A new challenge for coach Key
It bears repeating how much Brent Key has achieved in his short time at the program. A little short of 3 years ago Georgia Tech was looking at the possibility of the 4th 3-9 season in a row. Since Key has taken over, we have had a record of 18-16, including 6 top 25 wins, gained a top 25 recruiting and transfer class, and we have been put back on the college football map. Fans are showing up to games and excitedly cheering for a team that was on life support, and all of that is in large part thanks to Brent Key.
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Fans are often critical of any flaws they can find with their team or their coaches. Thankfully, other than the minor play calling and time management issues that plague all new coaches Brent Key hasn’t given fans much to be critical of. After all, coming out of the Geoff Collins era how much could Georgia Tech fans justifiably be upset about as long as the Yellow Jackets are winning more that 3 games. That can’t last forever though.
This year The Yellow Jackets have a lot going for them. We obviously have a ton of talent returning on Offense with Haynes King, Jamal Haynes, Malik Rutherford, most of our O-line, returning and accompanied by plenty of additional talent from the transfer portal. We have what may be our easiest schedule since the Paul Johnson era, with only Clemson and uga standing out as obvious roadblocks. It should also be noted that other than our Colorado game to start the year all of our games will either be in the State of Georgia or the State of North Carolina, so travel should not be a major issue for the team. Currently most of the team seems healthy with only a few players having injuries noted in the spring. It seems like this season is primed for GT to make a statement about our place in college football.
I have had fans already tell me they are expecting us to win the ACC this year. That’s a bit of a stretch considering where GT is currently at, but not totally unreasonable given the state of things. Personally I feel the season will be a failure if we win less than 8 games assuming the team stays healthy. winning 7 games again might be the worst possible outcome for Key. Fans are expecting big things this year and coach Key needs to deliver.
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Key has clearly shown he can win big games, UNC and Miami fans can certainly tell you. Key’s biggest problem seems to be dealing with the games most consider winnable. Louisville, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Boston College… Bowling Green; those teams that seem to catch us off guard. There are reasons for some of those loses, injuries for example, but the fact remains that winning those games is what sets apart a good coach from a great coach.
This year will be defined by how coach Key and the rest of the coaching staff can gameplan for those teams and if we can actually win those matchups. Georgia Tech has the talent, Key has seen to that, not they need to utilize that talent. This is where Key will need to prove himself.
Fans are going to start expecting more from Key. Expectations are going to keep piling up the more we win. Those kind of expectations can wear lesser coaches down, but I do believe Key views them as something he wants. Fans should expect to win games. Georgia Tech is a good program and we should expect our team to be competing with some of the best teams in the NCAA. As an O-lineman, coach Key knows plenty about lifting weight and I think he is ready to lift our expectations even higher.
How we do this year could define use for the future, as either a contender or just another ACC team happy with making a bowl game. I hope our entire staff rises to the occasion. I’m sure I’ll hear plenty of fans chirping anyway, but right now I’m just going to enjoy how far Key has lifted the program and hope he continues to do so. Go Jackets!