2022 Spring Game

[LargeFO]

I'm assuming he is trying to make it like a hostile crowd for the players where they can't hear let alone you and I

Yea but that’d be more crowd yelling than teach me how to dougie.

 

[tmhunter52]

I haven't had a chance to watch this yet but if our second string defense is significantly worse than our first string defense which will likely be pretty bad this year then holy cow, what are we doing on that side of the ball?

Thankfully, Coach Collins is getting really involved with the defense this year!

 

[LargeFO]

The Ends got some good pressure, but not sure if that’s good with relation to the OL. Tchio sat it out.

 

[LargeFO]

Keion looks promising if he can stay out there.

 

[danny daniel]

Defensive backfield looks good. Blackstrain showing out, slot backs fast!

Blackstrain and PJ looked very good. The small fast guys made several plays but their catching needs some work. Freshman Moore looked good. Not much production from the TEs. DBs were giving much closer coverage but did not win the 50/50 balls. Agree with too many wide and high snaps. Some fumbled should have been caught. Gibson was more consistent than Sims and generally made quick decisions and got rid of the ball quick. Sims looked good early but later fell into the holding the ball too long. Field goals were a good news/bad news: We made them but had to kick because we bogged down in the red zone. Its really hard to judge the O when the QBs are two hand touch and you do not know if they could escape the pocket or not. Overall not very interesting since there was really no game. There were participating players out there not on the latest published roster.

 

[GTLorenzo]

I stand by my comment in general and specifically for the game last night.

Regarding the game last night.

1. It took me an hour to get there from Dunwoody. Not unexpected, but not wouldn't have happened on Saturday afternoon.
2. Myself and many others got to Peters and were forced to turn left from Fowler Street and had to work all around east campus to get back toward parking. Should've had someone by the baseball field or at Alexander telling people to park there. Blew 20 minutes working my way back to Klaus and trying to find the last available spot.
3. No concessions open in the East stands so had to go to North stands.
4. My guess at attendance is around 2,500? I could be low, but that's how it looked. I saw just about as many people outside the stadium at band parties as in the stadium. See my prior post with the picture of the banner from SAE fully supporting the team's ability to win a game.
5. Music was too loud.
6. It was really nice to hear the band play on the few occasions they did play.

Seemed like a lot of opportunities missed as is typical. So maybe it wasn't the day or time necessarily, but just our poorly run AA.

I just think it would have been much better on a Saturday. But I disagree with most everything done by our AA and football coach recently.

 

[alagold]

The good and bad on TV
Good--FINALLY got to see a little of new players even though not a real "game"--WRs Blackstrain and true Fr DJ Moore look to be positives, Fr RB Martin looked like a load, new tranfer QB has a accurate arm, the 1st unit DBs seem to be more aggressive but 2nd unit looked lost sometimes
Bad--we had problem with poor snaps-a HUGE potential problem, Sims didn't look that good considering all the spring hype and "no-tackle QB " rule - some of that was on the Oline which didn't impress ,our run game esp was lacking vs our powerful #1 def, didn't get to see throws to new TE although saw several new formations with 2 TEs

 

[first&ten]

I'm a big Dontae fan, he also had a good interview during the telecast. My concern though is more that it did not appear to me that the OL was able to get any significant push on our DL.
If our RB's are constantly getting hit at or behind the line of scrimmage that is going to have a big negative impact on the run game and offense in general.

I definitely have concerns that our OL could be worse than last years, but we won't know either way until we start playing games in the fall.

Please don't say that!!

 

[Tadams6599]

Watching sims fumble the snap on that first series brought back memories

 

[GTBandit22]

Thoughts:
-Our OL might be even worse than last season. Sims is your starter because we need to run the ball. I agree with the commentators, we will need to make the zone read even more central to the offense. Problem is, Sims missed reads there too.
-sims still looks unsure in the pocket, and throws into coverage when pressured. Not a good look for a third year starter behind a weak OL.
-liked the physicality of Martin, Haynes, Blackstrain. Good young guys there.
- first team D looks physical, second team does not. Paper thin there.
-liked the use of TE more.
-I don’t like K Walker at corner. Doesn’t look to have the fluidity needed. He looks like a FS to me all the way.

I’ll be there watching, but with our OL we will have a tough row to hoe. If we can keep injuries out of the front 7, maybe our D can keep us in it.

 

[awbuzz]

Good summary by that AJC, imo...

Observations from Georgia Tech’s spring game

Staged at an date earlier than usual and on an atypical day, Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins offered fans a spring game that in and of itself was a little different, too.

www.ajc.com

 

[Techster]

I watched about 2 drives each for both 1st and 2nd teams before flipping the channel to the Tourney.

