Georgia Tech’s secondary looked less bewildered against Virginia Tech on Saturday. Players fit into coverages, and there were fewer open spaces for the quarterback to throw darts to receivers.
Of course, that success was against a run-first team, so this might be a game-by-game, hold-your-breath exercise for at least the rest of the month. The trust is building, but those are gruesome tapes of Miami, Mississippi State, and Florida State gouging Tech with the pass, so you have to wonder if things are fixed, or not.
Miami, Mississippi State and FSU combined for 907 passing yards. Virginia Tech managed 159 yards.
How much was them? How much was Georgia Tech?
“You couldn’t recognize this defense now if you looked back at the Miami film,” said Mario Butler, a junior cornerback. “It's the same guys, but we're paying more attention, we’re more disciplined, and the scheme is simplified. We’re running to the ball better and not having as many missed assignments.”
Dave Wommack, Tech's defensive coordinator, said there has been a reduction in coverage packages, which makes sense because of the reduction in personnel. Cooper Taylor, a big, fast safety, is back at practice, but will miss his fifth consecutive game Saturday at Virginia because of Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. Dominique Reese, a junior safety, returned as a full-time player against Virginia Tech after a shoulder injury.
Wommack said Georgia Tech was building toward using a three-safety scheme, but the injuries and illness have shuttered that defense, and Tech is back in a conventional 4-3.
“Hopefully, we are finally getting some repetitions with this group of people,” Wommack said. “When we started out, the base defense last year was with three safeties, and when we lost Cooper and Dominique, we basically had to trash it because we didn't have the people left to play it. We lost thousands of reps on it and hopefully are starting to catch up with that.
“We took out several coverages because we weren't able to execute.”
The Yellow Jackets are 11th in total defense (377.9 yards per game) and 11th in pass defense (236.7) in the ACC. Tech is last in the ACC in opponents’ third-down conversions (42.7), which usually means the Jackets are getting beat on pass plays.
The secondary, of course, plays in concert with the pass rush, and the pass rush against Virginia Tech was furious. Hokies quarterback Tyrod Taylor completed a decent 10 of 14 throws, but he also had to tuck the ball and run because of the tight coverage downfield.
Morgan Burnett, who plays rover and is the leader of the secondary, said there has been a better understanding of who fits where in coverage.
“Basically, responsibilities have been broken down and simplified, so a cornerback understands where his safety help is and the safety understands where the cornerback is going to help him out,” Burnett said. “We better understand our reads, our fits and where our help is going to come from.
“At the beginning of the season we were going through things so fast; now coaches have slowed things down. The most important thing he said to us was to go out and have fun and don't be afraid to mess up. By doing that a lot of guys have been playing more laid back and letting their hair loose and flying around.”
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