Jerry the Jacket
Helluva Engineer
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- 1,945
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- Chapin, SC
I wanted to share my thoughts on the April 12th Spring scrimmage. This will be a little long so for those who praise brevity I apologize and you can on about your business. First off let me say it was an absolutely beautiful day in downtown Atlanta, Georgia and specifically on the Tech campus. Great conditions for some football.
I thought I would break this down by offense and defense and interject some overall impressions. On offense there is a pretty good QB battle emerging. Justin Thomas had some struggles with ball security and just overall operation of the offense. He broke a great run which displayed his great speed but was injured on the tackle which displayed his physical vulnerability. Tim Byerly looked pretty good and I think is a more than serviceable candidate for the position. Ty Griffin looks like a freshman but it’s hard to tell with him going with the third group on both offense and defense. Jordan flashed some excitement with a long run but I think he will most likely red shirt unless something dramatic occurs prior to the upcoming season. As many have stated, the QB thing will work itself out so I think we will be OK whatever happens.
The A backs were a bit undistinguished in their efforts for the day. I would say Dennis Andrews appears to be the cream of the crop. Synjyn made a few plays but seemed a bit hobbled. Zenon and Bostic were out there but did not jump out to me in their play. I think if Deon Hill comes back in good form we will be pretty sound here. Perkins did not participate. The B Backs look solid. Laskey has gained some size and runs very hard. Custis is the real deal and runs with an attitude similar to Tashard Choice. I think he will spell Laskey when he needs a break. I did not see much out of Conners or Wilson. I think they will be down the line in terms of playing time unless we have injuries.
The wide receivers were limited because Waller, Smelter, Juene and Autry were not out there. Mike Summers played well and I think he may very well lock down one starting position. Corey Dennis and Antonio Messick played quite a bit but neither one made many plays.
I was pleasantly surprised by the interior offensive line. O’Reilly has really gotten himself in shape and played very well going up against Gotsis and Green. I think he is locked in as a starter and that is probably why they are experimenting with Freddie Burden playing Tackle. Shaq and Trey Braun have the Guard spots pretty well under control. Braun jumped the snap count a couple of times but I took that as a sign of his aggressiveness rather than a weakness. The back ups are still at play at all these positions and I really did not notice anyone else that was outstanding. I will say that Shamire Devine is just not in football shape currently and has a ways to go before he will be able to have the stamina to play in any sort of regular rotation. He has great size and I am sure a ton of potential but he has a good ways to go before he is ready to play fulltime D1 college football. The Tackle position is a big concern. Chamberlin and Chris Griffin took the majority of the snaps with the first team. Chamberlin got beat several times and Griffin is still learning the position. Of the two I feel like Griffin will start and we probably need to find another Tackle unless Chamberlin really comes around over the next several months.
Generally speaking, I think the offense will be comparable to last year in terms of production. I am actually encouraged by that because I had a real concern that we would really drop off with the offensive line losses and other personnel losses from last year. The one thing we continue to have problems with is blocking the immediate perimeter. The defense continues to get quick penetration and blow up a lot of the stuff we are trying to run to the outside. There almost seems to be a fundamental flaw in the play design and execution. I have heard that on a lot of plays we actually release the defensive end and ask the QB to read off of him and then decide to keep it or pitch it. What seems to be happening is the DE’s are coming up field and just hell bent for leather take the QB before there is time to react. We have got to get a handle on this aspect of the offense or we will definitely see a lot more of the same busted plays we have become accustomed to in Paul Johnson’s offense.
On defense I was pretty excited by what I saw. I think Roof and the defensive staff really have the guys on that side of the ball fired up and excited about playing defense for Georgia Tech. Hunt-Days seems to be adapting well to the DE move. Rod Chungong took most of the reps at the other DE position and seemed to hold up pretty good. Stargell did not play so Freeman and Chaz Cheeks took most of the second team reps. While we do not have another Attachou yet, I think we have some good potential to be sound at this position. Gotsis and Green manned the middle and both looked impressive. Gamble was out so Commissiong took a lot of the second team reps along with Kallon. Both had there moments. I think Darius C. is going to be a good one. Kallon is still a work in progress and at this point I think he is going to settle in as a second line type player. He has the physical attributes to be dominate but I just don’t think he is mean enough to excel on the defensive side of the ball. I did not notice Kitchens and he may have been out as well.
The linebackers are solid. Nealy is very good and may be the leader we have been looking for on defense. I was amazed at Marcodes. He has grown quite a bit and plays with some attitude out there. I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised at what he brings to the party. The backups are PJ Davis and Beau Hankins right now. Both had some good moments. I think we are squared away at this position.
The secondary has a new look. Isiah and Jamal are the safeties and both are big and physical. The standard defensive set now features 5 defensive backs and you have Demond Smith and Lynn Griffin who roam around back there and align based on the offensive formation. Both are built like hybrid safety/linebackers and both bring the lumber. DJ White plays the corner and I think in general will go up against the other teams best receiver based on what I observed. Milton and Durham were out there quite a bit as well but I really did not observe anything extraordinary out of them.
Generally speaking I liked the energy I observed out of the defense both the players and the coaches. I think some pride is definitely building out of this unit and expect we will be better defensively this coming season than last.
