how does our overall team speed compare?

[gtpi]

within our division?
within the acc?
compared to uga?
nationally?

i have heard comments from somewhere that we have one of the fastest teams in the country. not sure if i believe that ... YET! can we safely say we now have sec speed? snicker

i do think think that we may have one of the fastest o's in the country. qb. a backs. b backs. o line. receivers?

not sure how we are on the d. i know we have improved a great deal. where do we still need to improve?

 

[GTonTop88]

Our QB is definitely one of the fastest or the fastest in the country. Snoddy is one of the fastest football players in the country. Searcy, Cottrell(if he were healthy), Taquan, Philphot, and Marcus are known for being fast. Defensively I would say maybe our LBs are a lil slower than some of the elite teams but everywhere else we are pretty fast. With DJ and Milton at CB and Gotsis and JHD at DT we are as fast as anybody in those positions on defense. Simmons and Freeman aren't slow by any means either.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Since CPJ took over, he has increased team speed over the entire roster. We have usually had decent speed here and there, but not overall. I can remember when FSU first joined the league, their second string was faster than our starters.

 

[InsideLB]

To answer this question one should ask themself "when last year was an opponent's speed a problem for us, and when was our speed a problem for our opponent".

When I do this I think we are probably in in the first quintile of FBS teams. Very rarely was an opponents speed a big problem for us last year. Our speed however, was frequently problematic for opponents.

 

[Sean311]

Even though we grind the clock and like to have a high time of possession, from the start of the snap, I honestly believe no other team in the country is as fast as us. We fire off the line and our guys are moving as fast as they can usually.

Add in JT, Summers, Qua, Snoddy, and a host of other players and I'd put us up there with anyone.

 

[croberts]

within our division?
within the acc?
compared to uga?
nationally?

i have heard comments from somewhere that we have one of the fastest teams in the country. not sure if i believe that ... YET! can we safely say we now have sec speed? snicker

i do think think that we may have one of the fastest o's in the country. qb. a backs. b backs. o line. receivers?

not sure how we are on the d. i know we have improved a great deal. where do we still need to improve?

. Anyone thinking our roster is faster than most of our comp is not looking closely. We have closed the gap somewhat in the last 2 or 3 years but our skill position players are not near the level of FSU, Miami and Clemson. We do have a fast QB but we should be faster than others behind center running pro set. Had Justin gone to Alabama, he would have been around the speed of their other DBs. I will say that I don't recall having 4 state sprint champions on our roster at one time. Talking about team speed, FSU scout team quarterback was faster than Snoddy last year.

 

[Skeptic]

Well, this about that. If the SEC hoopla is not hoopla but reasonable, then we have a couple of fair comparisons, Georgia and MSU. Seemed to me Georgia had speed, we had more. I thought MSU was just kinda spinning its wheels, offense and defense and was seriously underwhelmed. Advantage GT and ACC. No question at all of our speed at RB, outside of B back, WR and QB. Not even arguable. Now, if only Johnson could figure a way to run that fly sweep from under center, those A backs would be flying at the corner and we'd see all of that sprint champion speed. (I don't like gimmicks but it might be a hoot to see Thomas back out of there on one play and have Snoddy flying across in front of him for the pitch. Johnson would not really be getting out of his offense and we'd need a stopwatch on Snoddy at the edge.

 

[GlennW]

Regardless, I think most teams WISH our Offense was quicker by the time the 4th Quarter rolls along.

 

[Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau]

Well, this about that. If the SEC hoopla is not hoopla but reasonable, then we have a couple of fair comparisons, Georgia and MSU. Seemed to me Georgia had speed, we had more. I thought MSU was just kinda spinning its wheels, offense and defense and was seriously underwhelmed. Advantage GT and ACC. No question at all of our speed at RB, outside of B back, WR and QB. Not even arguable. Now, if only Johnson could figure a way to run that fly sweep from under center, those A backs would be flying at the corner and we'd see all of that sprint champion speed. (I don't like gimmicks but it might be a hoot to see Thomas back out of there on one play and have Snoddy flying across in front of him for the pitch. Johnson would not really be getting out of his offense and we'd need a stopwatch on Snoddy at the edge.

We looked like we had a problem with North Carolina's speed last year.

 

[danny daniel]

We looked like we had a problem with North Carolina's speed last year.

