Graham’s Game Day Observations

[TheFlyest]

No knock on Yates for I have seen a ton of him play but I’m not sure why it’s automatically gonna be his job next season. Gleason is the team’s actual recruit and he’ll be here. Graham is bigger, faster, and has a stronger arm than Yates. Lastly Graham will have more in game experience. I mean we’ll see how the season goes but I don’t see it as a shoe in.

 

[SteamWhistle]

Graham makes our OL look better then it is because he does not bail we he feels pressure every time.
With the other QBs their first read had to be wide open or they would leave the pocket.
Graham not only has the most willingness to pass, but he has the best arm on the team and yes I’m putting it above Yates at this point.
He’s not a game manger, he’s going to turn it over, but he’s perfect for our team right now.
The spark he provides is enough to change the whole perception of this year. As long as he and Tech gets better every week I think we win a few more this season.

 

[katlong]

You answered your own question on the backup. It’s Oliver. That also limits what we can do with Oliver at other positions for now. Barring injuries, I don’t think we see much if any from Yates this year regardless of the mop up situation. Graham needs all the reps he can get.

This makes me sad. I understand Graham as QB and the need for TO at backup but TO needs to be on the field somewhere! You can’t sit your best offensive guy on the bench and expect to win.

 

[kalld12]

No knock on Yates for I have seen a ton of him play but I’m not sure why it’s automatically gonna be his job next season. Gleason is the team’s actual recruit and he’ll be here. Graham is bigger, faster, and has a stronger arm than Yates. Lastly Graham will have more in game experience. I mean we’ll see how the season goes but I don’t see it as a shoe in.

I'm with you on this take. If Yates was blowing away the coaches he would have saw playing time already. JG has better intangibles than Yates, and lets not forget JG was a 4 Star Recruit as well. The arm strength and spiral JG has is beautiful. He made two throws that I can remember where he pushed the receiver out of bounds, those balls have to be more in, but those were the right throws. With reps and playing time, JG can be special. People writing him off in favor of Yates is just plain ignorant, especially with no game film to back it up, at least at the collegiate lvl.

 

[Dustman]

This makes me sad. I understand Graham as QB and the need for TO at backup but TO needs to be on the field somewhere! You can’t sit your best offensive guy on the bench and expect to win.

Hopefully LJ is cleared soon and we can utilize TO more in the slot. Until then it is what it is.

 

[takethepoints]

He needed to hand the ball off to Mason another 10 times.

Oh, sorry. He didn't do that because our ace offensive staff thought it would be a bad idea. I mean, why hand the ball off to a back who is averaging over 8 yards a carry? Some people might think we aren't going to throw the ball! Think what that could do to our recruiting!

Look, if we want to get better on O the solution is simple. 1. Line up in a traditional one back set with Graham under center at least 60% of the time. 2. Give the ball to Mason 18 - 25 times a game. 3. When Mason gets tired, give the ball to Howard. 4. Once you start to move the opposing D, go to the gun and throw.

And, no, you don't have to be Clark Shaughnessy to see that this would work.

 

[Lotta Booze]

He needed to hand the ball off to Mason another 10 times.

Oh, sorry. He didn't do that because our ace offensive staff thought it would be a bad idea. I mean, why hand the ball off to a back who is averaging over 8 yards a carry? Some people might think we aren't going to throw the ball! Think what that could do to our recruiting!

Look, if we want to get better on O the solution is simple. 1. Line up in a traditional one back set with Graham under center at least 60% of the time. 2. Give the ball to Mason 18 - 25 times a game. 3. When Mason gets tired, give the ball to Howard. 4. Once you start to move the opposing D, go to the gun and throw.

And, no, you don't have to be Clark Shaughnessy to see that this would work.

Did you watch the game? Or are you just going off the box score?

Mason had 2 great runs, one for 43 yards and one for 12. The other 6 carries went for a total of 7 yards (granted one of them was a short TD run). Averaging 1.167 yards per carry. He didn't have a ton to work with most of the time.

