In Georgia Tech’s scrimmage this past Saturday, B-back Patrick Skov had two-thirds the number of carries (eight) that he’d been given all last season as a Stanford fullback (12). Following the Yellow Jackets’ preseason practice Tuesday, though, the graduate transfer asserted that isn’t why he traded northern California for Atlanta.
“You get maybe a little more attention, but that’s not why we play football,” Skov said in his first public comments since his transfer was worked out in April. “You play football to win games.”
Skov raved about the combination of academics and football at Tech, the same mixture that led him to attend Stanford. He drew the comparisons of the two teams as both playing a hard-nosed brand with the intent of slowly moving the ball down the field while mixing in big plays.
“I’m happy with my football situation, excited to get some wins here in Atlanta and also as well as being able to get one of the best educations and get my MBA,” he said.
Skov has moved up the depth chart to share the No. 1 spot with first-year freshman Marcus Marshall. Coach Paul Johnson has said he expects both players, as well as second-stringer Marcus Allen, to all play. Johnson said Tuesday that Skov is “making the case to be the No. 1 guy, he sure is.”
Skov said watching a lot of game video of former B-backs Synjyn Days and Zach Laskey has helped in his learning process. He likened himself to a freshman absorbing the Tech spread-option offense, albeit one with four years of college football experience, having redshirted and then played three seasons for the Cardinal.
With that experience, “you can’t overestimate how much value that has, and just understanding defenses, understanding what defenses are trying to do – what a 3-technique is,” Skov said, referring to a particular positioning of a defensive lineman on the line of scrimmage.
As was Johnson, Skov was encouraged by his performance in Saturday’s scrimmage, when he turned the eight carries into 86 yards and two touchdowns.
“It’s a little bit different in being able to get 10, 12 plays in a row,” he said. “I think my style kind of feeds into that, kind of getting into a role and kind of getting a feel for the defense and be able to be physical and get after them a little bit.”
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