Sitting in a leather chair in the reception area of the Georgia Tech coaches offices, Ted Roof sounded like an energized teacher as much as a veteran defensive coordinator.
“They’re asking you good questions,” he said of his players. “Like, Yeah, that’s a really, really good question. There’s no such as a bad question, but that’s a real good question.”
In the second season of his second stint leading the Yellow Jackets’ defense, Roof has reveled in his players’ deeper understanding of his scheme. The hope for Tech is that this knowledge will lead to better play and compensate for a major talent drain from last season’s team.
“It means we’re getting a lot better, and we’re probably going to be able to play a little bit faster than we did last year just because we know the defense a lot better,” safety Jamal Golden said.
Golden is among those Jackets whose questions have advanced from asking where he should be stationed or what his responsibility is to seeking the rationale for a play call or scheme.
“Now, it’s ‘Why?’” linebackers coach Andy McCollum said. “Now, it’s an understanding of the defense and understanding of the concepts. Now, it’s fun listening to the questions that they ask because they want to know.”
Before he was lost for the season with a shoulder injury in the third game of the season, Golden said that he was slowed by having to think through his responsibilities as he was lining up for the snap. With the defense ingrained in Golden and others, players should be freed mentally.
“This offseason, there was a big focus on knowing the concepts of the defense, so that we’ll know each other’s positions and so you can see the whole field better,” cornerback D.J. White said. “If you can do that, you can play faster.”
Or, as McCollum put it, “A confused player can’t play fast.”
Tech made strides last season under Roof in his first season, improving in points per game (28.3 per game in 2012 to 22.8 last year) and third-down conversion percentage (41.0 to 36.3). However, Tech lost six senior starters off of last season’s defense, three who were drafted (Jeremiah Attaochu, Jemea Thomas and Brandon Watts) and three who signed as rookie free agents (Euclid Cummings, Emmanuel Dieke and Louis Young).
Tech does regain safeties Golden and Isaiah Johnson, who missed 10 games and the entire season, respectively, with injuries. But the defensive line will be manned by three new starters who won’t have a large bank of snaps to draw upon. Still, even those players, such as defensive end Tyler Stargel, will have the benefit of a year’s practice in Roof’s defense. Stargel said that he understands his role in the defense, whereas a year ago he felt like he was “just running around.”
For whatever it’s worth, at Roof’s last job where he stayed more than one season (Auburn, 2009-11), the defense regressed from the first season to the second in yards per play, third-down conversion percentage and turnovers. However, the Tigers improved in points allowed from 27.3 points per game to 24.1 and won the 2010 BCS championship.
As for how Tech’s tradeoff of less experience for more knowledge will work out, that’s one question Roof can’t yet answer.
Etc.: Tech will scrimmage at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Saturday morning. The event is open only to season-ticket holders, Tech students and players' families. Students will need their Buzz card and should enter through Gate 9. Gates open at 9 a.m., and the scrimmage begins at 9:30.
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