CPJ on Jay Jones

presjacket

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I liked his uncanny ability to escape that he exhibited in the spring game. However, I did not like how far away from his body he carried the ball and the fact that he did not move it into the sideline hand when he broke into the open. Those things can be taught. His moves and speed cannot be taught.
 

Jacket4Life9

Jolly Good Fellow
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I have been all in on Jay since watching him in the Spring game. Yes, ball security must improve. The wonderful thing is, as mentioned by a poster above, ball security can be improved and taught. The offense can be taught. His freakish athleticism and speed cannot be taught. CPJ's comments about the guy tell me that he knows exactly what he has in this kid and I am doubling down on my opinion that he will be our starting quarterback. Maybe not vs. Tennessee, but at some point, I think he gets a shot. I don't think simply "getting him on the field" at A-back or WR for example is enough. He will get a shot at QB, IMO.
 

Boomergump

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per Kelly Quinlan, CPJ stated that Jay Jones is the fastest and quickest QB he has ever had at Georgia Tech. He said this during the ACC teleconference.

Pretty heavy praise from coach.
Obviously CPJ has seen the kid a ton, whereas I only had the single viewing of the spring game, but he sure looked like it to me. If we just stop a second and think of the magnitude of those comments. We are just now coming off a 3 year period where JT was our QB. During that time he showed an agility, speed, and quickness that has never been equalled by a QB in my time as a TECH fan (1979). It would not have surprised me to see another dozen or so seasons pass before even getting another QB who was on par with JT's level of athleticism. Instead, we are actually raising the bar immediately!!

Still, JT was a seasoned QB with throwing accuracy and pretty good decision making to go along with it, so it is not reasonable to say say JJ has raised the bar in terms of overall QB performance. However, just having a better athlete taking snaps is amazing enough, considering.
 

Boomergump

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I have been all in on Jay since watching him in the Spring game. Yes, ball security must improve. The wonderful thing is, as mentioned by a poster above, ball security can be improved and taught. The offense can be taught. His freakish athleticism and speed cannot be taught. CPJ's comments about the guy tell me that he knows exactly what he has in this kid and I am doubling down on my opinion that he will be our starting quarterback. Maybe not vs. Tennessee, but at some point, I think he gets a shot. I don't think simply "getting him on the field" at A-back or WR for example is enough. He will get a shot at QB, IMO.
It is almost like we are back in a HS program, you know, when one guy is so much more athletic than the other kids that he HAS to be the QB (even if he isn't a natural QB) just to keep the ball in his hands enough.
 

Rock

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It is almost like we are back in a HS program, you know, when one guy is so much more athletic than the other kids that he HAS to be the QB (even if he isn't a natural QB) just to keep the ball in his hands enough.


"almost"

but this is D1 football....
 

Jacket4Life9

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It is almost like we are back in a HS program, you know, when one guy is so much more athletic than the other kids that he HAS to be the QB (even if he isn't a natural QB) just to keep the ball in his hands enough.

I see what you're saying but in this situation we have a kid who was recruited to play QB at the D1 level in an unconventional, run-oriented option offense. Justin Thomas was not a "natural QB" if you ask most people, in fact he was a "natural" defensive back at 5'10 185lbs and a 4.3 forty time. In our offense, he was a natural QB.
Vad Lee was much more of a "natural" QB than was Justin, but it was obvious who was the natural fit for our system.

Jay Jones has speed like we have not seen. He has toughness and a surprising tackle-breaking ability. Obviously, Jay has to be capable of running the offense. If he can make the reads, take care of the ball, and throw the ball effectively, he will start. I suspect that we will have four capable starting QBs who will be able to do each of those things, but a guy like Jay should get the nod IMO due to his explosiveness and the effect that his attributes would have on our particular offense.
 

SlawDog

Banned
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I have been all in on Jay since watching him in the Spring game. Yes, ball security must improve. The wonderful thing is, as mentioned by a poster above, ball security can be improved and taught. The offense can be taught. His freakish athleticism and speed cannot be taught. CPJ's comments about the guy tell me that he knows exactly what he has in this kid and I am doubling down on my opinion that he will be our starting quarterback. Maybe not vs. Tennessee, but at some point, I think he gets a shot. I don't think simply "getting him on the field" at A-back or WR for example is enough. He will get a shot at QB, IMO.

Let's hope that he becomes prolific at making his reads and executing the pitch to go along with his athleticism and speed. Just remember that just because a person has the physical ability it doesn't always translate into a good option QB.
 

AE 87

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Q. What did you learn about your quarterbacks during spring ball?
PAUL JOHNSON: Well, we had four guys who were actually playing quarterback this spring, and I was pleased with all four. Matthew Jordan went down about the second week of spring, but that enabled -- we had a couple redshirt freshmen, Lucas Johnson and Jay Jones, who had really good springs, and so did TaQuon Marshall, so I was happy with our quarterbacks. I think we could play with any of those guys.

...

Q. Talk about your quarterbacks vying for the position of quarterback this year. Talk about the three players you saw in the spring. What do they look like?
PAUL JOHNSON: Well, I thought, as I said earlier, they all had good springs. TaQuon Marshall is a little bit bigger than Justin. I think he has some of the same attributes. He played as a true freshman at slotback for us, at A-back. Good athlete. The two redshirt freshmen, Lucas Johnson is about 6'4", 215 out of San Diego. I think he's a good dual-threat guy. And Jay Jones may be the quickest, fastest guy we've ever had here at quarterback. They're all talented, and then Matthew Jordan is a little bigger, a little more physical, and he was the backup a year ago, so he was out there for the first couple weeks of spring, as well.
 

bke1984

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This is a pretty lofty statement...JT was pretty damn quick and fast as hell in the open field. If Jay Jones is quicker and faster than that with a bigger frame then that could be pretty exciting stuff...
 

bke1984

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