TAMPA, Fla. — The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will play in their first bowl game in five years when they take on the University of Central Florida Knights Friday in the Gasparilla Bowl.
Channel 2′s Alison Mastrangelo has been reporting live from Tampa throughout the week on Channel 2 Action News about Tech’s preparations and bowl atmosphere experience.
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Coming into the Gasparilla Bowl, Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key has connections to both programs.
Key played four years at Georgia Tech and took over his alma mater last year. But he also spent more than 10 years as an assistant coach at UCF.
How is handling the emotions and history between the two schools?
“This is the next game on our schedule. This is the next opponent on our schedule. Do I have a history with the school? Did I spend 11 or 12 great years of my life there? Yes, I did. I met my wife there. You’re talking about a big part of my life spent in Orlando,” Key said. “But that’s a long time ago. Where I coached in the past has zero implications on this football game.”
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As for the players, the Yellow Jackets haven’t played in a bowl game since 2018; however, two players on their current roster were also on the 2018 roster.
Running back Dontae Smith and defensive back Jaylon King were redshirt freshmen when Georgia Tech played in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit.
While they didn’t play in the game, Smitha and King did experience the bowl game environment. The pair are doing everything they can to get one more win by wearing a Georgia Tech uniform.
“As a freshman, I appeared in three games and didn’t really do much. I was there enjoying the experience. But this year, actually playing in all 12 games and contributing to those wins to get us here is the biggest difference for me,” King said.
King and Smith admitted that it hasn’t hit them yet and that it will be the final game. They said they hopefully will be too busy celebrating a bowl win to think about it.
The Gasparilla Bowl kicks off at 6:30 p.m. at Raymond James Stadium.
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