ATLANTA- Georgia Tech began the final week of Fall Camp on Monday with a light practice in shells coming off the big scrimmage on Saturday. After practice receivers coach Trent McKnight and a trio of his receivers spoke to the media after practice.
One of the weapons the Jackets were without last year was receiver Leo Blackburn who had a second ACL tear of his career at Tech having had the injury in both legs plus a wrist injury that hampered him in 2022. This is the furthest Blackburn has been fully healthy going into a season since he arrived at Tech in 2021.
"I think we talked about this in the spring, but Leo is a guy that there are not many like with his size that can go out there and run around. That is something we talked about before practice (today), how much he has improved from the spring to now. He has been really good and you can see him gaining more confidence and he is starting to get healthy," McKnight said. "He knows he still has a long ways to go, but it has been exciting to see him improve and what he brings to our offense."
McKnight said that he can see the gains daily for Blackburn as he adapts to getting back on the field.
"His confidence is growing on a daily basis," McKnight said of Blackburn's return. "This is really the first fall camp that he has been through healthy and I think you can see his confidence growing each and every day. He knows there are some technical things he needs to get better at and he has a lot of room to grow, but he also has a high ceiling and if he continues to do those thing that make the difference at this level, it is going to be big to have his size and the ability to run. He is learning things from Saturday's scrimmage and he came out here today and did a little bit better and that really helps him gain confidence each and every day."
For Blackburn, given his three rough years of injuries, he isn't taking anything for granted on the football field.
"It feels great and of course, it is a blessing," Blackburn said of being healthy for the first time in a fall camp at Tech this far in. "I am just taking it day by day every day walking up with a smile and I have a lot to be thankful for."
With guys like Blackburn and Lane back in the fold after serious injuries, Tech has significant depth at the receiver positions for the first time in almost a decade and McKnight is aiming to develop that more with his younger receivers as well where he has a deep room and can play a large group of receivers..
"I think we've got a really good room and we've got a lot of depth in the room. That is one of the things at other places, you might have three guys and you are trying to develop some other ones. I think we've got six or seven guys that are competing right now and some of our top-end guys are continuing to improve each and every day, but this group has a chance to be as good of a group as I have ever coached," McKnight said. "It is just the mindset of going out there to work every day and get better. I think great players at any position come in and try to learn and they want to get better at their craft and I think the guys we have in that room want to continue to do that."
I asked McKnight about Bailey Stockton, Zion Taylor and Isiah Canion and where they are at currently, he said that there is consistent competition with those guys and Stockton had a good spring and a good summer and he has some things he needs to work on, but he had a very good week and a good scrimmage on Saturday. Zion is super talented, he just has to improve upon the little things at the receiver position each and every day, but he has a great attitude and work ethic and wants to get better and he is making those strides. He said it has been good to get Canion back and they are easing him back into it, but he is a guy who has to improve on his technique and honing his craft because he was a HS QB but he adds another dimension out there with size and speed and really good ball skills. They have Canion playing multiple receiver spots and he is pleased with what he has seen so far.
McKnight said the WR does a good job of cheering on each other and not making it about individual successes but how the group does overall competition. He said they are good at holding each other accountable as well.
McKnight said that Malik Rutherford is the leader of the room and brings the energy and that positive attitude every day and he is out there coaching up the younger guys on the field and he brings that with him. He said Chase Lane has really stepped up his leadership and is having a good camp so far. He pulls some of the younger guys aside and coaches them up a little bit. He said Abdul Janneh and Christian Leary both have done a nice job as older leaders and Eric Singleton Jr. has stepped it up as well even though he is a younger guy.
I asked how they plan to use the WRs this fall because they can go small/fast with guys like Singleton, Lane and Rutherford or size up with Janneh, Blackburn and Boyd and how do they go about deciding the way they want to use the WRs down to down, he said that is more of a game planning thing but his goal has been to create enough position flexibility where they can be comfortable doing something like that and Leary is an example of a guy who can play slot or outside and he doesn't want to be stuck playing their 6th best WR if he is the backup X when another guy who knows that spot would be better. They have some personnel grouping as well for specific situations and they will start to get into that once they have the next scrimmage and start FSU prep.
On Leary, McKnight said that his effort and consistency have been great in camp. He has great speed and the ability to start and stop and run some of those outside routes and he is hungry to be good and he is getting better each and every day. He has put a little bit of pressure on himself to go out and excel and be the best version of himself and he has been really impressed with him from the spring to now and how he is improving.
Blackburn said he feels like he has good chemistry with all of the QBs and they worked really hard in the summer to develop that part more. He said it doesn't matter which QB is in the game, he has to be ready and he doesn't even look at which QB is throwing to him in practice, it is about going and getting the ball.
Blackburn said that McKnight is a great coach and he is teaching him how to work to his strengths on the field.
Blackburn said with Singleton who had a great freshman year and Malik Rutherford, that WR is stacked and you better bring you A-game.
Blackburn said he has kept his emotions in check and he is a humble kid and hasn't gotten too high or too low and he just wants to make plays when his number is called.
Chase Lane who is on year six in college, said he is trying to take this season with happiness and joy that he has one more time to play ball. It is his second year at GT and it has been amazing and not many people get to have a sixth year and he joked people probably think he has been in college for 10 years at this point, but this is his last mission in college and he wants to make the most of it.
Lane said that McKnight challenged him to be more of a vocal leader and he has taken that to heart and he has been more vocal in camp after summer workouts. He said that McKnight has let him be himself while doing that and it is a lot of fun, he like to dance and have fun and bring that energy to the WR room.
I asked him about how the success he had early last year (he was the leading receiver through six quarters of GT's season) can be something he builds upon after his serious injury and trying to play through it last year and not being himself. He said that it was his first major injury of his career and he had to work through that mental block and remember that he is healthy and he spent the spring getting his legs back and his confidence. He feels like he had a great spring, a great summer and then being healthy has helped a lot.
Lane said that OC Buster Faulkner has done a great job of creating matchups that favor the skillset of each receiver within the offensive framework and each guy brings something unique to the table and between the motions and other things they are doing a great job of putting guys in a place to make plays.
Singleton said he changed numbers because 2 became available and Coach Key asked if he wanted it so he figured why not and decided to rock #2.
Singleton feels like the whole WR made major strides this summer and into fall camp. He said the game is really slowing down for him now as he has more reps under his belt as well.
Singleton said he has worked on using his speed to his advantage especially when teams try to jam him at the LOS.
I asked him who the best matchup was for him at CB and who the best trash talker was in the secondary and he said Ahmari Harvey was the answer to both. He said you feel good when you make a play against him because he is quiet and if he makes a play against you, you are going to hear about it.
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