JT and Byerly Style

Longestday

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JT dances a bit and can be taken down by an arm or a hand. But, give him an inch and he will take a mile. The two clips below have two main plays that shows JT's "miss" followed by his "home run"





Byerly gets a small opening here and he makes some yards. The question is could JT's speed turn this good yardage into a "home run"



Byerly does not dance but charges with no fear. He Make significant yards after contact. The next two clips shows several plays where people get a hand/arm on him and he keeps on going. Some people get their whole body on him and he keeps on going. Some several people get on top of him and he keeps on going.





I can really see good things in both styles and they both make me excited for the season.
 

vamosjackets

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If we dream/exaggerate a little bit, we could phrase the question: Would you prefer Pat White or Tim Tebow?
 

vamosjackets

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I think it could also boil down to a game-by-game question. How is the defense playing us? Seems like many of the defenses we play have adapted to this offense in making sure to limit the big plays. They'd rather play small ball against us, which is a good adaptation by them. The offense still can't really be stopped (except by total domination in the front 7), but it can be made to use 17 plays instead of 5 plays to score. If a defense is doing that, I'd rather have Timmy. If a defense is taking away the inside but leaving some bigger creases outside, I'd rather have Justin. Is the midline going to be good against a particular defense - Timmy. Is a defense giving us fits on the TO by overplaying the motion but leaving themselves vulnerable to counters - Justin. If a defense is playing unsound in pass coverage to stop our option game, I'm not sure yet who I'd rather have (my guess now would be Timmy).
 

daBuzz

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Nice videos. To answer the question on the 3rd video, no, JT doesn't take it to the house on that one. Golden had the angle and would have gotten him, IMO.
 

dressedcheeseside

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You are so spot on with these videos. I kept asking myself, 'what would the other guy have gotten on this play' and it's amazing how different these guys really are. They both have strengths that will serve us well and they both have weaknesses that will hurts us at times, too. If only we had a guy with both sets of strengths, we'd be unstoppable!

One of my favorite clips is Byerly's run in vid 4. He hits Isaiah Johnson, who's no small dude, and gets 5 more yards after contact. It's hard to say what JT would have done right there. He may juke him out of his jock and take it to the house, or he might hesitate, like in some of the other vids, and go down easy.

(Also of note in vid 4 is Tyler Stargel has him dead to rights in the backfield and Tim just cuts and runs right by him. Hopefully that's a glimpse of Tim's quickness and not a glimpse of Tyler's lack of it. We're in deep doo doo if it's the latter.)

It's hard to say which guy gives us the best chance to win, but I'm leaning towards JT because his ability to take it to the house affects the entire D and how they decide to play us. It opens up the entire offense. I think we'll see a concerted effort to contain him and that will open up big runs for the Bbacks and Abacks and we'll see more open receivers, too.
 

GTJason

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It looks like in the JT videos he hesitated because he was thinking about when to pitch the ball (as in that was his only option,) not keep or pitch. In the TD's especially the first video (labeled 2) he's just running, doesn't give the pitch a thought. Hopefully another year practicing this has made it a little more instinctual. Keep was the right move in both vids, all 4 plays, but he likely would have gotten some okay yards if he diagnosed the play a little quicker
 

bravejason

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It looks like in the JT videos he hesitated because he was thinking about when to pitch the ball (as in that was his only option,) not keep or pitch. In the TD's especially the first video (labeled 2) he's just running, doesn't give the pitch a thought. Hopefully another year practicing this has made it a little more instinctual. Keep was the right move in both vids, all 4 plays, but he likely would have gotten some okay yards if he diagnosed the play a little quicker

He actually did look to pitch in the first play of the first video. Go to the 0:08:30 mark (Note that I'm adding fractional seconds which don't appear in the video time). He's looking at the pitch key. At 0:09:00 he's squared up to him and around 0:09:30 he actually starts to step towards the pitch key. I think his mistake in the first play isn't that he's not looking to pitch, but that he is trying to pitch. He should running downfield towards the goal line.

Having said that, I will say it may be that what actually happened was that he kept the ball, which was correct, and then saw the safety flying in to tackle him and tried to run in a different direction only to find the pitch key in his path. So he then looked to pitch it, which I think would have been a very risky pitch given where the pitch-key was standing.
 

CobbTech

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Can you please stop the back and forth stuff with these videos? It's sooooo annoying!

