2023 Fall Practice Notes

[iceeater1969]

First 2 good teams have offense full of rs senior transfers. Bend and dont break is not Thackers style.

Last year the good LB s made amazing plays. Tatum has had a year so....
Let the Jackets run loose.

 

[Root4GT]

Nothing is impossible! Unless you watched White, many didn’t foresee a 2nd rd pick. If you are into the advance analytics, Sylvain avg numbers were comparably or better than White, he just has stay healthy.

Same for LB, we lost guys and replacing them talented guys who has seen significant snaps. Appears Tatum is penned in as 1 starter now you need one more to pair with him out of the group White, Oliver, & Moala(?).

Anything is possible. Still losing 3 top defenders on a below average defense is concerning. It’s all about how well the DL plays. I have real concerns. Hope I am surprised. We should know a good bit after the first game.

 

[Ibeeballin]

Anything is possible. Still losing 3 top defenders on a below average defense is concerning. It’s all about how well the DL plays. I have real concerns. Hope I am surprised. We should know a good bit after the first game.

Where you getting this below avg defense from?

Did we stop using FEI over since the option left?

 

[danny daniel]

Anything is possible. Still losing 3 top defenders on a below average defense is concerning. It’s all about how well the DL plays. I have real concerns. Hope I am surprised. We should know a good bit after the first game.

We have a new DL coach which may make a difference. We have quality depth and size. We have 5 returning DEs wih significant playing time. We have 5 returning DTs, 3 with significant playing time, one proven good in games at pass rush, and one giant R-Freshman looking promising. In addition we have two significant transfers coming recommended. We are in way better shape than normal andI believe the DL is in position for a good season.

 

[Root4GT]

We have a new DL coach which may make a difference. We have quality depth and size. We have 5 returning DEs wih significant playing time. We have 5 returning DTs, 3 with significant playing time, one proven good in games at pass rush, and one giant R-Freshman looking promising. In addition we have two significant transfers coming recommended. We are in way better shape than normal andI believe the DL is in position for a good season.

Could be but I will need to see it to believe it. We have been very bad pressuring QB and stopping the run for years. Hope you are correct. The Louisville game will show us what we have.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Avoid injuries and keep the defense off the field. Elementary I know, but our defense has played too many downs the past 3 seasons. Quick 3 and outs give me ulcers.

 

[TechPhi97]

Where you getting this below avg defense from?

Did we stop using FEI over since the option left?

Our offense is where the worry needs to be, for sure. Last year we were 41 in defense and 112 in offense.

 

[Root4GT]

Our offense is where the worry needs to be, for sure. Last year we were 41 in defense and 112 in offense.

We were 84th in scoring defense and 85th in total defense.

2022 NCAA Statistics

 

[GaTech4ever]

Could be but I will need to see it to believe it. We have been very bad pressuring QB and stopping the run for years. Hope you are correct. The Louisville game will show us what we have.

Not to derail, but the Falcons are giving similar vibes. I just can’t buy into believing in a solid D (specifically pass rush) until I actually see it.

 

[Buzztheirazz]

We have a new DL coach which may make a difference. We have quality depth and size. We have 5 returning DEs wih significant playing time. We have 5 returning DTs, 3 with significant playing time, one proven good in games at pass rush, and one giant R-Freshman looking promising. In addition we have two significant transfers coming recommended. We are in way better shape than normal andI believe the DL is in position for a good season.

Who is the R-freshman you’re talking about? I know we lost the 4* from Texas.

On another subject—I also feel that Tatum could possibly fill C. Thomas’s shoes. He seems to have the same build when i watched the post interview practice. And Eley although was the QB and very consistent could easily be improved upon. I would liken to David Curry. Very serviceable but almost no chance of playing on the next level.

 

[MonroeJacket]

Who is the R-freshman you’re talking about? I know we lost the 4* from Texas.

On another subject—I also feel that Tatum could possibly fill C. Thomas’s shoes. He seems to have the same build when i watched the post interview practice. And Eley although was the QB and very consistent could easily be improved upon. I would liken to David Curry. Very serviceable but almost no chance of playing on the next level.

