Spring Position Battle - QB

[Midlands Jacket]

If Justin Thomas is not Tech's starting QB for game one, then they are in serious trouble and there will be a nest of pissed of Jacket fans. He better pan out fast or cpj is in serious hot water.

 

[techman78]

The one thing I noticed in his limited action this year was that Thomas has a much quicker release than Lee did when he threw it. I think that's a big plus. In addition it will be nice to see a QB running this system who has not only top end speed, but quickness. I'll be shocked if anyone else is starting.

I noticed that too about JT. I feel like he is very underrated as a passer and CPJ along with other players have said the same thing. JT threw some nice balls in limited pt last season. I think he has the ability to be a very good passer in our O, especially on roll out type stuff. He has better passing mechanics than Vad did just not quite as much arm strength.

 

[croberts]

If Justin Thomas is not Tech's starting QB for game one, then they are in serious trouble and there will be a nest of pissed of Jacket fans. He better pan out fast or cpj is in serious hot water.

1. Justin Thomas will do just fine. 2. The Offense will be better. 3. The defense will drop back some with the loss of several seniors of impact. And as always, there will be people wanting CPJ gone.

 

[daBuzz]

Said it before, I'll say it again.

I don't care if Superman starts at QB. If the line plays like they did last year, we will stink up the joint. All due respect to Boomergump, but I just went back and rewatched the VT, Miami, and Clemson games. When our QB is taking a 3-step drop and getting pressured before he can plant the foot on the 3rd step, your OL has more holes than a Vegas cathouse.

 

[yjack]

If Justin Thomas is not Tech's starting QB for game one, then they are in serious trouble and there will be a nest of pissed of Jacket fans. He better pan out fast or cpj is in serious hot water.

I guess I'm lost here. JT is quick and fast, last year showed he can read the option, has an okay arm, should fit right into the offense this year. If he isn't starting wouldn't it mean one of the others is better. If better, then were does the serious trouble come from?

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I like JT and Byerly about the same overall. The problem is that we haven't seen enough of Byerly to know what we have in game situations. JT was not good at passing - a 115 QB rating is awful. He didn't throw much given the situations he was put in (blow out or pinned inside the 5). I hope to see a lot of both of them and see them both get better.

Hopefully they won't get worse like Vad did this last year (statistically Vad's decline is a fact http://www.cfbstats.com/2013/player/255/1039471/index.html ). I still don't know why he got worse, but it was evident watching the games. I had much much higher hopes for Vad than I have for JT or Byerly. So hopefully I can only be pleasantly surprised.

 

[wingsrlevel]

I think if Byerly won the job this fall GT fans would have a coronary. If he wins the job it must mean that he's the best man for the job...at least according to CPJ.

 

[techman78]

JT only threw what 19 passes all season but I only remember maybe him throwing 4 or 5 passes that were actually in meaningful time. Had a beautiful throw against bama a&m for a long completion then he threw 3 or 4 against UVA in the 1st half 2 minute drill the last of which was picked because it was telegraphed because we had run the same play 3 times in a row. Personally I look for JT to put up better numbers through the air than Vad or TW.

 

[TampaGT]

I think if JT wins the job I think we will see a lot less passing than last year and more along the lines of Navy.

 

[Boomergump]

I think if JT wins the job I think we will see a lot less passing than last year and more along the lines of Navy.

If JT wins out, we will probably see less throwing on third down. Play action passing will have greater effect on downs one and two with him though.

 

[GT_B]

As I have stated whAt feels like a million times, vad did not have lateral speed ( sideline to sideline) he did have great north / south speed, get him in a straight line and he's gone. But this offense requires a lot of lateral speed and shiftiness. Which is why vad was never fully comfortable and our 3O plays developed extremely slow with him running them. This is also why JT runs our base offense so much better because he is extremely quick laterally and is a blazer going north/south.

Once vad took that huge hit vs UNC he never was the same, he began to run timid and would take falls on runs that he would get past the LOS. His mental toughness was gone. He didn't want to sacrifice his body anymore and it was very obvious on several plays last year where he went out of bounds or would slide short of the first down on big 3rd plays and you would ask "why didn't he fight for that 1 yard?" He didn't want it anymore, I think vad still tried to be a leader and keep his head up because he's a good kid but his heart was there anymore. He moved on and I wish him the best of luck and now we move on as well.

I think JT could be a game changer type for us but I do have two concerns:
1. I wish he could bulk up closer to 200lbs, but I wouldn't want him to lose his speed/flexibility in doing so. I just see his 170lbs frame taking some big shots.
2. I really don't mind the fact that he gambles at times with the pitch, I know it's risky but id rather see him doing that then what I saw with vad and tevin in that the pitch being there but instead they eat it and fall down 5 yards behind the LOS because they werent confident in mAking the pitch. Where I have the problem is he carries the ball way to loose at times and doesn't secure it getting into traffic, that's whAt I would like to see improved.

