Georgia Tech quarterback Justin Thomas is growing in his comfort level of the offense, coach Paul Johnson said Tuesday, and Johnson’s confidence in Thomas is likewise increasing.
Johnson pointed to the fourth-and-2 in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s win over Miami when Johnson elected to go for it rather than kick a field goal and called on Thomas to run the triple option. Thomas made the correct read, leading to an eight-yard touchdown run by A-back Deon Hill.
“I was pretty sure that he could pull it off,” Johnson said. “I think he’s made some plays at the end of games, so you give him some leeway.”
Johnson said that he has encouraged Thomas to have confidence in his understanding of the offense and in his pre-snap reads to change the direction of plays at the line of scrimmage.
“What you’re seeing is right, so go on and do it,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he has called a high volume of triple-option plays in the past two games, including about 75 percent of all run plays in the Miami game, trusting in Thomas’ ability to execute them. Tech ran for 318 yards against Miami with only two out of 63 run plays netting a loss.
“The neat thing is, he sees it and he wants to get better at it,” Johnson said. “When you point (a mistake) out, he knows it. He already knows it before you tell him most of the time.”
