It was a chilly morning in Bobby Dodd Stadium on Wednesday as the Jackets continued preparations for Virginia Tech. The 2019 45-0 shutout at the hands of the Hokies remains a sore spot for the players who were on the team at the time as the Jackets aim to get back into the win column on Saturday. Senior nose tackle Djimon Brooks talked about getting ready for the Hokies.
"That is definitely some of the film we rewatched and seeing the mentality of what is coming up this upcoming weekend," Brooks said of the 2019 game. "It should be some great competition out there. Virginia Tech has a unique offensive line and they have a pretty experienced group of guys so it should be some good competition."
Djimon said they have continued to work by the 3-3-5 and the 4-2-5 schemes and they can use them both in a game like they did in the second half of the UVA game.
Djimon said they have had good practices this week and they had a pretty big meeting on Monday to go over all the issues and mistakes from the UVA game and they worked to improve the results on Saturday against VT.
Djimon said they had issues with consistency in the UVA game and he said that is something coach Collins is preaching to them about having a process and not letting up throughout the week going into the game because that consistency is very important and they have to have a relentless mentality on defense especially with stopping the run.
Djimon said he approaches every game as being a privilege to be on the field out there with his teammates and he gives max effort chasing down the ball and that is something they preach in the defensive room.
Djimon said that Zeek Biggers and Makius Scott are both progressing a lot and he is excited to see how they improve every week along with the other young guys. He tries to help coach there were he can on stuff. He said that he is a little jealous of Zeek's size and wishes he could've been that big, but said, "you get what you get."
Jahmyr Gibbs said that Devin Cochran did a great job blocking on his long run on Saturday at UVA and he had been waiting to break one of those. He said that Devin cut the end off and it was a LB blitz and the safety came down and he made him miss and it was a breakthrough.
He said that the OL did a good job blocking overall on Saturday allowing the RBs to get loose. He said that he was impressed with Will Lay and Paula Vaipulu and how they handled the situation stepping in due to injuries.
Gibbs said they finally have been able to spread teams out a little more after teams kept putting 8 or 9 in the box against them and they worked to get them more running lanes in the last game and that worked.
I asked Gibbs how he decides whether to take the ball out of the end zone or not on kickoffs, he said that if he stands on the goal line and if it goes over his head or he has to take more than a step backward that is a no-go.
Gibbs said they really could be 6-1 right now, but more realistically 5-2 instead of 3-4 and they had a chance to win or tie all but one of the losses (Pitt) and he said that is the frustrating part of where they are at. Pitt was just an overall bad game across the board he said. He said he feels good about the games they have moving forward and that they've learned from the mistakes early in the season.
I asked Gibbs if he is happy with his workload and how he approaches that, he said it is straight becauase JP Mason will knock you in the mouth and Tae (Dontae) brings a spark whenever he goes in. He said they feed off each other.
Gibbs said the UVA game was the first time the run game clicked like they expected it to with the three of them since Duke in 2020.
Jude Kelley said he has three or four different onside kicks depending on the situation and alignment that he feels very confident in and a couple of other ones that are maybe iffier but are possible to try.
Kelley said his background as a soccer player has really helped him with the onside kicks because he said he has different ways he is comfortable kicking a ball compared to a normal football-only kicker who is just taught one thing only.
Kelley said it is cool that everyone seems to have a role in the specialist room this year compared to just having a kicker and punter who do everything. Everyone is involved in the game plan.
Kelley said when you see them warming up before the game he is testing the firmness or softness of the turf. He said Clemson's field is very hard and that is how he got that onside kick to bounce like it did for Malachi Carter whereas Grant Field is very soft turf and the ball won't do that. He said they use all the different fields at the practice field as well to test different types of onside kicks against various surfaces.
Kelley said it was a huge honor winning ACC Specialist of the Week and totally unexpected.
I asked him about how close the kicking competition is with Brent Cimaglia and he said that they chart it every day and it goes back and forth, but he is right there with Brent and if you asked either one of them that day they would say they won the competition for the day. He said it has really helped him having Brent there to learn from and adapt his game.
Gavin Stewart credits his tremendous kickoffs on getting hurt in spring ball at WR, he was forced to focus on kicking only for the first time in his life and he strengthened his leg and started striking the ball better. He said he figured out how to keep his legs fresher during the season and that has made a huge difference as well because before he could kick one or two well and then his leg would not hold up through the whole game.
Gavin said he struggled with kicking only at first, but he has found his rhythm and a way to hit the ball with consistent contact every time and the adrenaline in the game is what you have to adjust for. He said the biggest adjustment on kickoffs is adjusting to the conditions in the stadium weather-wise and sometimes he has to change the angle of the kickoff.
