Georgia Tech defense looking to follow strong opening performance

The debut of Blake Gideon’s defense was solid. But by no means perfect.

“I feel like we could have done way better,” Georgia Tech linebacker Cayman Spaulding said Wednesday, adding he gave Tech’s defense a B grade for its performance. “Actually, we didn’t have no takeovers. I feel like we could have done way better on that, because as a defense, you need takeovers to win the game.”

In his first season as defensive coordinator for the Yellow Jackets (1-0), and as a defensive coordinator for the first time in his career, Gideon got the win under his belt after watching his unit hold Colorado to 20 points. And the biggest notch in his defense’s belt was holding the Buffaloes to seven points as Tech turned the ball over three times in three possessions to start the game.

But the Jackets did give up 305 yards of offense at 5.08 yards per play. They also allowed Colorado to run for 4.7 yards per carry, didn’t record a sack and, to Spaulding’s point, failed to notch a takeaway.

“Oh, goodness, there’s a ton. There’s a ton,” Tech coach Brent Key said when asked what needs to improve on defense this week when his team faces Gardner-Webb at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. “The one thing I thought we did, we obviously gave up some explosives, but there were a lot less than we’ve seen in the past. They did a good job of keeping the ball in front of them. We had a couple of busts that we shouldn’t have had, and we gotta clean those up this week.”

For as many areas as there are for the Jackets to improve on, there were plenty of bright spots as well.

Tech totaled six tackles for loss, their most since 11 at Virginia Tech on Oct. 26. It also held the Buffaloes to 10 points on their final two red-zone trips, and five punts and a turnover on downs out of 10 Colorado possessions.

Individually, cornerbacks Ahmari Harvey, Daiquan White and Zachary Tobe, defensive end Brayden Manley, safety Omar Daniels, linebackers Kyle Efford and E.J. Lightsey and defensive linemen Akelo Stone and Matthew Alexander stood out, according to Pro Football Focus grades. As a group, Key said his team’s nine missed tackles were the fewest in the three season-opening games he has coached.

Key added that the defense has to be stronger in communication and, ultimately, in its consistency moving forward.

“The teams that play long in college football are the teams that can get into October and November and still have great fundamentals, still be technically savvy, be technicians of the game, use their hands, finish blocks, get off of blocks. That’s something we stress every day,” Key said. “Every day we should go out on that field and improve in some sort of fundamental technique. We gotta continue to use our hands better, we gotta close space better, we gotta set the edge better, I could go on and on with things we gotta improve on. But all those things were touched on this week.

“There’s some of them that were chosen for emphasis because you take 100 things and can’t expect somebody in four days to get better at all of them. So let’s take the ones that are most important right now. Let’s master those things. Not lose what we’ve accomplished prior of what we’re doing well and continue to improve throughout the season. It’s a long season, and we want it to be an even longer season.”

Tech also didn’t have its full complement of players in the opener, with defensive back Rodney Shelley and defensive end A.J. Hoffler out with injury. Defensive end Ronald Triplette also left early in the Colorado game because of injury and did not return.