It's like when Orwin Smith would have some ludicrous ypc stat. It's tempting to think, just give it to him every time! But if it's not there it's not there.

Though in general I agree. Mason needs to get the ball more

 

[Ibeeballin]

Here’s my response from the Spring and i believe it still hold true. Graham is the long term

I see a lot of what Bryce Perkins from in Graham. I thought that 1st TD showed a lot of touch.

I see no way Yates play unless there is an injury. If Graham is eligible, it will be a tough decision. Graham is more dynamic but LJ appeared reliable. Do you want 20/25 guy with 200yds 2 TD or the 14/25 250yds with 70yds 4 TOT TDs & 2 picks guy at QB?

This is pro level poise and a pro level throw that should’ve been caught

 

[forensicbuzz]

He needed to hand the ball off to Mason another 10 times.

Oh, sorry. He didn't do that because our ace offensive staff thought it would be a bad idea. I mean, why hand the ball off to a back who is averaging over 8 yards a carry? Some people might think we aren't going to throw the ball! Think what that could do to our recruiting!

Look, if we want to get better on O the solution is simple. 1. Line up in a traditional one back set with Graham under center at least 60% of the time. 2. Give the ball to Mason 18 - 25 times a game. 3. When Mason gets tired, give the ball to Howard. 4. Once you start to move the opposing D, go to the gun and throw.

And, no, you don't have to be Clark Shaughnessy to see that this would work.

Everything in life is simple until you actually have to do it. Too many people think they know more about football than the guys who have a ton more experience actually coaching at this level. All this armchair coordinating is getting tiresome.

 

[UgaBlows]

Here’s my response from the Spring and i believe it still hold true. Graham is the long term




This is pro level poise and a pro level throw that should’ve been caught

I love how he stands tall in the pocket, and i’d like to see our receivers lay out for the damn ball every once in a while you know?

 

[WrongShadeOfGold]

He needed to hand the ball off to Mason another 10 times.

Oh, sorry. He didn't do that because our ace offensive staff thought it would be a bad idea. I mean, why hand the ball off to a back who is averaging over 8 yards a carry? Some people might think we aren't going to throw the ball! Think what that could do to our recruiting!

Look, if we want to get better on O the solution is simple. 1. Line up in a traditional one back set with Graham under center at least 60% of the time. 2. Give the ball to Mason 18 - 25 times a game. 3. When Mason gets tired, give the ball to Howard. 4. Once you start to move the opposing D, go to the gun and throw.

And, no, you don't have to be Clark Shaughnessy to see that this would work.

While I agree with your general premise that we need to run Mason more, that wasn't possible this past Saturday against UNC. They pretty much bottled him up. If you take out the one long TD run, he only had 7 carries for 19 yards. Also, we were down a bunch early which significantly limits a team's opportunity to stick with the run game.

 

[jojatk]

I'd like to ask a serious question and this is really for everyone on the board... Would you be ok with 3-4 straight losing seasons until we can get the "right" body types and skill sets?

Definitely not 4. And for 3 it would have to be disastrous injury circumstances like what happened in 2015. Otherwise no. And the rest of this year and next I need to see progress in recruiting (I love our commits but I'll count them as progress when they've signed) and progress in our play on the field.

 

[Buzz1126]

I don't see anyone suggesting JG is the long term answer. He may be, or it may be someone who isn't even in the program yet.

What is your inside knowledge of Yates based on? Not calling you a liar.

The intern at my company is a student manager. They are there at every practice and on the sidelines for every game.

Edit:

Side note - When they describe Brent Key trying to coach our offensive linemen it is hilarious. He is not used to coaching these type of players.

 

[takethepoints]

Did you watch the game? Or are you just going off the box score?

Mason had 2 great runs, one for 43 yards and one for 12. The other 6 carries went for a total of 7 yards (granted one of them was a short TD run). Averaging 1.167 yards per carry. He didn't have a ton to work with most of the time.