Sims is clearly the most physically talented of the two 2 QBs that played. He's got an NFL caliber arm, and he has athleticism we need to use. The ball just comes out of his hands differently than we've had at QB in a while. However, it seems he holds on to the ball too long, or he's indecisive beyond his first read. I thought that would be a problem with a new OC. He's only had about a month of work in the new offense, so hesitation and indecisiveness isn't suprising.

Gibbs doesn't have the physical talents Sims has, but he throws a VERY good ball. He knows where to put the ball for the receivers. I see that he's getting dinged for playing against the 2nd string D, but I think you need to give him credit for taking what's there, and getting the ball there. How many times have we seen wide open receivers the past few seasons get overthrown or we just missed the read altogether? Gibbs got the ball to the open guy, and threw the ball where the receivers could make a play. That counts for something.

The first team OL seemed pretty porous...either that, our 1st team front seven is a LOT better than we thought. I tend to think our OL needs a LOT of work.

Didn't pay too much attention anywhere else really. I very little desire to watch the entire "practice" when it's the first day of March Madness.

 

[jayparr]

As of now, 7 on 7 with no lines on either O or D.

lol

 

[jacketup]

Thoughts:
-Our OL might be even worse than last season. Sims is your starter because we need to run the ball. I agree with the commentators, we will need to make the zone read even more central to the offense. Problem is, Sims missed reads there too.
-sims still looks unsure in the pocket, and throws into coverage when pressured. Not a good look for a third year starter behind a weak OL.
-liked the physicality of Martin, Haynes, Blackstrain. Good young guys there.
- first team D looks physical, second team does not. Paper thin there.
-liked the use of TE more.
-I don’t like K Walker at corner. Doesn’t look to have the fluidity needed. He looks like a FS to me all the way.

I’ll be there watching, but with our OL we will have a tough row to hoe. If we can keep injuries out of the front 7, maybe our D can keep us in it.

A rare intelligent post on GT Swarm. Thank you.

The starting OL looks worse than the starting OL at the beginning of last year before the injuries hit. That's not a total surprise since we have 4 new starters. An OL needs time to play together to gel. Between grad transfers and injuries we haven't had a group that has played together for any length of time in the last 3 years. Going into the 2021 season the staff only had 2 years to recruit OL since we had no suitable OL commits when they took over (and no tight ends).

The bright side of this group (plus Tchio) is that they all have at least 3 years of eligibility, and they aren't true freshmen. This OL group can be good enough in time, but staying injury free is critical. As we saw last year, we have no depth. With Minihan, Cochran and Johnson checking out, it's worse this year.

The D underperformed last year relative to talent moreso than the offense. I have hope that we will see improvement this year. Getting Biggers and Meiguez back for the fall will shore up depth on the D. But as with the offense, we aren't deep at some positions.

I agree with your comments. The talent at CB is less than what most fans believe, which is probably why KW is there. Swilling would not have played as much, due to issues other than his talent, if they had anyone else to put there.

 

[jayparr]

If the head coach for at least 2 consecutive spring games have to use a good bit of a practice and some game like 2 hand touch then the team is not getting good practices at all! And the music NO GOOD PERIOD!!!

 

[Techwood Relict]

This OL group can be good enough in time, but staying injury free is critical.

I don't know how many guys played on the line the last two years, but it seems like a lot; which in turn affected continuity. I have no idea of this lines ceiling, but their floor will be much higher if they can play together for a time. OL health may be a big influencer for the second half of our schedule.

 

[takethepoints]

I didn't go and spring "games" always suck. Full stop.

 

[BuzzDraft]

I'm a big Dontae fan, he also had a good interview during the telecast. My concern though is more that it did not appear to me that the OL was able to get any significant push on our DL.
If our RB's are constantly getting hit at or behind the line of scrimmage that is going to have a big negative impact on the run game and offense in general.

I definitely have concerns that our OL could be worse than last years, but we won't know either way until we start playing games in the fall.

So Red, you're describing our OL vs. our DL as "a stoppable force meets a movable object".

yikes.

 

[stinger 1957]

I can't tell much with the trenches when we are playing ourselves, I like what I saw with Gibson more than what I saw with Sims. Lot more new type players and less old. Came away thinking they are short a really good inside runner. How does it translate, have no idea.

 

[bobongo]

Sims is clearly the most physically talented of the two 2 QBs that played. He's got an NFL caliber arm, and he has athleticism we need to use. The ball just comes out of his hands differently than we've had at QB in a while. However, it seems he holds on to the ball too long, or he's indecisive beyond his first read. I thought that would be a problem with a new OC. He's only had about a month of work in the new offense, so hesitation and indecisiveness isn't suprising.

That's an old problem that is likely exacerbated by the new offense. Some new OC coaching can fix it, maybe. If not, we need to go in another direction.

And I wasn't there, but Zach Gibson looks to be the answer if he can get the ball to the receivers accurately and in a timely manner.