Georgia Tech’s Sun Bowl win over USC helped raise morale through the drudgery of winter workouts. Beginning Monday, the Yellow Jackets will take the next step with the start of spring practice.
“I think everybody was kind of feeling the pressure of not winning a bowl game,” B-back David Sims said. “It’s kind of lifted a little bit of weight off our shoulders.”
Unburdened, the Jackets can turn their focus to improving on a 7-7 season that included two overtime losses and the midseason firing of defensive coordinator Al Groh as well as an ACC Championship game berth and their first bowl victory in the past eight tries. The bowl win, the hiring of Tech great Ted Roof as coach Paul Johnson’s third full-time coordinator and the potential of a team with 15 returning starters have had an invigorating effect.
The full effect of the changes may not be known for another eight months. But it will start with 15 spring practices, concluding with the spring game April 19 at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Following are five of Tech’s biggest priorities in spring practice.
Teaching the defense: Roof, hired from Penn State after one season, has no small task over the next four weeks. He'll have to teach his scheme and terminology, learn his new players, decide which of them fit best at which positions and re-train the Jackets to play a different style.
Players will be switching positions, such as Jeremiah Attaochu going from outside linebacker to defensive end. Even those staying put have to adjust. The defensive line, for instance, which had been coached to fill gaps and hold the point of attack, will now be asked to be more aggressive.
New defensive line coach Mike Pelton described it as “just trying to add an element to get them attacking a little more, kind of turn them loose a little bit more, give them freedom to make plays.”
Players have responded favorably, Pelton reported, but it still means unlearning one way of reacting and learning a new method.
Expand the offense: At signing day, Johnson said he wanted to "kind of broaden offensively" to adjust his option-based spread offense. He didn't go into detail, but mentioned wanting to watch video of different teams, including the San Francisco 49ers, who ran option plays out of the shotgun with quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
“We’ll look at some of that, see if we can incorporate, see if it’s as good the way they’re doing it as we’re doing it,” he said.
After serving as the No. 2 quarterback last season behind Tevin Washington, Vad Lee enters the spring as the No. 1 and a player quite suited for a diversified offense. Johnson and his staff will be figuring out how to optimize his talents, as well as those of rising redshirt freshman Justin Thomas.
Said Sims of the competition, “It’s going to be interesting in the spring, to say the least. You guys haven’t gotten to see a lot of Justin yet, but y’all will soon.”
Work around, avoid injuries: Even before the first whistle, the depth chart is pockmarked. Center Jay Finch is out recovering from shoulder surgery, and safety Isaiah Johnson and linebackers Jabari Hunt-Days and Brandon Watts will be out also, according to an ESPN report. That's four starters, along with wide receivers Anthony Autry and Travin Henry, two members of last season's freshman class. All three are recovering from injuries.
Safety Fred Holton, who missed last season with a lower-leg injury and the one before with an Achilles injury, may be able to participate in non-contact drills. The status of B-back Charles Perkins, returning from a season-ending shoulder injury in early September, is unclear.
It will give backups more practice time — there will be only three scholarship wide receivers suiting up, for example — but also will impede progress. After starting as a freshman last season, for instance, Hunt-Days could use as many practices as possible to absorb the new defense. Also, Finch would be among the players most impacted by an increased use of the shotgun.
The number of injuries at the outset makes staying healthy going forward all the more important.
Develop special teams: While perhaps the most eagerly awaited addition to Tech's special teams is finishing up his senior year at Westminster — kicker Harrison Butker — special-teams coordinator David Walkosky can address shortcomings and continue to improve the return and coverage units.
Returner Jamal Golden took back two kickoffs for touchdowns last season — the Jackets’ first since 1998 — but the Jackets also had numerous costly slip-ups and were hampered by an inconsistent kicking game.
Butker’s impending arrival and the return of punters Sean Poole and Ryan Rodwell figures to boost the competition among the specialists.
Build on the finish: With the bowl win, a senior-heavy roster, the returning starters and the promise of Lee, there is plenty of good feeling surrounding the team. Johnson was pleased with the work put in during winter workouts. The Jackets need to take that effort and attitude back to the grind of the practice field.
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