Georgia Tech quarterback Justin Thomas wants his team to make a clean break from the success of the 2014 season.
“This team has to make their own identity,” Thomas said Saturday after the team’s first preseason practice. “Last year, this team had their identity. This year’s (team) has to make a new one.”
Thomas noted further that several key players from the Orange Bowl championship team are gone, “so everybody’s just got to go out there and do their part and not look to last year.”
Thomas took a similar view to the team’s No. 17 ranking in the coaches preseason poll, the first time Tech has been ranked in the preseason since 2010.
“You’ve still got to go out there and get your respect,” he said.
Plenty is expected of Thomas this season, following his All-ACC and Orange Bowl MVP performance in 2014. Thomas has been named to the watch lists for the Manning and Davey O’Brien awards (top quarterback in the country) and the Maxwell Award and the Walter Camp Player of the Year award, both national player of the year honors.
Saturday, with the team in jerseys and shorts, with no pads, the Jackets devoted the practice to drilling on fundamentals and learning the rudiments of the team’s offensive and defensive schemes. Thomas said he tried to help freshmen get familiarized with the offense.
“They went out and they knew where to go and what to do,” he said.
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