Just kidding. Thanks for doing these and breaking them down. Both of them bring something to the table. I think both will be adequate passers. I do think there is a misconception with GT fans that our QB has to be a big guy that runs you over and gets the tough yards. That's great if you have that but I think cheese brought this up the other day. The more plays you run, the chances you might turn the ball over on the other side of the field increases, just like Byerly's fumble in the spring game that IJ returned for a TD. Those two runs that JT made in the Syracuse game is something we've been missing. We need that big play potential.
 

jeffgt14

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I think it could also boil down to a game-by-game question. How is the defense playing us? Seems like many of the defenses we play have adapted to this offense in making sure to limit the big plays. They'd rather play small ball against us, which is a good adaptation by them. The offense still can't really be stopped (except by total domination in the front 7), but it can be made to use 17 plays instead of 5 plays to score. If a defense is doing that, I'd rather have Timmy. If a defense is taking away the inside but leaving some bigger creases outside, I'd rather have Justin. Is the midline going to be good against a particular defense - Timmy. Is a defense giving us fits on the TO by overplaying the motion but leaving themselves vulnerable to counters - Justin. If a defense is playing unsound in pass coverage to stop our option game, I'm not sure yet who I'd rather have (my guess now would be Timmy).
I agree with this. It seems most defenses try and let us beat ourselves with turnovers and misreads. They figure if they can extend the drive then the more chances for a turnover or even a negative yardage play. I think they've learned if they stop the BB Dive and the pitch on option plays then we won't have a huge gain. They just make the QB keep it for 3-4 yards every play and hope there's a missed block or bad pitch somewhere in there.
 

franklinjacket

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In an ideal world, the two could split time and it would create difficulties for the defense trying to defend both styles. In real world, getting into a comfortable rhythm is one of the most important aspects of playing a good game. Its hard to go in cold and perform at your top level.

That said, I don't know who I think gives us the best chance of a good-great season. I tend to think that JT has the potential to win games on his own, but the way he carries the ball and some of his risky pitches makes me think he could lose games on his own too. TB seems very solid, mostly dependable, and kind of in the Tevin mold. Not many mistakes, but not many gamebreaking plays either. I really hope that one of them grabs control of the position in the summer and fall, and we have great QB play with a very capable backup.
 

SidewalkJacket

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JT will start and IMO we need a QB like him, not just for excitement factor, but due to the supporting cast. JfN was not a threat to take it to the house every play, but with JD and DT in that offense, he didn't need to be. If TW had a couple of guys like that, 2011 could have been one incredible season. I thought we had that kind of explosion guy with VL, but it just didn't happen. Mark my words, the first time JT jukes some Tulane guy out of his jock and takes it to the house from 60 yards out, making the SC Top 10, this offense will get the royal treatment that it got after the Miami game of '08. We NEED a playmaker like this at QB right now. In a couple of years, if guys like Custis and Autry become home-run threats, then a JfN/TB style QB would be perfect. Go watch some Jayson Foster highlights from GSU. Unfortunately, kid got stuck with Van Gorder/Hatcher offenses, but was recruited as an option QB. JT's moves and speed remind me of Foster, and that, my friends, gives me warm and fuzzy feelings...
 
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JT dances a bit and can be taken down by an arm or a hand. But, give him an inch and he will take a mile. The two clips below have two main plays that shows JT's "miss" followed by his "home run"





Byerly gets a small opening here and he makes some yards. The question is could JT's speed turn this good yardage into a "home run"



Byerly does not dance but charges with no fear. He Make significant yards after contact. The next two clips shows several plays where people get a hand/arm on him and he keeps on going. Some people get their whole body on him and he keeps on going. Some several people get on top of him and he keeps on going.





I can really see good things in both styles and they both make me excited for the season.


I would like to hear from former players or coaches or other knowledgeable fans. Does Justin's blazing breakaway potential make the defense overly protective of losing contain on the quarterback, thereby opening opportunities on the toss or the pass? It seems that even if you stop JT five out of six tries, the sixth might still be there to burn you. How difficult is he going to be to defend? And how much more of an added dimension will it be if he can routinely make the good toss on the edge, or throw for meaningful yards 18 or 20 times a game?
 
Messages
2,077
It looks like in the JT videos he hesitated because he was thinking about when to pitch the ball (as in that was his only option,) not keep or pitch. In the TD's especially the first video (labeled 2) he's just running, doesn't give the pitch a thought. Hopefully another year practicing this has made it a little more instinctual. Keep was the right move in both vids, all 4 plays, but he likely would have gotten some okay yards if he diagnosed the play a little quicker
An should always be thinking "pitch first" IMHO. We put a lot on mileage on our quarterbacks.
 

SidewalkJacket

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An should always be thinking "pitch first" IMHO. We put a lot on mileage on our quarterbacks.

That's not how running the triple option works. You're always thinking "give" unless the read key takes it, then "keep" until the next read takes that, then "pitch." If you think "pitch first", the whole thing breaks down.
 

vamosjackets

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I would like to hear from former players or coaches or other knowledgeable fans. Does Justin's blazing breakaway potential make the defense overly protective of losing contain on the quarterback, thereby opening opportunities on the toss or the pass? It seems that even if you stop JT five out of six tries, the sixth might still be there to burn you. How difficult is he going to be to defend? And how much more of an added dimension will it be if he can routinely make the good toss on the edge, or throw for meaningful yards 18 or 20 times a game?
Yes, you adjust your gameplan or at least your mindset for a guy with special skills. Whether it's a particularly powerful running back or a fast WR or a "dynamic" QB. So, yes it is a legitimate point to say that Justin Thomas' speed factor could be in the minds of the DC's and players, which could affect other aspects of our offense positively.
 
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