AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2006 > September > 11 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USKick coverage a concern
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Whenever Tech plays someone we should manhandle, I primarily worry about injuries and letdowns.
Sounds like Djay Jones is out for next week and I’m not sure about Andrew Smith. I’m hoping he will be back fielding punts this week. What I saw of Andrew was a confident and fearless punt returner who was reminiscent of Kelly Rhino.
I don’t try to read too much into a game with a clearly overmatched opponent. The defense ruled again. Did anyone notice that Tech did not allow a first down in the entire second half?
My biggest concern is the obvious: kick coverage. We have got to get this shored up, and fast. We will lose games if this isn’t fixed. We gave Samford three points in the first half by letting them have good field position.
Best sign at the game: “I want my $$ back. I thought we were playing Stanford.”
Most intriguing score of the weekend: Notre Dame 41, Penn State 17. Now how good does the Tech D look?
Comments
By old gold engineer
September 11, 2006 12:53 PM | Link to this
Just prior to Jamal Lewis interception and return for touchdown, the thought hit me that GT was on the verge of giving up more first half points to Samford than we had to ND. I don’t really recall if that was primarily due to kickoff coverages or other factors, but it was against the first string defense. Loved seeing new jerseys play in the second half. Many of those guys showed great promise. Any idea what Andrew Smith’s injury was and how long it could keep him out? His performance on special teams reminded me of Chris Reis before Reis became a starter.
By GT
September 11, 2006 02:33 PM | Link to this
Maybe the limited scholarship thing is coming out on the kicking coverage. We have less players to throw out there, but then you think of Texas A&M that has a complete walk on team handling their kickoffs against major college teams and they do much better than our guy against a 1-AA team.
By BLEADING WHITE & GOLD
September 11, 2006 03:15 PM | Link to this
I don’t think our kickoff coverage, or lack-there-of, is a function of limited scholarships as much as very poor recruiting prior to this year! Lack of quality depth prevents us from risking first or second string players on special teams. Even given that, there is no excuse for kick coverage being that weak against a division 1AA team! After he turned the play calling over to Nix, Chan personaly showed attention to special teams even to extra instruction after practice last week. I like Chan as a man and think he has extensive football knowlege, but I’m not convinced yet that he can be a good college coach. Pease prove me wrong, and show that your success is not due to Tenuta and a new recruiting coordinator!
By Davey
September 11, 2006 11:03 PM | Link to this
The whole talent thing is bogus! Samford did better coveriging kickoffs then we did. Are you saying that Samford has more talent then us…….? To be quite honest it’s the coaching. How can you let a 1aa team run the back to the 45? It’s not the lack of talent. It’s the lack of coaching. Hopefully the SP Cordinator can turn things around or he may not be coaching next year(yea i know he’s new).
By jackets fan
September 12, 2006 09:32 AM | Link to this
The problem on kick coverage, is neither talent issues or scholarship issues. It is discipline, technique and desire. Watch the tapes. The kick coverage guys are supposed to have a lane that they are responsible for. These guys run down the field all willy nilly, lanes be damned. Add to that the fact that once one of these guys gets in contact with a blocker, they never get off it. That is technique and flat out desire to get thru a guy. I’d suggest ST coach Kelly put in tapes of the Falcons coverage teams and especially highlight Jordan Beck. The Falcons annually have some of the best special teams in the NFL. And Beck is a freakin madman out there. He runs over people and is a heat seeking missle to the ball.
By BLEADING WHITE & GOLD
September 12, 2006 12:13 PM | Link to this
I could not agree with you more that the coverage problems are mostly due to poor coaching and lack of discipline. My point was that in addition to Coach Kelly, kickoff coverage has been getting special attention from Coach Chan too, and they are still ranked 118 out of 119 teams! That’s with Tech playing one of their games against a division 1AA team! Attention is being paid at the highest levels but there is no learning going on, what are they teaching them? That said we have had a recruiting problems in the past and many of these guys are not the fastest, biggest or toughest. Good coaching is needed to make up for some of this lack of tallent. Look at Texas A&M and their all walk on special teams.