Don’t expect the Yellow Jackets to take selfies at the top of the Guinness Storehouse or the Cliffs of Moher.
“This isn’t about going on a vacation or going to a bowl game,” Georgia Tech coach Brent Key told 680 The Fan on Wednesday. “This is about going to work, and we’re going over there to play a football game, to win a football game.”
Key’s team didn’t have any open practices or media availabilities this week as it ramped up the focus toward the Aug. 24 opener at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Kickoff is scheduled for noon, and the game will be televised by ESPN.
The Jackets have trainied nearly a month for the matchup, a highly anticipated showdown between the ACC’s defending champions and a 2024 College Football Playoff contender against a program yearning to reach those type of heights in the not-too-distant future. The unique circumstances of the contest, in which both teams must cross the Atlantic Ocean to play in what typically is a soccer and rugby stadium (and in cool, damp weather), has only added to the peculiarity of the fixture.
Tech’s second-year coach, however, is trying to guard against using the international aspect of the game as any sort of excuse.
“We can’t make more of that than it is. We really can’t,” Key said. “Do we have all the things in line as a staff, from recoveries to hydration to nutrition, in place? Yeah, we do.
“These are 20-year-old guys. As coaches I think sometimes we can fall in that rat trap of trying to overthink things, as opposed to just letting them be who they are and letting their bodies naturally accommodate to it.”
Before departing Atlanta on Wednesday and arriving in Dublin on Thursday, when the Jackets will practice at Aviva Stadium, Tech has only a couple of more workouts on campus to lock down its game plan. Key said devising a strategy against a team that has a new quarterback and a lot of new names in crucial positions is equal parts a study of personnel and scheme.
Key also added that preparation for the first game of the season will be more about how the Jackets execute and how quickly they can unearth their own identity after the game starts. Immediate adjustments then become crucial as the clock ticks away — and when the clock runs out, Key said he’ll be satisfied if he has seen his team display the brand of football they showcased for much of the latter half of the 2023 season.
“Our whole goal, my goal as the head coach, is we prepare the right way, we practice the right way, we go over there and we play the game the right way,” Key said. “We play physical, we finish, and when the scoreboard hits 0:00, then we’ll look up at some point and see what happens. But we’re going over there to get into a fight.”
King named to two more watch lists
Tech quarterback Haynes King added two more honors to his list of preseason accolades this week when he was named to watch lists for the Manning Award and the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. Both awards honor college football’s top quarterback.
King — who previously was named to the watch lists for the Maxwell Award (national player of the year) and Davey O’Brien Award (top quarterback), and placed fifth in voting for ACC preseason player of the year — accounted for 3,729 yards of total offense (2,842 passing, 737 rushing) and 37 touchdowns (27 passing, 10 rushing) in his first season as the Jackets’ starting quarterback in 2023.
King was one of only two Power Five conference players with at least 2,800 passing yards, 700 rushing yards, 25 touchdown passes and 10 touchdown runs in 2023. He became only the fourth ACC player since 2000 to reach those plateaus in a single season.
The winner of the Manning Award will be announced following the conclusion of the College Football Playoff in January, while the recipient of the Unitas Award will be presented Dec. 6 in Baltimore.
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