Georgia Tech’s offense will have to find a way to get more touches for wide receiver Ahmarean Brown. The leading receiver for the Yellow Jackets in 2019 has seven catches in the team’s first five games for 108 yards.
“I think he’s an elite, athletic, explosive guy that we have to find ways to get the ball in his hands,” offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude said Tuesday.
Patenaude said that teams have been more attentive to Brown as a deep threat after he caught six passes for 30 yards or more last season as a freshman, tied for 10th in the ACC. For the season, Brown led the Jackets with 21 catches for 396 yards and seven touchdowns, tying Calvin Johnson for most touchdown receptions by a freshman in school history.
In the offseason, Brown put on weight and added strength and grew in his understanding of how to play the position.
“'A.B.' looks phenomenal,” wide receivers coach Kerry Dixon said in the preseason. “He’s taken his game to another level.”
Wide receiver Jalen Camp leads the team in catches with 15 (for 201 yards), while fellow wideout Malachi Carter has the most yardage with 213 yards (on 14 catches). Running back Jahmyr Gibbs' playmaking ability has also taken some touches away from Brown.
Opposing defenses have had a say, too. Patenaude said that he called a few plays against Clemson that were designed for Brown to get the ball, but the way that the Tigers covered the plays dictated that quarterback Jeff Sims throw the ball elsewhere. Brown said that defenses have been trying to “vise” him, meaning defending him with two players, one to the inside of the field and another to the outside.
“But I think it’d be a good thing, getting involved underneath, and coach Patenaude always has a good plan for us,” Brown said. “And however he does it or how he will do it, he knows how to get players involved, wherever it is and however we need to be.”
Against Louisville, Patenaude got him involved by giving him the ball on a reverse that he threw to Camp for a touchdown pass. Brown also returned punts last year, but Marquez Ezzard has mainly held that job this season.
Sims also did throw a deep ball down the sideline to an open Brown in the second quarter, but he overshot him for an incompletion. Against Syracuse, too, for instance, Brown was targeted three times, once on a deep ball, but only had one catch. While his speed makes him an obvious deep threat, Patenaude is committed to getting him the ball in other ways.
“I also think that you’ve got to find ways to get him the ball underneath,” Patenaude said. “Dump him the ball, screen him the ball, throw him a little shallow, maybe hand it to him. He’s just too dynamic, he’s too athletic.”
Boston College, Tech’s opponent Saturday, has allowed 15 receptions of 20 yards or more – tied for 48th in FBS – but only two of 30 or more, which is tied for fifth.
Credit: Georgia Tech Athletics
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