Paul Johnson wants you to know — just because Georgia Tech has been practicing plays out of the San Francisco 49ers’ playbook it doesn’t mean that the Yellow Jackets suddenly will start to play like the NFC champions.
“It’s been OK,” the Tech coach said this week of the plays’ implementation over spring practice. “It’s not a magic elixir like everybody thinks it is.”
Regardless, it’s new and different, and spring practice is the time for new and different. The offense’s batch of option plays out of the shotgun, executed with great success last season by 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, likely will be on display at the team’s Saturday morning scrimmage at Bobby Dodd Stadium. The practice, open to the public, begins at 9:20 a.m.
“It’s kind of a twist for any defense because everyone’s used to seeing us in the standard spread formation,” quarterback Vad Lee said. “I really enjoy it. I’m excited for it.”
After last season, with Lee and redshirt freshman Justin Thomas vying to replace Tevin Washington at quarterback, Johnson sought ways to take advantage of both players’ running and throwing abilities. That search mostly led him to a review of other teams’ use of the shotgun with the option, a tactic which took the NFL by storm last season.
“I could name 40 schools if you want,” Johnson said. “Anybody who ran gun-option stuff, we probably looked at. All the NFL teams that did it, from the Panthers to the Redskins to the 49ers to all of them.”
When Johnson showed players video of the 49ers’ offense as spring practice began, it caught their fancy.
“I was excited because we’re running something the pros run,” A-back Robert Godhigh said. “It’s something different, so I was excited to get out and try it.”
The plays have been run out of the “diamond” formation — the quarterback in shotgun with the B-back directly behind him and the A-backs flanking the quarterback in the backfield. In the diamond set, Jackets can execute most of the plays that they run with the quarterback under center, but not all. There are also plays, though, that can be run out of the diamond that can’t be run from the standard spread formation, Lee said.
“We’ve got different things,” he said.
Should Tech be able to tap into the formation’s potential, it would be a creative step forward for an offense that was No. 2 in scoring in the ACC in league games. The Jackets could still run their bread-and-butter option plays, but also put their quarterbacks in better position to pass. Further, the different look would give opponents more to prepare for.
Against the Tech defense in scrimmages, “It’s had its times,” Godhigh said. “Still trying to get it down.”
The hiring of quarterbacks/B-backs coach Bryan Cook — he replaces Brian Bohannon, whom Kennesaw State hired to start its program — is auspiciously timed. Cook ran an offense similar, though not identical, to Johnson’s as Cal Poly’s co-offensive coordinator, and now adds a different perspective. He ran a no-huddle offense last season, for instance, something Johnson has eschewed. Mustangs quarterback Andre Broadous completed 18 touchdown passes against four interceptions and led the Big Sky Conference in passing efficiency.
“We ran some new plays today,” Lee said after Wednesday’s practice. “I’m pretty sure it’s from him.”
In his first week at the new job, Cook was “drinking from a fire hose,” as Johnson put it. He’ll need to learn the terminology of Johnson’s offense and understand the capabilities of his new players, but he already likes what he sees.
“We’ve got some playmakers,” Cook said of Lee and Thomas. “We’ve got some coaching to do, too. They’re young, they’re skilled, and that’s what you look for as a coach — you want some raw talent.”
Unpolished diamonds, you might say.
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