Not caught up with NC, Miami, or Fla St but comparable with UGA.....mostly defense issue.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Two possible answers:

(1) Speed is a marketing ploy used by ESPN and the sec and overlooks the fact that at the top level in college all teams have speed and the difference is minimal given the fact that most football plays of consequence do not use 100 yards or even 50 yards. (As an example of that last point, Dwyer was more quick than fast and he would have been caught from behind on many plays if the yards to go for a touchdown had been longer).

(2) Speed is a real thing that only a few good teams and good conferences possess. In which case Tech is one of the fastest teams in the country as evidenced by how slow Clemson, uga and missy state looked against Tech.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

No one ever came close to running Dwyer down from behind.

I'll put our secondary speed up against any team. Ditto RBs. Ditto Dline. Oline is probably fastest in P5.

No real burners at LB or WR. But fast enough to get the job done. QB...I'll put JT against any for pure speed but even more for football speed.

 

[IronJacket7]

No one ever came close to running Dwyer down from behind.

I'll put our secondary speed up against any team. Ditto RBs. Ditto Dline. Oline is probably fastest in P5.

No real burners at LB or WR. But fast enough to get the job done. QB...I'll put JT against any for pure speed but even more for football speed.

^This. Football/In-Game Speed vs 40 times are 2 totally different things. Couldn't agree more.

 

[elwoodgt]

It's not track speed that counts, it's football speed. It's the ability to sprint during a play without outrunning your awareness of position and spacing. When we play other "fast" teams, we catch the opposing defense flatfooted because they're having to think too much, and that slows them down - they can't just release and run hard for the ball.

 

[Greenjackets]

What I noticed last year and hope to see much more of this year is how quickly after the ball is snapped on running plays our O line is 3 yards downfield. It's amazing to watch these agile 290- 300+ lb linemen simultaneously fire off the line keeping low as the ball is snapped. Go back and watch some replays without even watching the ball carrier. Mason and Burden in particular really stand out. None of them probably run sub 5.1 40 yd dashes but for these critical 3 yards they are fast.... really fast.

 

[bentlloyd]

How bad do y'all think snoddy's broken leg affected his speed?

 

[augustabuzz]

What I noticed last year and hope to see much more of this year is how quickly after the ball is snapped on running plays our O line is 3 yards downfield. It's amazing to watch these agile 290- 300+ lb linemen simultaneously fire off the line keeping low as the ball is snapped. Go back and watch some replays without even watching the ball carrier. Mason and Burden in particular really stand out. None of them probably run sub 5.1 40 yd dashes but for these critical 3 yards they are fast.... really fast.

Mason ran a 4.8 40 at pro day.

 

[Bennett]

Two possible answers:

(1) Speed is a marketing ploy used by ESPN and the sec and overlooks the fact that at the top level in college all teams have speed and the difference is minimal given the fact that most football plays of consequence do not use 100 yards or even 50 yards. (As an example of that last point, Dwyer was more quick than fast and he would have been caught from behind on many plays if the yards to go for a touchdown had been longer).

(2) Speed is a real thing that only a few good teams and good conferences possess. In which case Tech is one of the fastest teams in the country as evidenced by how slow Clemson, uga and missy state looked against Tech.

 

[takethepoints]

I think the emphasis on speed is a function of the use of conventional Os. I quoted a fan from da U here awhile ago who said that their O was designed to get their good players in a position to make a play, but that ours was designed to make each play work. (Or something like that.) For the first kind of O speed for skill players is an absolute necessity; it's what makes the whole mechanism work. So football pundits focusing on speed is understandable. For our O, speed is more the icing on the cake. We don't need absolute burners at any position to make the whole thing very dangerous indeed.

Now, this isn't to say that we don't want speed, especially at the skill positions. I think we now have more then in the past and this may mean an extra win or two each year while we keep it. But I don't think speed is the be-all, end-all of our O.

Of course, D is another story; having better speed in the secondary and DL is a real plus.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

No one ever came close to running Dwyer down from behind.

Look at the touchdown by Days against NC State. That was a 60 yard run in which no one was close to catching him. When a play breaks wide open and defenders are out of place you are not going to be able to chase a running back down unless you have lots of green grass to make up ground on. Tech chased down at least two uga runners who should have scored as well as a Pittsburgh back who should have scored because the field was just long enough for our speed to catch up. Hence my comment that either the speed thing is over done (because on most plays you don't have a chance to make up ground) or Tech has some of the best speed of all. Take your pick.