on new defensive scheme. And, you know, I thought leading up to the game there’s really, really good communication out of these guys. And you get in the game and that communication all sudden, the offense is going faster. Things are moving quicker. And we had some communication breakdowns early on. Had guys slip on the turf one time, and we had several times we got close to getting sacked, but it’s one of those things that defensively, you just got to bow your neck back and play the next play. I know it doesn’t sound cliche, but that is a mentality that we’ve instilled in our team of playing the next play. And Blake kept saying the same thing, and there were plenty of times in the second half where we had guys were communication errors on route or whatnot, but when they got down tight in that red zone, I thought they really bowed their necks back and played, played good football down there. Obviously, there’s a lot of things to correct.”

On the difference in the game

“Seven points. I believe seven points that was the difference. Our ability to run football was a huge challenge. Huge challenge we put on these guys up front on the O line. And we know who we are as a football team. We know what our identity is. Just want to make sure everybody knew.”