Some Georgia Tech players started to get tired after competition periods during Wednesday’s practice.
Coach Brent Key was having none of it.
“(Key) was like, ‘No, you’re staying in,’” quarterback Haynes King said. “‘Let’s go. We’re finding out about each other right now.’”
The Yellow Jackets are embracing tough competition periods as one way to overcome their consistency woes. Tech has scored 93 points in its first halves this season, but just 70 in second halves. Several of their losses — including Saturday’s upset against Bowling Green and the season-opening loss to Louisville — came after holding significant early leads.
This trend is a focus for Key, who wants to ensure his staff makes necessary adjustments to help players succeed the entire game.
“I’m worried about the way they come out and sustain, they finish, they play four quarters, they play the second half as good or better as they did the first half,” Key said.
After Saturday’s loss, some players mentioned adjusting their mindset at halftime as one remedy for inconsistency.
Safety Clayton Powell-Lee said Wednesday that players need to be mentally prepared for anything that could happen, in addition to trusting each other.
Mental toughness has been a focus for Tech this season. Powell-Lee said he feels being mentally tough stems from being coachable and learning from hard times in practice. Difficult practice conditions can make games feel easy, he said.
The Yellow Jackets are placing an extra emphasis on mentality this week, however.
The competition periods have become more competitive lately, King said. The losers will have to do drills like up-downs or sprints, he said, and players never want to be stuck doing the punishment.
Players said the competition periods haven’t been easy. Key sometimes adds on extra periods, which ups the stakes and challenges players mentally.
“When you hear ‘competition,’ you’re like, ‘OK, I’ve got to get back in that mindset,’” Powell-Lee said. “‘I’ve got to be ready to play ball.’ If you’re tired, you’ve still got to be mentally there.”
However, King said he feels accountability is more important to consistency than players’ mindsets. The closer players are, he said, the better they can keep each other in check and challenge one another.
“Every now and then you’re going to have a day (like), ‘I feel sick,’” King said. “‘I feel tired.’ But that man next to me, he’s not going to let me lay down.”
King, in his first year with the program, said he tries to be a leader during practice. He doesn’t want to just be vocal, which he said sometimes means speaking without a message. King said this his version of leadership is telling teammates they’ll do better next time or being honest when things are going wrong.
Working toward consistency has been a big focus for the Yellow Jackets over the past couple of weeks, King said. From focusing on accountability to upping the competition, he said he feels like the team is ready to execute change.
“We’ve been working extremely hard — just keeping the foot on the gas pedal, not letting up,” King said. “We’re dead serious right now. We’re trying to change something.”
About the Author
