Zach Gibson is not as bad as he looked.

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SilverFox81

Georgia Tech Fan
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I’m not. I think he’s significantly better than he looked last night. There is a lot of blame to go around and it’s unfair to put it all on him, which seems to be message around here.

People need to get a grip. First game for the kid, and the coaches did not prepare him or themselves(looking at you, Chip Long).

I think with some more experience he’ll look serviceable.
OK, the coaches didn't help him but 12 incomplete passes? The coaches aren't throwing the balls, Gibson is.
 

CEB

Helluva Engineer
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The really weird thing is that he seemed like a guy with tons of fire and grit. When he took that shot on the FG drive, got animated, and talked trash, that was kind of exciting. Later in the game he took another hit that could have been called a late hit and did pretty much the same thing. He looked like a guy struggling to play well but at least he's in there fighting. Then, he whimpers out of bounds on the final play. It made little sense.
He had good intentions, no doubt. To me, it looked like he had seen little full speed and zero live action. In practice he had it drilled into him;
- don’t beat yourself
- make easy decisions
- value the football
- let people around you make plays

All of which is probably appropriate for a backup but he took it to extreme. It’s also great in a tie game or with a lead... but...

He does not have pocket presence. That’s due to no live reps. He took sacks because he isn’t a runner. Several sacks, especially late, were holding the ball forever because UVA was dropping 7-8 and still getting home because he was immobile. When we had screens, he missed throws. When he made throws, we dropped balls or had penalties.
I didn’t like Chip’s “air it out” approach so frequently early on but honestly, only one or two throws were catchable or close enough to catchable to draw a flag. The rest were 3-4 yards out of bounds and beyond receivers. It looked like a kid who was terrified to turn it over, played scared and got little help from team mates and coaches. And as others have said, all the live action and coaching in the world may not be enough; maybe he just doesn’t have it.

Edit to add... the prettiest ball of the night was the TE drag called back for formation (ugh). Seems like he made a similar nice throw over the middle in the Duke game. Similar throw to Hassan on the next to last play... he seems to see and deliver shallow middle. Build some confidence there maybe?
 
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