Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets season preview 2014: Offense
August is winding down, and with that in mind (especially in Georgia), many eyes are starting to turn toward college football. Here at ATL All Day, we’re doing the exact same thing and today we’re going to take a look at the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the offense that they will put on the field in 2014.
There are going to be many changes with personnel in this year’s offense, but since Paul Johnson is still coaching the team, we can look forward to seeing more of his flexbone triple-option. And this season, Johnson is going back to the pure basics of the option, simplifying it and getting rid of the “hybrid” offense that it turned into with Vad Lee under center.
Without going into the many different pros and cons that come with running an option offense (that should be an entire seperate post), let’s jump into the main position groups.
Quarterback
The quarterback position is going to be the most interesting to watch this season, as last year’s starter Vad Lee transferred to James Madison, claiming that the option wasn’t ever really for him. Lee is clearly a talented athlete, but struggled to pass with much efficiency and was the worst rushing QB under Johnson at Tech.
With Lee moving on to a more traditional offense, Justin Thomas is poised to become the starter. He had quite a bit of success running the offense last season, averaging 7.1 yards per carry and throwing for a higher percentage than Lee (albeit with many less chances). Running could definitely be a big strength for Thomas–he was a 100-meter track champion in Alabama–but he’ll need to improve his passing ability if he is going to make this offense a significant threat.
If Thomas doesn’t work out, Tim Byerly is waiting quite eagerly on the sideline to step in and take over. The redshirt junior has impressed coaches in training camp, and while he might not be as explosive as Thomas, he seems to be a pretty safe back-up.
Running Backs/Wide Receivers
The departure of Robert Godhigh, who was dynamic in both the run and passing game, and leading rusher David Sims will be a huge loss for the Yellow Jackets in 2014, but they still have a group of capable and potentially explosive playmakers to work with here.
To start with, 6-foot-3 wide receiver DeAndre Smelter is back for his senior season after being targeted 43 times last season and leading the team in that category. Smelter was almost exclusively used as a wide out with Tech last season and there’s no reason to assume that will be different this year. In 2013, he caught 21 passes for 345 yards and scored four touchdowns.
At “running back”, the Jackets might not have one or two standout players like they did with Sims and Godhigh last season, but the stable of Zach Laskey (485 yards, 5.8 YPC), converted QB Synjyn Days (93 yards, 4 TD), Broderick Snoddy (150 yards, 6.3 yards per carry), B.J. Bostic (7.3 YPC), Deon Hill (9.2 YPC), and Charles Perkins (8.8 YPC) is an extremely deep and impressive group of experienced athletes. Someone from this group will certainly take a big step forward this year, and if not, they should still be impressive collectively.
Offensive Line
There have been significant departures at both of the previous two position groups, but neither of them will be going through as much as the offensive line from a personnel standpoint.
First-Team All-ACC guard Shaquille Mason is back for his senior year, and will be the key player on the line, but three starters from last year won’t be back (Will Jackson, Jay Finch and Ray Beno), which means the line is going to be fairly inexperienced.
Offensive line coach Mike Sewak has been impressed with his group of centers and Chris Griffin at right tackle, but he’s still wanting to see more from the left side of the line. Ken Sugiura, of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, talked with Griffin and had many different notes from the conversation.
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In closing, this looks to be an extremely interesting year for Georgia Tech. There are many, many changes across the board on the offensive side of the ball, and any time a new quarterback is charged with running Paul Johnson’s offense things get interesting. As much as I’ve complained about the option in the past, I think it’s a great move to go back to a traditional option offense for the exact same reason as Johnson.
He said this in Stan Awtrey’s story with The Macon Telegraph:
"“We’ve gotten back to the basics on offense, and we’re much better at what we do,” Johnson said. “The kids have worked hard. We’re only running seven or eight plays, and they’ve gotten pretty good at it.”Johnson stressed the return to his fundamental offense in the early days of the preseason when he said, “You can’t run three different offenses and be good at any of them.”"
Stay tuned throughout the season for extensive coverage of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and keep an eye out for part two of our preview series, when we profile the defensive side of the ball.