In June, the NCAA Division I Council approved a rule change to permit staff members to provide tactical and technical instruction in the sport of football. In simpler terms, anyone outside a team’s 10 full-time assistant coaches can now get on the field and coach ball.
For Georgia Tech, that means guys like former North Gwinnett High School coach Bill Stewart (a senior defensive analyst and recruiting specialist), 37-year coaching veteran Tim Salem (a senior football advisor) and 23-year coaching veteran Allen Mogridge (also a senior football advisor) can jump right in and teach. Tech coach Brent Key said he certainly is using this new rule to the program’s advantage, but is intentional in delegating responsibility.
“It’s very detailed with what each person does. Everybody has a job to do. It’s up to each individual coach to do that job,” Key said. “As long as everyone stays in their box and does their thing, does what they’re supposed to do, we have a chance to have success and take advantage of it.
“But as soon somebody gets out of their lane and starts trying to coach somebody else, now you’ve got one kid, or a freshman for that matter, whose got three different things coming at him from three different people and it’s all different. You’re not gonna progress that way. We’re not gonna have 20-25 guys out here running around coaching telling guys what to do.”
Key added that while staffers like Mogridge, Stewart and Salem, among others, have a wealth of knowledge, experience and ability when it comes to coaching, the day-to-day roles for which each was hired doesn’t change.
As for the younger members of the staff, Key isn’t asking them to provide much on-field coaching — if any.
“Some guys work with a lot of the breakdowns and scouting reports, they help put practice together. They’re not ready to coach yet,” Key added. “I’m not gonna have everybody go out there and say, ‘Let’s have everybody try to be Vince Lombardi.’ We’re not trying to do that.”
Knocking on wood
As preseason practice started this week, the Yellow Jackets are likely as healthy as they are going to be all season. That’s not all necessarily by chance, Key said.
As the former offensive lineman begins his second full season as Tech’s coach, Key explained how the program continues to rely on the information available in order to keep players as injury-free as possible.
“Going into the second year, you really have a full range of data on everybody. We do a lot with the sports science and have been afforded the resources to be able to implement that into our program in the things we do. We track everything, we monitor everything.
“As the summer got here this year, we were able to make tweaks and changes to be able to let us get here, and really the last 10 weeks of summer really simulate what preseason is, so we’re able to train throughout the summer with that same load that we’ll have in preseason. It has helped us a bunch.”
Next QB up (one day)
Tech’s quarterback two-deep is set virtually in concrete, with returning starter Haynes King and backup Zach Pyron still with the program. But Tech has four other quarterbacks on the roster fighting this fall to be the No. 3 signal-caller, a vital spot on the depth chart should the Jackets ever find themselves in the position to have to rely on their third-string QB.
“This year, you’re bringing in two young guys, (freshmen) Aaron Philo and Graham Knowles. The best thing about them is they’re really smart,” Tech offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner said. “They’re really competitive, everything that you want right there. They study the game. Got a great coach (Chris Weinke) coaching them, which that helps out a lot.
“The biggest thing for us is we’ve got to have somebody else ready to play, so those two guys are really battling for that third spot right now. We have to have somebody prepared to play, and that’s what we’re doing right now with those guys.”
Philo (6-2, 215), the Georgia record holder for career passing yards during his time at Prince Avenue Christian, was getting reps as the No. 3 quarterback during Wednesday’s practice, Tech’s first of the preseason. Knowles (6-7, 220) came to Tech from Southlake Carroll in Texas, where he threw for 3,195 yards and 21 touchdowns as a senior.
Longing for game day
Kickoff is right around the corner, at noon Aug. 24, but it can’t come soon enough.
Tech linebacker Kyle Efford admitted to that sense of longing when asked Friday about his team’s matchup with Florida State in Dublin, Ireland, which is now less than a month away.
“Right now we’re just coming out hot, a fire is lit up under us, we’re ready to play, we wanna to play,” Efford said after the Jackets’ third practice of the preseason. “It’s kinda been building up since the summer. We’re at that point now where we’re kind of in that gray area where we want it to be that time. It’s time to go to work.”
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