No. 16 Georgia Tech recognizing its ‘Hammers’ and ‘Blacksmiths’
The genesis of it all came during preseason practice.
Brendan Farrell, Georgia Tech’s senior strategist for special teams and game management, and Tim Salem, Tech’s special teams coordinator, wanted an extra motivational piece for the Yellow Jackets competing for playing time on special teams. The solution was a helmet decal.
But Farrell took it a step further, conjuring the long-forgotten nickname of Blacksmiths that Tech athletic teams were known by at the turn of the 20th century.
“We start off our Friday meeting, that’s the very first thing they see, is these are the ‘Blacksmiths’ and these are the ‘Hammers’ for the game this week,” Farrell said. “They’re always kind of excited to see who’s on there and they give a big cheer whenever there’s a new guy that we announce. It’s been good.”
To earn a blacksmith decal, a circular sticker with the image of a blacksmith wearing an apron with a “GT” logo, hammer raised poised to strike an anvil, or to earn a hammer decal, a circular sticker with a mallet-shaped hammer on it, Jackets have to do one of two things: start on two special-teams units or start on all four.
Tech coach Brent Key considers kickoffs, kickoff returns, punts and punt returns his core four special-teams units. And he looks for special players to take the field at those times.
“Because of their buy-in, we’ve created a little bit of a special club for ‘em to be in. Those guys have done a tremendous job. A tremendous job,” Key said. “I made a point to the team on Sunday, we’re trying to play a lot of guys on both sides of the football. Some of our guys that are considered starters or very productive players, they’re playing somewhere around 27-30 plays a game. Will Kiker played 29 plays on special teams alone (against Temple), plus 12 on defense.
“That’s a lot of football game. That’s as much as anybody else. The impact they have on the game is tremendous, but the buy-in that these guys have had of impacting the game is what’s even more fun.”
Kiker, a sophomore from Gilmer County High School who Tech players usually point to as one of the strongest players on the team, leads the Jackets with special-teams snaps played with 93. Running back Daylon Gordon (69); defensive tackle Jason Moore (62); wide receiver Chris Elko (59); defensive end Amontrae Bradford (54); kicker Aidan Birr (53); and linebacker Myles Forristall (51) are Tech’s other most-used players on special teams.
Defensive lineman Shymeik Jones, defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg and cornerback Ahmari Harvey are Tech’s top-graded special teams players, according to Pro Football Focus.
Elko, Forristall, Gordon and Kiker are Tech’s four “Hammers” who all start on kickoffs, kickoff returns, punts and punt returns. Salem, known as “Turbo” because of his nonstop energy, said that quartet embodies what Tech football should be.
“No. 1 they just love football. They just understand the process of being a football player,” he said. “They’re great team players. Their love for their teammates, their love for the program and their love for playing ball, the team sees them loving playing ball, so it’s a two-way street.”
A third of the way through the season, Tech ranks among the national leaders in opponent kickoff returns (13.5 yards allowed on average) and kickoffs (averaging 64.79 yards per kickoff with 24 touchbacks). Birr has made all 18 extra-point attempts and all seven field goals he has attempted, and punter Marshall Nichols is averaging 48.1 yards per punt. Tech has blocked two kicks.
Salem and Farrell said the success in those areas, and others, is a credit to the work ethic of the players, especially because special teams’ time at practice is limited relative to offensive and defensive periods.
And that work ethic now can equate to the reward of a decal, a sticker the Jackets are taking a tremendous amount of pride in having on the back of their helmet on game day.
“The reason I love ‘em, what was the signature weapon for the blacksmiths? The hammer,” Gordon said. “I told Kiker the other day, ‘Man, we gotta come up with a handshake. We come down and crash somebody on kickoff, we gotta just throw the hammer down.’ It’s making it a little more energetic for the special teams so when you get out there you’re looking to make a play, rather than just being complacent or being conservative, you’re looking to go make a play. I love that about it.
“(Special teams is) my bread and butter. I love it. And I take a lot of pride in it because it’s one of them things where you can earn a bigger role on the other two sides of the ball, show what you got and be a leader among guys that’s like, ‘Hey, I don’t really know what my position is gonna be this year.’ But you can go make plays out there on special teams. I love that about it.”
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