Stewart said he enjoys covering KRs, but obviously, his goal is to put it through the end zone every time.
"That is definitely some of the film we rewatched and seeing the mentality of what is coming up this upcoming weekend," Brooks said of the 2019 game. "It should be some great competition out there. Virginia Tech has a unique offensive line and they have a pretty experienced group of guys so it should be some good competition."
Djimon said they have continued to work by the 3-3-5 and the 4-2-5 schemes and they can use them both in a game like they did in the second half of the UVA game.
Djimon said they have had good practices this week and they had a pretty big meeting on Monday to go over all the issues and mistakes from the UVA game and they worked to improve the results on Saturday against VT.
Djimon said they had issues with consistency in the UVA game and he said that is something coach Collins is preaching to them about having a process and not letting up throughout the week going into the game because that consistency is very important and they have to have a relentless mentality on defense especially with stopping the run.
Djimon said he approaches every game as being a privilege to be on the field out there with his teammates and he gives max effort chasing down the ball and that is something they preach in the defensive room.
Djimon said that Zeek Biggers and Makius Scott are both progressing a lot and he is excited to see how they improve every week along with the other young guys. He tries to help coach there were he can on stuff. He said that he is a little jealous of Zeek's size and wishes he could've been that big, but said, "you get what you get."
Jahmyr Gibbs said that Devin Cochran did a great job blocking on his long run on Saturday at UVA and he had been waiting to break one of those. He said that Devin cut the end off and it was a LB blitz and the safety came down and he made him miss and it was a breakthrough.
He said that the OL did a good job blocking overall on Saturday allowing the RBs to get loose. He said that he was impressed with Will Lay and Paula Vaipulu and how they handled the situation stepping in due to injuries.
Gibbs said they finally have been able to spread teams out a little more after teams kept putting 8 or 9 in the box against them and they worked to get them more running lanes in the last game and that worked.
I asked Gibbs how he decides whether to take the ball out of the end zone or not on kickoffs, he said that if he stands on the goal line and if it goes over his head or he has to take more than a step backward that is a no-go.
Gibbs said they really could be 6-1 right now, but more realistically 5-2 instead of 3-4 and they had a chance to win or tie all but one of the losses (Pitt) and he said that is the frustrating part of where they are at. Pitt was just an overall bad game across the board he said. He said he feels good about the games they have moving forward and that they've learned from the mistakes early in the season.
I asked Gibbs if he is happy with his workload and how he approaches that, he said it is straight becauase JP Mason will knock you in the mouth and Tae (Dontae) brings a spark whenever he goes in. He said they feed off each other.
Gibbs said the UVA game was the first time the run game clicked like they expected it to with the three of them since Duke in 2020.
Jude Kelley said he has three or four different onside kicks depending on the situation and alignment that he feels very confident in and a couple of other ones that are maybe iffier but are possible to try.
Kelley said his background as a soccer player has really helped him with the onside kicks because he said he has different ways he is comfortable kicking a ball compared to a normal football-only kicker who is just taught one thing only.
Kelley said it is cool that everyone seems to have a role in the specialist room this year compared to just having a kicker and punter who do everything. Everyone is involved in the game plan.
Kelley said when you see them warming up before the game he is testing the firmness or softness of the turf. He said Clemson's field is very hard and that is how he got that onside kick to bounce like it did for Malachi Carter whereas Grant Field is very soft turf and the ball won't do that. He said they use all the different fields at the practice field as well to test different types of onside kicks against various surfaces.
Kelley said it was a huge honor winning ACC Specialist of the Week and totally unexpected.
I asked him about how close the kicking competition is with Brent Cimaglia and he said that they chart it every day and it goes back and forth, but he is right there with Brent and if you asked either one of them that day they would say they won the competition for the day. He said it has really helped him having Brent there to learn from and adapt his game.
Gavin Stewart credits his tremendous kickoffs on getting hurt in spring ball at WR, he was forced to focus on kicking only for the first time in his life and he strengthened his leg and started striking the ball better. He said he figured out how to keep his legs fresher during the season and that has made a huge difference as well because before he could kick one or two well and then his leg would not hold up through the whole game.
Gavin said he struggled with kicking only at first, but he has found his rhythm and a way to hit the ball with consistent contact every time and the adrenaline in the game is what you have to adjust for. He said the biggest adjustment on kickoffs is adjusting to the conditions in the stadium weather-wise and sometimes he has to change the angle of the kickoff.
Stewart said he enjoys covering KRs, but obviously, his goal is to put it through the end zone every time.
