In his first days as Georgia Tech’s new football coach, Brent Key has data that would seem to confirm the support that he has from his team.
Since the end of the regular season, four Yellow Jackets players have entered their names into the transfer portal. That was tied for third fewest in the ACC, according to a tweet posted Thursday morning by the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Mike Barber, and considerably fewer than some of Tech’s competition.
Miami (15) and Louisville, North Carolina and Virginia Tech (13 each) were all in double digits. The league average was 8.2.
As of Thursday morning, Tech’s four entrants since the season ended were quarterback Jeff Sims, wide receiver Ryan King, kicker Jude Kelley and offensive lineman R.J. Adams. (Wide receiver Nate McCollum, who after the season – but before Key was named head coach – declared his intention to transfer, was not in the database.)
Players have different reasons for leaving a team. And portal activity will continue. However, the early numbers for Tech suggest that players are content to stay with the team going into Key’s tenure.
At his introductory news conference Monday, Key addressed the importance of retaining and valuing players on the roster and building a stronger team by improving those players.
“I believe in being a program that’s going to take care of their current players, and when you go out in the world of recruiting, when players see how your current team is and they see how your current team is taken care of and they see how your current team feels about everything, that’s the attraction that we need here at Georgia Tech, that we will have here at Georgia Tech moving forward in the way we build our football team,” he said.
Daily Jackets: The AJC presents a daily look at one news item about Georgia Tech athletics to start your morning.
About the Author
