Georgia Tech players Jordan Domineck, Jahmyr Gibbs, Malachi Carter and Jeff Sims spoke with media via teleconference following their 46-27 win over Louisville on Friday night at Bobby Dodd Stadium. A sampling of their comments:
Defensive end Jordan Domineck
On his forced fumble and recovery:
"That was really more of a team effort on that because the play literally right before that when I was in, I had jumped offsides. I was in my feelings, I was really in my head. I can say that. My teammates came over, got me right, helped me get my head up, kept me accountable for my actions, made sure I knew not to do it again. And they just said, ‘You got a big play coming, you got a big play coming, you got a big play coming. Just keep it going.’
Coaches came over, making sure my head was up, making sure everybody had me right, and one thing led to another, I played the play, I did my job well and the ball just happened to fall in my hands."
On the impactful play of defensive end Antonneous Clayton in his second game:
“Antonneous definitely came out ready today. He was already on the jump from as soon as he woke up. Like, he woke up, yelling, screaming. I almost heard him at 5:30 in the morning going crazy. It’s great having him back. It’s great just having him be able to get back into the rhythm of playing football after so long, having him make a huge impact on our team with two sacks coming in there, a few tackles for loss, it’s great having him, and anybody else that’s around with us.”
On the emotions of being in a back-and-forth game:
“I can honestly say that the emotions inside of me were welling up. I was in a different headspace at different parts of the game, some good, some bad. But either way, each of my teammates were able to help me stay accountable. Whenever we saw any kind of negativity on the sideline, we’d just crowd around it. Spread the positivity. Hit it with love. Hit it with accountability. Make sure that they have their heads up. Make sure everybody does what they need to do. Make sure everybody knows that we’re needed.”
Running back Jahmyr Gibbs
On adjusting to the pace of college football:
“It’s always taken me probably two games to fully get the speed of the game and see the whole field, so I was just proud of that. O-line did a great job. The whole offense did a great job executing.”
On hurdling a defender to get into the end zone:
“I just ran a twist route on the linebacker, got open, caught it. I saw one man in front of me, so I had to do what I had to do, so I just jumped over him.”
Quarterback Jeff Sims
On no turnovers after committing 12 in the first three games:
“Our biggest thing that we’ve been preaching over these past two weeks was just protect the ball and not have self-inflicted wounds. So no penalties and stuff like that that can hurt us. I feel like us enforcing all that in practices and doing what we needed to do to stop it, it helped.”
On his progress after four games:
“I’m definitely getting more comfortable in the offense, getting more comfortable in the playbook, noticing defenses a lot better. But the the game is starting to slow down a little bit. But I wouldn’t be able to do all that without the help of my teammates. They help me in practice, go over film with me. And my coaches, any extra time that I need in the film room, they’ll be there with me to talk through it with me and stuff like that so I just think they play a big part in that, too.”
On Ahmarean Brown’s touchdown pass to Jalen Camp:
“We practice that play a lot. Sometimes – well, not sometimes – he always completes it. So I didn’t have any doubts that he was going to complete it. I really thought he was going to run it. But, yeah, Ahmarean’s got a nice arm. We’ll be throwing after practice and stuff. He swear he’s a QB, so he got himself a touchdown (pass).”
Wide receiver Malachi Carter
On practice since the loss to Syracuse:
“These past two weeks, the only thing we’ve been focusing on is how to not beat ourselves. Reduce – not even reduce – eliminate turnovers, eliminate penalties. That was our goal for this game. We got one of them, no turnovers, but we had a couple of penalties here and there. Just little things we’ve still got to clean up. The way we bounced back, I feel like we’re a great team when we don’t beat ourselves and I think a lot of people would agree with me when I say that. I see a lot of potential from us. The sky’s the limit as long as we don’t beat ourselves, and then we can have a great season.”
On playing in the rain:
“The way our team is, rain, sleet or snow, we’re going to go out there and play. We’re going to play as hard as we can. We’re going to adapt to anything. So when it started raining, it didn’t really affect us. It didn’t change the game plan at all. We weren’t worried about anything. The rain didn’t have an effect on the team at all, to be honest with you.”
