With seven wins, a bowl victory and a winning season in 2023, Georgia Tech undoubtedly set a solid foundation for itself going into 2024. And while the blueprints may already been have designed as early as 2022, during Brent Key’s eight-game stint as the program’s interim coach, the molding of Tech’s turn in the proper direction truly began over the past four months.
The results of ‘23 now set higher expectations and heavier pressure for what’s to come in ‘24. Key’s squad should be able to move up the ACC pecking order given its returning offensive talent, and the Yellow Jackets no longer should be satisfied with simply making a bowl game.
Immediately following Tech’s 30-17 win over Central Florida on Friday in the Gasparilla Bowl, the Jackets seemed already aware that more will be asked of them in the coming months.
“We know we can make a change. It’s all about the change,” defensive tackle Horace Lockett said. “We’re building a good culture here.”
Key, now 11-10 overall and 9-6 in ACC games as Tech’s coach, praised his 2023 team for its ability to defy odds (both literal and figurative) throughout the season. The Jackets were underdogs in nine games this past season and won five of those matchups.
In October, however, Key declared teams being labeled as favorites and underdogs were terms that were, “made up,” and, “fabricated.” He changed his tune after Friday’s bowl victory.
“I hope we’re underdogs every game from now on,” he said. “It’s one of things that I think that’s what Georgia Tech is. Georgia Tech’s a school of people that work, it’s a school of people that it teaches you how to figure things out, it teaches you how to solve problems, it teaches you to keep pushing ahead. I talk to these guys all the time about you can’t do anything about what’s in the past except for learn from it. You can’t do anything about something in the future except prepare for it.”
Tech’s preparation for the future has begun – and that future has a chance to be awfully bright.
The Jackets return star quarterback Haynes King, running backs Jamal Haynes and Trey Cooley, wide receivers Eric Singleton, Malik Rutherford, Christian Leary and Dominick Blaylock (among others), tight ends Avery Boyd and Brett Seither and, perhaps most important, four of the offense’s five starting offensive linemen in Ethan Mackenny, Joe Fusile, Weston Franklin and Jordan Williams.
It’s a unit led by co-offensive coordinators Buster Faulkner and Chris Weinke, running backs coach Norval McKenzie, offensive line coach Geep Wade and wide receivers coach Josh Crawford – all of whom still are on Key’s staff.
The defense? Well, that’s where Tech has work to do.
Key moved Andrew Thacker from defensive coordinator to linebackers coach Oct. 1 and then moved Thacker and cornerbacks coach Travares Tillman into off-field roles after the regular season. That means Key will have to hire two full-time replacements for Thacker and Tillman while also deciding if Kevin Sherrer, the team’s linebackers coach who filled Thacker’s original role, is the right coach for the job.
Tech couldn’t stop the run in 2023, had major issues getting off the field on third down and allowed nearly 30 points per game. It was a defense that included defensive end Kyle Kennard and defensive back Kenan Johnson, who have transferred out, and linebacker Paul Moala, safety Jaylon King and cornerback Myles Sims, who are out of eligibility.
It would stand to reason that even a marginal defensive improvement coupled with an offense that should be just as good, if not better, could make the Jackets a serious force to be reckoned with in the ACC. But Tech’s schedule is no cakewalk.
Eleven of Tech’s 12 opponents next season made a bowl game in 2023. The Jackets open with defending ACC champion Florida State in Dublin, Ireland, play Notre Dame at Mercedes Benz Stadium, have road trips to ACC runner-up Louisville and arch-rival Georgia and home games with Duke, North Carolina State and Miami – all of which won at least seven games in 2023.
Key said there will be plenty of time to discuss those matchups in the near future. For now he and his staff and his team will get back to work continuing to construct a new era of Tech football.
“We challenge each other to come in every day and do the absolute best we can do, be the absolute best we can be, be the best version of ourselves individually, collectively as a team and work as hard as we can,” Key said. “We tell ‘em not to look at the scoreboard when we’re down. Why am I gonna tell ‘em to look forward a year to what we might be? It doesn’t make any sense.
“We’re gonna enjoy this. We’re gonna enjoy the holidays with our family. But then we’ll be back in January, and it’s a new team. It’s new goals, it’s new aspirations, it’s new camaraderie in the locker room and we’ll start it over again.”
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