Perhaps the one saving grace of Georgia Tech’s football season is that a lot of freshmen and redshirt freshmen have played, laying the foundation for the potential future success for the next 3-4 years.
They know where to go. They know the playbook. They know the speed of the game. Though they don’t exclusively bear the burden of the team’s 3-7 record, there are reasons that coaches usually prefer upperclassmen to underclassmen.
Coach Paul Johnson didn’t have much of a choice.
Because of graduations, injuries or ineffectiveness, Tech has played 23 freshmen or redshirt freshmen this season, including 10 in their first season. Six of those 10 have started at least one game. The 23 players who have played is tied for fifth-most among Power Five programs.
“It’s the most I can ever remember,” Johnson said. “I don’t think I’ve ever anywhere played this many freshmen.”
He is partially right. Ten freshmen also played in 2011 on a team that finished 8-5 and became the core of last season's Orange Bowl-winning team, which featured nine seniors among the regular starters. So, there's the bit of sunshine.
In last week’s loss to Virginia Tech, the Jackets started four freshmen or redshirt freshmen on offense — including two at either tackle — and one on defense. Six more freshmen played, as did four redshirt freshmen and at least eight sophomores. Some who didn’t start played a lot of snaps, including A-back Mikell Lands-Davis and linebacker Brant Mitchell, whose playing time increased when P.J. Davis sustained an injury.
“Those guys did OK for the most part,” Johnson said. “They made some mistakes here and there, we had some missed assignments out of a couple guys that are freshmen and some of that.”
Some of the freshmen, particularly at the graduation-depleted A-back positions, thought they may play this season.
Quarterback Justin Thomas said he began working with Lynch, Lands-Davis and others during the summer to try to get them up to speed on what to expect. They would gather 2-3 times a week for two months on the field or in the meeting rooms so that Thomas could teach them the finer points of the offense.
Lands-Davis, a freshman who has 16 carries for 33 yards in six games, said he doesn’t feel like a freshman any more, which wasn’t true early. He said he worried about what would happen when the inevitable mistake occurred. But the more he played, the more he was able to relax, which is something that Thomas said he tried to teach them about competing. Football is football, it’s about going out and playing.
“Now I feel like a player,” Lands-Davis said. “It’s getting easier, but at the same time football is a hard game.”
The redshirt freshmen, such as Lynch and offensive tackle Trey Klock, said they leaned on the upperclassmen and the film study last season so that they could be prepared for this season.
After playing as a reserve, Klock made his first start against the Hokies with the advice of upperclassmen Freddie Burden, Errin Joe and Trey Braun as the background noise in his head. Like Lands-Davis, he said it took him a while to reach a point where he could just play without worrying about what would happen.
Klock has reached that point now. He said he graded out OK against Virginia Tech with a few missed assignments that he needs to clean up, but his effort was good.
The key, Johnson hopes, is that the players can continue to develop. Tech began with three senior starters on its offensive line, one of the troubling spots on the team, which is in part why Klock and Will Bryan started against the Hokies.
“Playing together with these guys for the next few years, we’re going to pull together and understand what we need to do to be successful and I think it will be beneficial for us to play at this age,” Klock said.
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