Horace

 

[Vespid]

We were 84th in scoring defense and 85th in total defense.

2022 NCAA Statistics

Pretty sure he was quoting FEI, not just raw unfiltered stats.

 

[AugustaSwarm]

We were 84th in scoring defense and 85th in total defense.

2022 NCAA Statistics

Eh, they say stats are for losers. Sometimes it true, sometimes it's not. Our defense was more talented than our stat line suggests, but there were games where they were completely inept, especially against the run. I think consistency and depth were problems last year. Despite the D being better after TFG left, there were still problems.

But that was last year and it's in the past.

We'll see if anyone steps up to fill K. White's shoes. I think we have better depth/experience on the DL, but we still need guys to step up and provide production. LB is a big question mark, even for Tatum. Charlie Thomas and Ace were special.

The more interesting storyline, IMO, is how Thacker conducts the D now without TFG meddling. It appeared that the D took major strides forward after the change, so we'll see if there's any momentum carried over into the new season.

 

[slugboy]

Eh, they say stats are for losers. Sometimes it true, sometimes it's not. Our defense was more talented than our stat line suggests, but there were games where they were completely inept, especially against the run. I think consistency and depth were problems last year. Despite the D being better after TFG left, there were still problems.

But that was last year and it's in the past.

We'll see if anyone steps up to fill K. White's shoes. I think we have better depth/experience on the DL, but we still need guys to step up and provide production. LB is a big question mark, even for Tatum. Charlie Thomas and Ace were special.

The more interesting storyline, IMO, is how Thacker conducts the D now without TFG meddling. It appeared that the D took major strides forward after the change, so we'll see if there's any momentum carried over into the new season.

There’s various different stats out there, and there are various different models. FEI liked our defense. Other models liked our defense, too. On the other side, SP+ graded our defense below average, and a few others came out with the same view.
Our run numbers were really bad after the Ole Miss and UCF games—especially after Ole Miss.
One important bad stat for our defense is that it was out on the field a lot more often than other defenses. I’ve pulled that up before. Our yards per play are right in the middle at #63. Our defensive points per play are a little below average at #75. Neither are opponent-adjusted, which would help us.
Our offensive points per play are down at the bottom at #126. Our offensive yards per play are down at #118, with 4.5 yards per play. Our offense and our special teams put our defense in bad spots a lot.

Defensive
Plays	861
Plays/Game	72 #112
Total EPA	-42.02 #36
EPA/Play	-0.05 #39
EPA/Game	-3.50 #36
Success Rate	42.4% #95
Starting FP	Own 30 #110

Our defense had a couple of weak spots—Plays and plays/game (we were out on the field way too much), and success rate (we let the other team continue drives too much).

Against the Pass
Plays	395
Plays/Game	33 T-#56
Total EPA	-32.67 #38
EPA/Play	-0.08 #37
EPA/Game	-2.72 #36
Success Rate	39.0% #44

We were good against the pass (not against Miami, though). Not top 25 good, but respectable. Looking at who we have and who came back, and our coaching staff, it’s easy to expect an above-average pass defense.

Against the Run
Plays	466
Plays/Game	39 #122
Total EPA	-9.35 #48
EPA/Play	-0.02 #50
EPA/Game	-0.78 #48
Success Rate	45.3% #117

In rushing defense, we didn’t get the other team off the field. That’s a lot of what happened against Ole Miss—we couldn’t take away the run, so they kept running and getting first downs and touchdowns.

Thacker has a lot of work to do, but shoring up the run defense is up at the top of the list.

 

[stinger 1957]

Coaches seem to be high on Kelly DL from S. FL. Maybe overall we have better players and depth but no players like White so we come from a lot of different places rather than dependent on one or two players to make plays.

 

[danny daniel]

Who is the R-freshman you’re talking about? I know we lost the 4* from Texas.

