Georgia Tech completed its second week of spring practice with a Saturday morning scrimmage.
Coach Paul Johnson spoke with the media afterward, providing updates on an inconsistent offense and improving defense.
1. The offense has been inconsistent throughout spring, especially along the front and was sloppy Saturday.
“Offensively, no consistency,” Johnson said. “Hit some big plays, but no consistency. We’re not good enough to have missed assignments, penalties and those kinds of things and overcome them.”
2. Despite that, the group protected the football. Quarterback TaQuon Marshall occasionally makes mistakes he simply shouldn't, Johnson said Wednesday, but he and the offense fared well in that regard.
In 100 plays, the offense didn’t turn the ball over. But that didn’t excuse the offensive line’s performance.
“They weren’t very good today,” Johnson said, while adding the second-team offensive line has been “horrendous.”
Backup quarterback Lucas Johnson didn’t play Saturday. Johnson didn't say why he was absent, but said he Lucas Johnson would return to practice Monday. Redshirt freshman Tobias Oliver played OK, and most mistakes weren’t on him, according to his coach.
“It’s a matter of him playing with guys who aren’t very good,” Johnson said.
3. The Yellow Jackets are becoming further acclimated with new defensive coordinator Nate Woody, though Johnson said it's hard to single out many individuals on the unit so far.
He did praise nose tackle Kyle Cerge-Henderson and linebacker Victor Alexander, both of whom are making plays and in Alexander’s case, learning where he needs to be in the defense. Johnson also credited likely starting cornerback Lamont Simmons for making a couple of plays.
“I thought that defensively we improved,” Johnson said. “We were much better on third down on defense.”
4. While the priority at receiver is sorting out depth behind Brad Stewart and Jalen Camp, Camp was outstanding Saturday. The junior caught a long touchdown and was stopped short of another by a yard or two.
“Jalen Camp made a bunch of plays today,” Johnson said. “He had several big plays and some nice catches. … It was good to see him breakout today and do some things. I thought he had a nice day.”
Camp caught only one pass a season ago, a 49-yarder in Tech’s 40-36 loss at Virginia.
5. Junior linebacker David Curry hurt his fingers this week and likely will miss the remainder of spring. It will require surgery, but shouldn't make him miss any more time.
“He was having a good spring, playing inside linebacker,” Johnson said. “So I hate it for him.”
In the meantime, heralded sophomores Bruce Jordan-Swilling and Jaquan Henderson are “in the mix” at linebacker.
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