Georgia Tech defensive end KeShun Freeman’s numbers speak to the difference in his freshman and sophomore seasons. As a freshman in 2014, he had 9.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks, both most on the team, and 54 tackles. Last year, he had four tackles for loss, two sacks and 44 tackles. He did play two fewer games in 2015, it should be noted.
Numbers aside, Freeman recognized a drop.
“My freshman season, I think I was hungry, I was making a lot of plays,” he said Thursday after the team’s preseason practice. “Last year, I kind of was, I’m not going to say settled, but I didn’t have that much performance. There was definitely a difference between my freshman year and my sophomore year.”
Now a junior, Freeman said he is back and working hard. He said that his goal will be to at least exceed his 4.5-sack total from his freshman season and also make 60 tackles.
“So I’m going to just keep fighting, keep going, keep pursuing and try to do better than I have in the past,” Freeman said.
Freeman has a significant role on the team as its primary edge rusher. Going into his third year as a starter, Freeman can give the team a boost if he can consistently collapse the pocket. Coaches have said that pass rushes don’t necessarily have to result in sacks, that forcing the quarterback to move off his spot or hurry his throws is also effective. Last year, Tech was tied for 85th in opponent completion percentage (59.9 percent) and tied for 120th in sacks per game (1.17).
The linemen have worked on being more situationally aware – rushing differently on third-and-short vs. third-and-long – and rushing the quarterback as a unit in order to prevent him from finding gaps.
“Every year, we try to make (the pass rush) better,” Freeman said. “This summer, I could actually see strides with that happening.”
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