On another subject—I also feel that Tatum could possibly fill C. Thomas’s shoes. He seems to have the same build when i watched the post interview practice. And Eley although was the QB and very consistent could easily be improved upon. I would liken to David Curry. Very serviceable but almost no chance of playing on the next level.

#55 Lockett. He had a good Spring Game.

 

[GetYourBuzzOn]

It's interesting that the Ole Miss game seems to be the barometer for our D low point last year. When I was digging into some of the advanced D game by game metrics to see if there was a quantifiable improvement after Collins was fired I was surprised to see the FSU game was much worse statistically than the Ole Miss game.

Filtering out garbage time, our Defense Total Predicted Points Added (lower the better for Defense) vs Ole Miss was 21.54; vs FSU it was 32.9.

Just thought some of y'all would find this interesting.

 

[RamblinRed]

I'm just looking forward to seeing the young men in action again.

As far as stats, my one thought on that is something in the 60's is not average - unless you are comparing yourself to G5 programs.

There are roughly 70 P5 schools. They tend to take the vast majority of the higher spots in the rankings.
If you are in the 40's on something, I would consider that average to slightly below avg for a P5 program. GT's FEI defensive ranking at #41 is 34th among P5 teams - so pretty average.
GT FEI Offensive ranking was 4th lowest among all P5 programs and its FEI Special Teams ranking was last overall (not just among P5 teams, but all FBS teams).
I generally consider anything in the 30-40 range (whether it is a raw stat or an efficiency metric) to be average. Better than 30 is above average, below 40 is below average. We should never be comparing our numbers to G5 programs, just P5 ones.

There are plenty of questions on both sides of the ball (and special teams). I'm hoping we will get more positive answers than negative ones.

 

[slugboy]

Here’s another place you can look for advanced stats https://www.cfb-graphs.com/. The defense wasn’t top 25, but it was respectable.
If you look at defensive EPA/play, here’s the ACC ranking. We were ahead of schools like Texas and LSU.

1. Pitt
2. Clemson
3. Louisville
4. Virginia
5. Georgia Tech (31st overall)
6. Florida State
7. NC State
8. Notre Dame
9. Syracuse
10. Va Tech
11. Duke
12. Miami
13. Boston College
14. Wake Forest
15. North Carolina

1. 

It's interesting that the Ole Miss game seems to be the barometer for our D low point last year. When I was digging into some of the advanced D game by game metrics to see if there was a quantifiable improvement after Collins was fired I was surprised to see the FSU game was much worse statistically than the Ole Miss game.

Filtering out garbage time, our Defense Total Predicted Points Added (lower the better for Defense) vs Ole Miss was 21.54; vs FSU it was 32.9.

Just thought some of y'all would find this interesting.

There were a lot of bad games, for different reasons. Our first game against Clemson was not good—especially since their QB was playing a terrible game.
Against Ole Miss, they ran the ball, we knew they were running the ball, and we couldn’t stop it. I think Charlie Thomas went out with a targeting call in that game, which did not help.
Against UCF, they were beatable, and we lost 27-10. Offense could do nothing that game.
Against Pitt and Duke, the defense played well.
Against UVA, we lost 16-9. UVA had a solid defense, and we could do nothing on offense. Even so, 9 is terrible.
Against FSU, we had some positives—two fumbles, one recovered. We got burned in pass pro. We had a roughing the passer that really hurt us. The game was really never in doubt.
VT was a terrible team, and we barely won.
Miami abused us on both sides. Offense especially hurt.
UNC was a wonderful game on defense.
UGA beat us by two more points than Miami, but they were a much better team than Miami.

There were several bad games, Ole Miss was especially bad because Kiffin didn’t need to be creative. He could just run repeatedly and we couldn’t stop it. Miami and FSU were also bad on defense. I don’t think VT was a great showing, either.

 

[GetYourBuzzOn]

I am excited to see LaMiles Brooks, Clayton Powell-Lee, D'quan Douse, and Andre White Jr. play this year with a full offseason under the new regime. Also excited to see what Kevin Sherrer brings to the table. Sep 1 cannot get here quick enough!