 

[Buzztheirazz]

1. Justin Thomas will do just fine. 2. The Offense will be better. 3. The defense will drop back some with the loss of several seniors of impact. And as always, there will be people wanting CPJ gone.

Off-topic(sorry)I'm not sure #3 will be true. I think CTR's stats for the second year of his D have been pretty good. I think we may see a bump just from guys gelling together and playing a team game. Our lb's are good, secondary is deep and our DL is the only main ? But I think there is pretty good depth there for the first time. We'll see.

I think we'll go 9-3 with losses to uga, Clemson and one other. We may shock Clemson at home if we play well.

 

[Buzztheirazz]

Said it before, I'll say it again.

I don't care if Superman starts at QB. If the line plays like they did last year, we will stink up the joint. All due respect to Boomergump, but I just went back and rewatched the VT, Miami, and Clemson games. When our QB is taking a 3-step drop and getting pressured before he can plant the foot on the 3rd step, your OL has more holes than a Vegas cathouse.

We were pretty banged up last year on the OL. I hope we can stay healthy and Devine can be the head smasher we've needed.

 

[Buzztheirazz]

I think JT could be a game changer type for us but I do have two concerns:
1. I wish he could bulk up closer to 200lbs, but I wouldn't want him to lose his speed/flexibility in doing so. I just see his 170lbs frame taking some big shots.
.

He's 184. Just read he wants to add 6 lbs to get up to 190 but not any fat. I think he can do it by September.

 

[Boomergump]

The concerns about JT's size may be legit and I just have my head in the sand, who knows? Does anybody find it ironic, however, that the biggest, baddest, most physical (by far) QB in the CPJ era was the same one who couldn't seem to stay on the field because of injuries? Heck, even when we could get him on the field he was limping around with bad ankles etc. In the end, the chances of getting injured at the QB position are as much or more about style of play rather than body weight and muscle mass. Avoiding hits while playing aggressively, rather than looking to deliver hits, goes a lot further than adding 8 pounds of muscle. In any case, football is a very dangerous activity and a lot of this comes down to chance anyway.

 

[jchens_GT]

The concerns about JT's size may be legit and I just have my head in the sand, who knows? Does anybody find it ironic, however, that the biggest, baddest, most physical (by far) QB in the CPJ era was the same one who couldn't seem to stay on the field because of injuries? Heck, even when we could get him on the field he was limping around with bad ankles etc. In the end, the chances of getting injured at the QB position are as much or more about style of play rather than body weight and muscle mass. Avoiding hits while playing aggressively, rather than looking to deliver hits, goes a lot further than adding 8 pounds of muscle. In any case, football is a very dangerous activity and a lot of this comes down to chance anyway.

I agree with you on this Boomer. This all based on memory, but I cannot recall Tevin Washington missing a snap. There were parts of the season with Nesbitt that I was just crossing my fingers, hoping he could tough it out and stay in the game.

You always want athleticism and size, but I don't think having a lot of size necessarily means you will be injury free. Knowing how to take hits is key. Option QBs, for the most part, get hit more frequently than dropback passers, but I would think that option QBs usually see those hits coming. To me, it seems that the hits you don't see coming result in injury. I cringe when I see a QB drop back for a pass, get hit by a WDE or blitzing corner, and watch as his head bounces off the turf.

 

[Techster]

Avoiding hits while playing aggressively, rather than looking to deliver hits, goes a lot further than adding 8 pounds of muscle. In any case, football is a very dangerous activity and a lot of this comes down to chance anyway.

Well, odds say that the more chances you take (contact) the higher the probability of an outcome (injury) becomes. In that respect, our QBs do walk that fine line more often. Let's hope along with the film he's watching of how Tracy Ham had CPJ's offenses at GSU humming, he's also watching film of how Tevin avoided the big hits.

 

[Boomergump]

TW was good at avoiding the direct shot, no doubt. I will also add that he wasn't nearly given enough credit for his toughness. I can remember the VT game we lost in OT up there, the kid took one heck of a shot during the OT period that would have sent most QBs to the sideline or worse. He fought his way back to his feet and kept playing (probably when he shouldn't have, because he threw a pick the next play). IMHO I think the coaching staff missed on calling a TO for damage assessment. In short, TW was a pretty darned tough kid.

 

[ATL1]

I don't mind JT sliding or running out of bounds.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I don't mind JT sliding or running out of bounds.

How about on 3rd down with a yard to go for the first in a tight ball game in the closing minutes?