Georgia Tech focusing on fixing fumbles

2014 (11-3): 12 fumbles lost as part of a turnover margin of plus-11. They tied for 93rd of 124 FBS teams in fumbles lost.

2013 (7-6): 11 fumbles lost as part of a turnover margin of minus-4. They tied for 84th of 123 FBS teams in fumbles lost.

2012 (7-7): 13 fumbles lost as part of a turnover margin of plus-4. They tied for 84th of 120 FBS teams in fumbles lost.

2011 (8-5): 11 fumbles lost as part of a turnover margin of plus-2. They tied for 61st of 120 FBS teams in fumbles lost.

2010 (6-7): 20 fumbles lost as part of a turnover margin of minus-6. They tied for last of 119 FBS teams.

2009 (11-3): 12 fumbles lost as part of a turnover margin of plus-8. They tied for 79th of 120 FBS teams.

2008 (9-4): 20 fumbles lost as part of a turnover margin of plus-2. They tied for 118th of 119 FBS teams.

Since Paul Johnson brought his ground-churning option offense to Georgia Tech, two things have been evident: One is that the attack will ensure that the Yellow Jackets are among the leaders in rushing offense each season, which has resulted in an overall record of 62-44 and seven bowls in eight years. The other is that the Yellow Jackets are going to be among those teams that lose a lot of fumbles.

Part of the reason is the frequency with which the Jackets run the ball. Part of it is that the other teams are trying to take away the ball. Part of it is a lack of focus. Part of it is just bad luck. Either way, Johnson said ball security is a high priority this season.

But when the team features many of the same players at the skill positions as last year, and the coaches are devoting roughly the same amount of time and using mostly the same ball-security drills as they have in previous years, should the fumbles decrease from the 14 lost last year? It was the second most since Johnson took over before the 2008 season. Opponents converted those lost fumbles into 52 points. All of those points — three field goals, six touchdowns — were scored in Tech losses.

The belief that the team may hold onto the ball better this season may be based on more than just hope or odds. Johnson said last week there haven’t been many fumbles as the team prepares for next week’s season-opening game against Boston College.

“I haven’t seen a problem with ball security,” he said.

He may have seen enough of it last season.

During last year's 3-9 season, the Jackets were ranked 122nd of 127 teams in fumbles lost. The only other time they were ranked lower was 2010, when they were dead last after losing 20 fumbles. They went 6-7 that season, which was their worst record under Johnson before last year. In Johnson's eight seasons on The Flats, the Jackets have lost 103 fumbles.

Because they don’t pass the ball often, the lost fumbles are partially offset by fewer interceptions when compared with other teams. Put the fumbles and interceptions together and the Jackets have an overall turnover margin of plus-10 from the 2008-15 seasons. That includes their two most successful seasons when they went 11-3 in 2014 with 12 fumbles lost but an overall turnover margin of plus-11, and 11-3 in 2009 when they again lost 12 fumbles, but had a turnover margin of plus eight.

Johnson said the difference in the team's ability not to fumble in 2014 compared with other seasons is that the Jackets were filled with upperclassmen at the skill positions. That also was true in 2009.

This year’s squad will feature senior Justin Thomas at quarterback and junior Ricky Jeune at wide receiver. There are upperclassmen at A-back, but the group likely will feature a number of players, but not a lot, with some game experience. There is a senior at B-back, but the group likely will feature sophomore Marcus Marshall and freshman Dedrick Mills getting the majority of the carries in a large pool of players.

Johnson is encouraged that even though most of the skill position players are young, they played last season. Thomas, who lost a team-high five fumbles last season, spent time in the summer working with the A-backs, who lost three fumbles last season, all by Broderick Snoddy.

Marshall, who lost one of his two fumbles last season, said he has worked to improve his focus.

“It’s easy when you are running, or making a move, you are kind of not focusing on it, to let it drop down,” Marshall said. “I think that’s the common denominator: just making a move, just trying to see something and you’re not focusing on it. That’s something we’ve been working on in practice.”

The offense devotes seven to eight minutes on ball security during a practice in which they are wearing full pads. When they are wearing shells, they will spend 4-5 minutes. Thomas said the players constantly discuss the need to protect the ball. The defensive players will try to take away the ball, even when the players are running back to the huddle after finishing a drill. He said the focus is more intense than last year.

“Of course we were aware of it (last year), but not as much as we are now,” Thomas said.

To try to improve their ability to hold onto the ball — high and tight is the repeated phrase — this season, a different, old-school drill was introduced that tries to mimic the different body angles that the players may find themselves in during games. In the drills, described as a monkey roll and very tiring by Marshall, three players will lay side by side. Each has a football. A player on one end will stand up and jump over the player in the middle who is rolling toward him. As the jumping player lands, the player on the other end will jump over him and then lay down, as the player on the other end starts to jump over him. The sequence will continue.

“The hardest thing with ball security is simulating the position that they are going to be in, which is really, really difficult to do,” quarterback and B-back coach Bryan Cook said. “There are so many precarious positions in a game that you can’t replicate in practice.”