The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets played their annual T-Day spring football game Friday night at Bobby Dodd Stadium in front 18,125 people, the largest crowd in recent memory. The White team won 31-7. Here are the highlights of the night:
Days struggles with pass
As has been the case this spring, quarterback Synjyn Days ran effectively but had trouble passing with accuracy. Days, who toughed it out after suffering a left wrist injury in Wednesday’s practice, was 5-for-15 for 71 yards. He ran 15 times for 79 yards with one touchdown. Several passes were far off target, some of them even reaching the brick wall on the perimeter of the field.
Working with the first team in the first half, Days did have his moments throwing the ball, most notably a conversion of a third down on a two-minute drive at the end of the first half. He threw a downfield strike to A-back Tony Zenon for a 17-yard completion.
Days also had some trouble, as he has in the past, holding on to the ball. He lost one fumble on a handoff and lost another on a run that was returned for a touchdown.
Offensive line short
One considerable reason for the lack of offensive production in the first half was the number of missing offensive linemen. The White team, led by 3-0 at halftime.
Guards Omoregie Uzzi and Will Jackson, last year’s starting guards, missed the game with injuries, as did second-string guards Shaquille Mason and Trey Braun. The offensive line was down to its last 10 players, including walk-ons, for the spring game.
The White team’s (starting offense) offensive line featured Tyler Kidney and Morgan Bailey at the tackles, Nick McRae and Ray Beno at guards and Jay Finch at center. While Tech returns all but one offensive lineman from last year’s team, the line had two players out of their usual position. Beno is a tackle and McRae has been a center.
The Gold team offensive line featured Bryan Chamberlain and Errin Joe at the tackles, Tim Seager and J.C. Lanier at guards and Catlin Alford at center. Chamberlain and Joe redshirted last season, Seager is a walk-on, Lanier was a little-used guard last season, and Alford spent the spring converting to center. The gold team finished with 170 yards of offense on 54 plays.
Secondary delivers
Particularly in the first half, the secondary looked like the strength that it should be in the fall. Cornerback Louis Young made solid plays for the gold team, and cornerback Jamal Golden consistently tracked receivers for the white team. He had at least three pass breakups in the first half, including a near interception of a pass by quarterback Vad Lee.
In the second half, backup safety Corey Dennis scooped up a fumble and ran it back for a touchdown.
The cornerbacks often played tight coverages, benefiting from a number of effective blitzes run at the quarterbacks. Linebackers Jeremiah Attaochu and Quayshawn Nealy were among those routinely flushing the quarterbacks or forcing throwaways.
Attaochu leads strong LB play
Georgia Tech’s first-string linebackers, the playmakers in coordinator Al Groh’s 3-4 system, impressed during Friday’s scrimmage.
Led by Attaochu, the quartet created havoc on the Yellow Jackets’ patchwork first-string offensive line, which played without two starters.
Attaochu, one of the bright spots on last season’s defense at outside linebacker, finished a series in the second quarter with back-to-back sacks of Tevin Washington for a combined loss of 9 yards. He was barely blocked on both plays.
The series started with Jabari Hunt-Days reading a run play and making the stop and continued with Nealy sacking Washington for a loss of 5 yards on second down.
The unit played without Daniel Drummond, who didn’t dress after coach Paul Johnson announced Drummond was suspended for the first 1 ½ games of the pending season.
Nealy had four tackles in the first half, Hunt-Days three more and a pass break-up, and Attaochu at least three, including the sacks.
The second-string linebackers also played well.
Outside linebacker Brandon Watts made the hit of the night, dropping wide receiver Jeremy Moore for an 8-yard loss. On the misdirection play, Moore ran an end-around from the left side, taking the pitch from quarterback Synjyn Days as they ran in opposite directions. Watts read the play and attacked Moore as he took the pitch.
Unclear read on special teams
Because of the rules in place, it was difficult to tell what new special-teams coordinator Dave Walkosky’s impact will be.
Coach Paul Johnson hired Walkosky in the offseason to supervise special teams. The decision was a change in philosophy for Johnson, who traditionally has divided the special-teams coaching duties among his assistants. Walkosky will try to upgrade a kickoff-return unit whose average national ranking in Johnson’s first four seasons at Tech was 91st. Tech’s average rank in net punting was 69th.
During Friday’s scrimmage, teams kicked without a rush and returns weren’t allowed. There were some highlights.
Michael McDonald, a sophomore from Woodward Academy, hit a high pooch kick that landed around 15-yard line and rolled to the 2 in the first half.
There was one miscue in the return game when David Sims dropped a punt that rolled several yards behind him. Johnson appeared to ask Sims what happened after the play.
David Scully kicked a 42-yard field goal for the only points of the first half.
Tough time for B-backs
The B-backs for both teams had a difficult time finding creases.
The group is trying to improve upon last year’s production in which David Sims led with 698 yards on 135 carries. His predecessors, Jonathan Dwyer and Anthony Allen, averaged 1,369 yards on 135 carries.
Sims, a converted quarterback, said earlier this year that he was learning to trust running through holes that may not seem obvious.
There weren’t many holes opened Friday for Sims, Charles Perkins or Zach Laskey.
Laskey did have a Dwyer-like run in which he leaped over a defensive lineman, cut left and ran upfield for several yards before being tackled.
Lee impresses with touch
Vad Lee showed glimpses of potential, showing the most accurate passing arm of the four quarterbacks.
Lee started with the second-string offense but moved to the first-string in the second half, throwing a 12-yard touchdown pass to Tony Zenon in the second half and added another 12-yarder on a nice touch pass to Chris Jackson in the corner.
Lee redshirted last season after a prolific high school career in Durham, N.C. However, Tech fans have clamored to see him play.
Lee showed poise in the pocket Friday, unofficially completing more than 50 percent of his passes.
Jonathan Dwyer and Anthony Allen averaged 1,368.7 yards and 11 touchdowns at B-back and were named first-team All-ACC twice and once, respectively. In 12 games, Sims gained 698 yards on 135 carries with seven touchdowns. Perhaps more noteworthy was the relatively small number of long runs. Where Dwyer and Allen averaged 14.3 runs of 20 yards or more, Sims had four.
Etc.
After using the shotgun formation often in open scrimmages on the past two Saturdays, the Tech offense ran all of its plays with the quarterback under center Friday night. Players had been enthusiastic about the diversity and break from routine that the shotgun brought. ... Among former players in attendance: four seniors off of last year’s team — A-back Roddy Jones, linebacker Steven Sylvester, defensive end Jason Peters and wide receiver Tyler Melton. Former wide receiver Stephen Hill, pegged to go in the first or early in the second round of next week’s NFL draft, was also on the sidelines.
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