Situated firmly behind the dynamic Justin Thomas, Tim Byerly doesn’t get a whole lot of invitations to the party.
And when he does, it is not always a good thing. Remember last season in the loss to Duke? With Thomas ineffective and banged up, backup quarterback Byerly got some of the most significant playing time of his career. And he cobbled together some nice numbers (7-for-10 passing, 125 yards, even had a reception). But who was going to celebrate that in such a painful loss?
Thursday night was much different. It was all good. With Georgia Tech steamrolling undermanned Alcorn State, Byerly was running the offense by the first possession of the second quarter. It was a backup’s dream, a chance to make good on a lot of unrequited practice time. He eventually would give way to his back-up, the real emergency guy, Brady Swilling.
Such a game as Thursday’s was meant for the senior from Alpharetta and Chattahoochee High, the good soldier who came as a walk-on transfer from Middle Tennessee State in 2012 and hung in there until there was no choice but to give him a scholarship.
The Yellow Jackets slowed not one bit when he appeared in the second quarter. His first three plays (not counting his brief insertion for an unsuccessful goal-line run in the first quarter): rush for 4 yards; rush for 14; 23-yard completion to Ricky Jeune. He drove the Jackets 71 yards in just six plays, giving Tech a 41-0 lead.
Byerly got in on the scoring on Tech’s next possession — this was a night for everyone on offense to fatten up — when he plowed in from eight yards out.
He finished the night 42 rushing yards, and one completion on one attempt for 23 yards (this was no game for the Yellow Jackets to start airing it out).
He was more than an adequate caretaker while Thomas stayed safe on the sideline for the majority of Thursday night. Welcome sights, all.
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