ATLANTA- Georgia Tech showcased a new-look defense in the annual White and Gold spring football game on Saturday, sort of. Head coach Brent Key hired Blake Gideon two months ago as his new defensive coordinator after Tyler Santucci left for a job in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens. Gideon considered a top-tier safety coach at Texas and a former NFL defensive back, had the Tech secondary looking more aggressive on Saturday afternoon.

Key said that he limited the offense to eight to ten calls and the defense had just four calls for the spring game, as the Jackets want to keep some things under wraps with a new defensive coordinator and a televised spring game.

The secondary came up with three interceptions on the day, two off backup quarterback Aaron Philo and one off three-string quarterback Graham Knowles.

Senior safety Omar Daniels had what should’ve been a pick-six that was blown dead before by an errant whistle. Daniels said his play in part happened through the things that Gideon and defensive backs coach Cory Peoples had the secondary focused on this spring.

“We’ve been preaching being hard on QB indicators to get more turnovers in the backend, so I saw the one-on-one matchup and trusted my instincts and headed over there and made a play,” Daniels said. “It is a big part of our defense right now, and he coached some great DBs at that position so he knows what it takes to get to the next level. He is very critical of what we do in practice, and he knows what it takes to get guys to the next level to the NFL. Him and Coach Peoples are really hard on us right now and are very critical of what we do and together they are really pushing us to be the best secondary in the country this year.”

Last season, Daniels moved to safety from the nickel position mid-year and improved dramatically throughout the season and he feels like the staff and the strategy that Gideon and his staff are using has helped him hit another level in his play.

“I feel like I’m playing way faster than last year and I feel like my coaches got me playing at a faster speed, trusting everybody around me to do their job,” Daniels said. “That is helping me out a lot to trust in what I’m doing and trust my teammates so I can play faster.”

Daniels, fellow safety Clayton Powell-Lee and walk-on cornerback AJ Cheeks came up with the interceptions for the Jackets. Defensive backs Zachary Tobe, Cedric Franklin, Elgin Sessions, Daiquan White, Joseph Moseley, and Powell-Lee all have pass breakups for the secondary in the game.

New nickel Kelvin Hill led all defenders in tackles in the game as well.

The Jackets mixed and matched in the secondary throughout the scrimmage as well, pairing up four-star freshman Tae Harris with Powell-Lee and Daniels with sophomore Christian Pritchett at the safety spots.

Key said he has noticed the overall improvement in the secondary throughout the spring with Gideon, Peoples and new cornerbacks coach Kobie Jones leading the way.

“We’ve really improved from the first few days and in the first scrimmage until now with getting off blocks, rallying to the ball and limiting explosives,” Key said of the secondary. “There are always going to be one-on-one opportunities at some point in the game and you’ve got to win those one-on-ones. Last week we didn’t have any turnovers and this week we had three I think we were able to get on the defensive side of the ball.”

During the spring, Key said he has seen fewer busted plays in the secondary as well and that pleases him as a former offensive line coach.

“With the secondary, all it takes is one person on the back end, like the offensive line, it is closely related, a lot of guys have to work together and one mistake is catastrophic,” Key said. “I’ve been pleased with the coaching schematically with what we are doing and I’m excited to continue to move forward with it.”

The Jackets rolled multiple defensive backs on Saturday as well, despite having projected starting cornerback Rodney Shelley along with backup safeties Troy Stevenson IV and D.J. Moore all sidelined with injuries.