Georgia Tech wants to 'hurt' teams by passing

By DOUG ROBERSON

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

For the next three weeks, the AJC will look at how the Jackets are addressing deficiencies on last year’s team. Today: pass-efficiency.

It’s a stat that Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson has repeatedly said he wants to see improved this season: the pass-efficiency rating.

Tech students can figure this equation in their heads: 1) multiply yards per attempt by 8.4; 2) add completion percentage; 3) add touchdown percentage after it is multiplied by 3.3; 4) subtract interception percentage after it is multiplied by 2.

While the stat seems complicated, the theory is easy to understand: As Georgia Tech quarterbacks coach Brian Bohannon puts it: “We want to hurt people when we throw the football.”

Georgia Tech had a 112.04 pass-efficiency rating last season, which isn’t very good. Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford led the nation with a 180.84 rating. Georgia Tech’s Josh Nesbitt’s was 96.3. Jaybo Shaw’s was 194.

Neither of Tech’s quarterbacks will pass the ball 483 times for 4,720 yards, as Bradford did. But his completion percentage of 67.9 is closer to where Johnson would prefer, compared with Nesbitt’s 43.9 last season.

“I don’t care about the yards,” Johnson said. “I just want to be more efficient at it, and if people are doing things that we can hurt with the play-action or going deep.

“If we are more efficient, the yards will take care of themselves.”

The reasons for the poor efficiency — the players’ lack of familiarity with the offense, inexperience at quarterback, and an offensive line that was still figuring out schemes — were worked on in the spring, and will continue to receive spit and polish during August’s practices.

“We’re getting better,” Bohannon said. “We’re going to continue working in that direction, but we’ve made improvements.”

And last season wasn’t all bad. The Jackets beat Clemson with a game-winning touchdown pass, but they couldn’t get completions when needed to beat Virginia Tech or to rally against North Carolina.

This year, when Tech wants to throw, it needs to know it can.

“When we have somebody open down the field, we need to complete it,” Bohannon said.

Guard Joseph Gilbert says the responsibility starts with the offensive line. While the line gave up a sack on only nine percent of Tech’s pass attempts last season, that low rate had more to do with Nesbitt’s and Shaw’s scrambling ability than it did the line’s pass-blocking ability.

Gilbert points to last season’s 28-7 loss to North Carolina, when Tech was behind 21-0 in the fourth quarter and couldn’t come back. Johnson called the pass protection shaky after that game, in which Nesbitt finished with 97 yards, an interception and was sacked twice.

“We know the challenge,” Gilbert said. “Everybody knows that we run the ball and when everybody’s stacking eight to nine guys in the box, we have to be able to pass.”

Johnson said that it’s also important to remember that last season was Nesbitt’s first as a full-time college quarterback. And, Johnson didn’t say this, but Nesbitt was coming from the pro-style offense run by former coach Chan Gailey, as well as a passing offense at Greene County High School.

“No matter what you do, he’s going to get better,” Johnson said. “The people around him will be better. I look for him to have a much better year.”

Nesbitt shares that confidence. He passed for 808 yards, with two touchdowns and five interceptions last season and said the solution to having a more efficient passing game is fairly simple.

“Get in the film room, learn your opponent, come out on the field and execute,” Nesbitt said.

Nesbitt and Shaw have looked impressive during the first practices, showing nice touches on deep balls, and getting passes to the receivers during 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills. Tech linebacker Sedric Griffin recently remarked how much more accurate the quarterbacks have been.

Wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, who caught 39 of the team’s 74 completions last season, said he and Nesbitt have started to develop subtle keys that they use at the line of scrimmage once they see how the defensive backs line up. That’s something they didn’t have time to work on last year and is one of the things that will help improve the passing attack.

“We do extra stuff to work on our hands, besides blocking, so once we get our chance, we’ll catch the ball after we get open for our quarterback,” Thomas said.

Bohannon said the quarterbacks and wide receivers worked hard on fundamentals during the spring. Shaw said that he knows that he, Nesbitt and third-stringer Tevin Washington feel much more empowered than they did a year ago.

“We’re kind of excited to prove that we aren’t a one-season fluke,” Shaw said.