I also wanted to mention Butker our place kicker. I think he is really solid and will provide us a huge weapon this coming season. I hope every one can make it to the Spring game this Friday and form your own impressions. Hope to see many of you there.
Go Jackets!
I thought I would break this down by offense and defense and interject some overall impressions. On offense there is a pretty good QB battle emerging. Justin Thomas had some struggles with ball security and just overall operation of the offense. He broke a great run which displayed his great speed but was injured on the tackle which displayed his physical vulnerability. Tim Byerly looked pretty good and I think is a more than serviceable candidate for the position. Ty Griffin looks like a freshman but it’s hard to tell with him going with the third group on both offense and defense. Jordan flashed some excitement with a long run but I think he will most likely red shirt unless something dramatic occurs prior to the upcoming season. As many have stated, the QB thing will work itself out so I think we will be OK whatever happens.
The A backs were a bit undistinguished in their efforts for the day. I would say Dennis Andrews appears to be the cream of the crop. Synjyn made a few plays but seemed a bit hobbled. Zenon and Bostic were out there but did not jump out to me in their play. I think if Deon Hill comes back in good form we will be pretty sound here. Perkins did not participate. The B Backs look solid. Laskey has gained some size and runs very hard. Custis is the real deal and runs with an attitude similar to Tashard Choice. I think he will spell Laskey when he needs a break. I did not see much out of Conners or Wilson. I think they will be down the line in terms of playing time unless we have injuries.
The wide receivers were limited because Waller, Smelter, Juene and Autry were not out there. Mike Summers played well and I think he may very well lock down one starting position. Corey Dennis and Antonio Messick played quite a bit but neither one made many plays.
I was pleasantly surprised by the interior offensive line. O’Reilly has really gotten himself in shape and played very well going up against Gotsis and Green. I think he is locked in as a starter and that is probably why they are experimenting with Freddie Burden playing Tackle. Shaq and Trey Braun have the Guard spots pretty well under control. Braun jumped the snap count a couple of times but I took that as a sign of his aggressiveness rather than a weakness. The back ups are still at play at all these positions and I really did not notice anyone else that was outstanding. I will say that Shamire Devine is just not in football shape currently and has a ways to go before he will be able to have the stamina to play in any sort of regular rotation. He has great size and I am sure a ton of potential but he has a good ways to go before he is ready to play fulltime D1 college football. The Tackle position is a big concern. Chamberlin and Chris Griffin took the majority of the snaps with the first team. Chamberlin got beat several times and Griffin is still learning the position. Of the two I feel like Griffin will start and we probably need to find another Tackle unless Chamberlin really comes around over the next several months.
Generally speaking, I think the offense will be comparable to last year in terms of production. I am actually encouraged by that because I had a real concern that we would really drop off with the offensive line losses and other personnel losses from last year. The one thing we continue to have problems with is blocking the immediate perimeter. The defense continues to get quick penetration and blow up a lot of the stuff we are trying to run to the outside. There almost seems to be a fundamental flaw in the play design and execution. I have heard that on a lot of plays we actually release the defensive end and ask the QB to read off of him and then decide to keep it or pitch it. What seems to be happening is the DE’s are coming up field and just hell bent for leather take the QB before there is time to react. We have got to get a handle on this aspect of the offense or we will definitely see a lot more of the same busted plays we have become accustomed to in Paul Johnson’s offense.
On defense I was pretty excited by what I saw. I think Roof and the defensive staff really have the guys on that side of the ball fired up and excited about playing defense for Georgia Tech. Hunt-Days seems to be adapting well to the DE move. Rod Chungong took most of the reps at the other DE position and seemed to hold up pretty good. Stargell did not play so Freeman and Chaz Cheeks took most of the second team reps. While we do not have another Attachou yet, I think we have some good potential to be sound at this position. Gotsis and Green manned the middle and both looked impressive. Gamble was out so Commissiong took a lot of the second team reps along with Kallon. Both had there moments. I think Darius C. is going to be a good one. Kallon is still a work in progress and at this point I think he is going to settle in as a second line type player. He has the physical attributes to be dominate but I just don’t think he is mean enough to excel on the defensive side of the ball. I did not notice Kitchens and he may have been out as well.
The linebackers are solid. Nealy is very good and may be the leader we have been looking for on defense. I was amazed at Marcodes. He has grown quite a bit and plays with some attitude out there. I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised at what he brings to the party. The backups are PJ Davis and Beau Hankins right now. Both had some good moments. I think we are squared away at this position.
The secondary has a new look. Isiah and Jamal are the safeties and both are big and physical. The standard defensive set now features 5 defensive backs and you have Demond Smith and Lynn Griffin who roam around back there and align based on the offensive formation. Both are built like hybrid safety/linebackers and both bring the lumber. DJ White plays the corner and I think in general will go up against the other teams best receiver based on what I observed. Milton and Durham were out there quite a bit as well but I really did not observe anything extraordinary out of them.
Generally speaking I liked the energy I observed out of the defense both the players and the coaches. I think some pride is definitely building out of this unit and expect we will be better defensively this coming season than last.
I also wanted to mention Butker our place kicker. I think he is really solid and will provide us a huge weapon this coming season. I hope every one can make it to the Spring game this Friday and form your own impressions. Hope to see many of you there.
Go Jackets!