It's like when Orwin Smith would have some ludicrous ypc stat. It's tempting to think, just give it to him every time! But if it's not there it's not there.

Though in general I agree. Mason needs to get the ball more

You've made my case for me.

Consider OJ when he was at USC. He normally carried the ball 25 - 30 times a game. But his usual sequence was: 2 yards, 3 yards, 5 yards, 3 yards, 30 yards. He got the ball 30 times a game not because he was blasting past everyone on every play, but because he delivered long runs regularly. It was the same with Tony Hollings at Tech.

Now, Mason is no Hollings and certainly no OJ. Oth, he's the only RB we have who is delivering explosive plays regularly. And, further, he doesn't lose yards very often. I'll repeat myself: if he gets the ball 18 - 25 times a game he will deliver 100 yards rushing. And, I might add, everything will get easier.

 

[TheFlyest]

https://www.ajc.com/sports/football...-the-man-georgia-tech/DgH36sgyXithtZQhbmVO6I/

“I think he just settled into the game,” quarterbacks coach/offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude said. “When you’re a first-time starter and you have the week of preparation and all eyes are on you and everybody is counting on you to do the things you do, I think there’s some inherent pressure.”.

 

[smokey_wasp]

You've made my case for me.

Consider OJ when he was at USC. He normally carried the ball 25 - 30 times a game. But his usual sequence was: 2 yards, 3 yards, 5 yards, 3 yards, 30 yards. He got the ball 30 times a game not because he was blasting past everyone on every play, but because he delivered long runs regularly. It was the same with Tony Hollings at Tech.

Now, Mason is no Hollings and certainly no OJ. Oth, he's the only RB we have who is delivering explosive plays regularly. And, further, he doesn't lose yards very often. I'll repeat myself: if he gets the ball 18 - 25 times a game he will deliver 100 yards rushing. And, I might add, everything will get easier.

Agree he needs more carries, but its hard to get the ball to everyone when your opponents are running twice as many plays as you are. Gotta keep the offense on the field and the defense has to get off it.

 

[takethepoints]

Agree he needs more carries, but its hard to get the ball to everyone when your opponents are running twice as many plays as you are. Gotta keep the offense on the field and the defense has to get off it.

It's an interactive process. If you run successfully, you get more time of possession. More ToP = less time on the field for the D. And, if you can't throw as well you would like, the best way to help is to make the other side fear the run. The best way to do that is to feed the best RB.

We did something like this for 11 straight years. It doesn't have anything to do with the O system either. Lots of teams do it with a shotgun set. There does appear to be one exception, however.

 

[GTFLETCH]

I hope the Staff sticks with him!!! We need to quite play musical QBs... Let TO get time at WR/KO and Let JG be the QB.... This should have been teh decision in August however the Coaches are growing into their roles also!

 

[UgaBlows]

You've made my case for me.

Consider OJ when he was at USC. He normally carried the ball 25 - 30 times a game. But his usual sequence was: 2 yards, 3 yards, 5 yards, 3 yards, 30 yards. He got the ball 30 times a game not because he was blasting past everyone on every play, but because he delivered long runs regularly. It was the same with Tony Hollings at Tech.

Now, Mason is no Hollings and certainly no OJ. Oth, he's the only RB we have who is delivering explosive plays regularly. And, further, he doesn't lose yards very often. I'll repeat myself: if he gets the ball 18 - 25 times a game he will deliver 100 yards rushing. And, I might add, everything will get easier.

A lot of the lack of rushing comes from always playing behind

 

[GoldZ]

Definitely not 4. And for 3 it would have to be disastrous injury circumstances like what happened in 2015. Otherwise no. And the rest of this year and next I need to see progress in recruiting (I love our commits but I'll count them as progress when they've signed) and progress in our play on the field.

I've posted a few times that we will know about all we need to know about the coaching hires mid 2021. I'm not talking about having all the pieces in place, but the "coaching" question should be more than answered.