Brent Key has ‘big-time football’ back at Georgia Tech. Can he sustain it?

Georgia Tech isn’t accustomed to winning football championships in the modern era, but coach Brent Key repeatedly says that’s his goal. It’s one of many things to like about Key.

If the Yellow Jackets aren’t striving to be the best, then what’s the point?

Key’s results started to match his rhetoric when Tech played Pittsburgh last season with a chance to go to the ACC title game. The fans showed up for the primetime matchup against Pitt, but the 16th-ranked Jackets didn’t.

The disappointing finish didn’t slow the momentum around Key’s program.

Tech sold a record number of student season tickets for the third straight year. Key assembled a strong group of in-state high school recruits and signed good players from the transfer portal. Tech sweetened the terms of Key’s contract.

Key and the Jackets immediately get a chance to show they are worthy of the faith. They open the season with a primetime matchup against Colorado on Thursday at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

The star power of Colorado coach and Atlanta sports legend Deion Sanders is sure to draw a big television audience, but so will Tech’s status as a legitimate program.

“To finally say big-time games and big-time football is here in Atlanta at Georgia Tech, that’s what’s awesome,” Key said. “That’s what’s really cool. Knowing the nation’s eyes are going to be on us, that is something that we embrace.

“That’s something that we’ve wanted since we started this, since we signed these games, is to be in this position to play these types of games. But now that’s the norm for our guys.”

Now comes the next, much harder step for the Jackets. Winning those games when so many of the players who helped Tech get to this level are gone. Quarterback Haynes King is at the top of a long list of key departures following last season.

The Jackets rank 119th among 138 FBS teams in ESPN analyst Bill Connelly’s offensive returning production metric (incoming transfers are included in the formula). Tech’s offensive coordinator last year, Buster Faulkner, now calls the plays for Florida.

Key said this week that his goal is to maintain Tech’s style of play “regardless of the players who are currently playing, regardless of who the coaches are.”

“Do you play with toughness? Do you play with discipline?”

Key’s teams usually do. That’s a good reason to believe the Jackets can contend for the ACC title despite the player talent drain. I also like Key’s willingness to change his approach to practices and his roster building.

Key said he made “tweaks” to the offseason player program and preseason practices. The Jackets struck a new balance between getting players ready for the season and keeping them fresh.

“I think all of those (benefits) you are really starting to see now with guys being full speed, ready to go,” Key said.

Key also focused on building depth along the defensive line. There were six tackles and edge players among the 19 transfer players signed by Tech. Key said the Jackets are now “three deep across the board” on the defensive line.

“That is something we have not ever had here,” Key said. “After the season, when you talk about how you’re going to build your roster for the upcoming year, that was a decision that I made, that we made internally.

“If we are going to continue to build our program in the way we want to build it, and we want to continue to be a program that … competes for championships every year, we had to improve with the depth on the defensive line.”

The deeper defensive line could give the Jackets more staying power this season. Defensive collapses were a common theme when they faded late in 2024 (losses in four of the final six games) and 2025 (losses in four of the last five games).

There was a time when no one would take Key seriously when he talks about winning championships. Tech has won only four championships since the 1950s: three ACC (1990, 1998, 2009) and one national (1990).

The Paul Johnson era produced mediocre results in the years following 2009, save for 2014. Tech bottomed out with successor Geoff Collins. Key quickly cleaned up the carnage left behind by Collins.

Key has brought big-time football back to Tech, but he wants more than that. Good victories and bowl games are nice. Winning the ACC is what matters.

The Jackets were predicted to finish fifth in the ACC preseason media poll. I believe that’s too high. Key has shown he’s the kind of coach who can prove me wrong.

Now he’s got to sustain it.