ATLANTA- Georgia Tech football continued preparations for Virginia on Tuesday as head coach Geoff Collins and his coordinators Dave Patenaude and Andrew Thacker met with the media after a week away from the spotlight with a bye. Collins as a head coach is 4-2 coming off bye weeks including winning both games in 2020 off byes.
Collins said they spent the first part of last week in self-scout mode and then started working on Virginia late in the week.
“Our GAs, analysts and QCs did a really good job from the time we landed back in Atlanta late Saturday night all the way until Tuesday morning they were just poring over the data and then we spent two really good days on offense, defense and special teams poring over every bit of data and things we are doing really good and things we need to improve upon,” Collins said. “We got a lot of young guys reps out here Tuesday and Wednesday and obviously with as much respect as we have for Virginia, we went ahead and got an early couple of days on them toward the end of the week. They have one of the top offenses in the country and they’re spinning the ball around. The quarterback does a great job and they are long and physical and play really hard on offense. Defensively, they're multiple and they just pitched their first shutout of the season. You can see them getting better and better throughout the season so we’ve got to do everything we can to get ready to play at a high-level on primetime on the ACC Network on Saturday night.”
Collins also announced that tight end Dylan Deveney will miss the rest of the 2021 season. Deveney has been limited to just two games of action this fall and he did not travel to Duke two weeks ago. The sophomore tight end had season-ending surgery, but he will be able to take a redshirt because he has not redshirted in his three seasons on campus.
“Dylan had season-ending surgery and he is in good spirits, but everybody please keep him in your prayers. He is a great player in our program and has been battling some stuff and he just wanted to go ahead and have the surgery to get him ready to come back healthy next year at a high level,” Collins said.
Dylan Leonard has started five games this season at tight end for the Jackets while battling his own injuries while Deveney has been limited to a backup role when healthy. Jack Coco started the one game that Leonard missed and he and freshman Billy Ward will aim to fill the void left by Deveney’s absence as the number-two tight end.
Collins said it felt like a long time ago that they played Duke, he said that right now they have three of the top tacklers in the league all at the linebacker position in Ace, Quez and Charlie who are playing at a high-level and Collins said that Trenilyas Tatum will be a star in the ACC for years to come and they are really happy with Demetrius Knight who is on 4 special teams and Kaleb Edwards who has getting more PT at the Joker position behind Charlie. He said Ace had a great game against Duke winning ACC LB of the week.
Juanyeh Thomas was the ACC DB of the Week last week and he had 11 tackles and the game winning INT and he remembered to get down after the pick like they teach them and run to the sideline and celebrate with his teammates.
Collins said the GT secondary has been beset with a lot of injuries and guys like Juanyeh fought through it and kept battling which was a good sign.
Collins said that Adonicas Sanders was the offensive player of the week against Duke, Djimon Brooks had a really good game at NT and was the DPOW and Kaleb Edwards was the special teams player of the week.
Collins said that Peje Harris really impressed him as he had both tackles on the two picks that Jeff Sims threw and they got zero points off those including the one where he saved a TD.
Developmental players of the week were James BlackStrain, Jamal Camp and Daylon Gordon were the offensive POWs and Jason Moore, Ja’Quon Griffin, Cole Neuber and Jalen Huff were the defensive developmental POWs.
Collins said they are hoping to get more guys back from injuries this week.
Collins said that Brennan Armstrong is really good at QB for UVA and they use a lot of window dressing (motion/formations) that are unique and complex. He said Armstrong is really accurate and throws a good deep ball and this will be the 4th time in a row they’ve faced a top 20 offense which is a fun part about the ACC right now.
On the OL front, Collins said that he has talked to some of the younger guys who are going to have to step up for injured players this week and he said he feels better about where they are now compared to a year ago and they’ve matured some in that room and they’ve got to be ready to go at a higher level. They are working on position flexibility as well there.
Collins said that Adonicas Sanders is a great young man and has a great attitude every day and is one of their top performers on the catapult in the top 3 every day per Ryan Horton. He is a great teammate and leader within the program.
I asked him about the 37 freshmen who could’ve redshirt to start the year and how they are balancing the numbers and how many might burn those shirts in addition to the first 13, he said all the kids want to play and they are trying to figure that out because they have one of the youngest rosters in the country still and some of the young guys have even taken up the leadership mantle. He said there are a few guys who may still burn their shirts.
Collins said they added some wrinkles to the run game to get guys going and he said that some of the passes people see are also extensions of the run-game as part of the RPO piece by Jeff Sims and that should be factored into it a bit as well. Collins said that when Sims gets in the zone he is as good as anyone in CFB in his opinion as a QB, just has to stay in that zone more. He said Kyric McGowan has helped him a lot.
I asked Collins about Scott Stadium and the struggles there 2-13 in the last 30 years and he said that it is a little like Durham, but they have a great fan base and it is a good environment and they just have to play well and he isn’t worried about history.
Collins said they spent the first part of last week in self-scout mode and then started working on Virginia late in the week.
“Our GAs, analysts and QCs did a really good job from the time we landed back in Atlanta late Saturday night all the way until Tuesday morning they were just poring over the data and then we spent two really good days on offense, defense and special teams poring over every bit of data and things we are doing really good and things we need to improve upon,” Collins said. “We got a lot of young guys reps out here Tuesday and Wednesday and obviously with as much respect as we have for Virginia, we went ahead and got an early couple of days on them toward the end of the week. They have one of the top offenses in the country and they’re spinning the ball around. The quarterback does a great job and they are long and physical and play really hard on offense. Defensively, they're multiple and they just pitched their first shutout of the season. You can see them getting better and better throughout the season so we’ve got to do everything we can to get ready to play at a high-level on primetime on the ACC Network on Saturday night.”
Collins also announced that tight end Dylan Deveney will miss the rest of the 2021 season. Deveney has been limited to just two games of action this fall and he did not travel to Duke two weeks ago. The sophomore tight end had season-ending surgery, but he will be able to take a redshirt because he has not redshirted in his three seasons on campus.
“Dylan had season-ending surgery and he is in good spirits, but everybody please keep him in your prayers. He is a great player in our program and has been battling some stuff and he just wanted to go ahead and have the surgery to get him ready to come back healthy next year at a high level,” Collins said.
Dylan Leonard has started five games this season at tight end for the Jackets while battling his own injuries while Deveney has been limited to a backup role when healthy. Jack Coco started the one game that Leonard missed and he and freshman Billy Ward will aim to fill the void left by Deveney’s absence as the number-two tight end.
Collins said it felt like a long time ago that they played Duke, he said that right now they have three of the top tacklers in the league all at the linebacker position in Ace, Quez and Charlie who are playing at a high-level and Collins said that Trenilyas Tatum will be a star in the ACC for years to come and they are really happy with Demetrius Knight who is on 4 special teams and Kaleb Edwards who has getting more PT at the Joker position behind Charlie. He said Ace had a great game against Duke winning ACC LB of the week.
Juanyeh Thomas was the ACC DB of the Week last week and he had 11 tackles and the game winning INT and he remembered to get down after the pick like they teach them and run to the sideline and celebrate with his teammates.
Collins said the GT secondary has been beset with a lot of injuries and guys like Juanyeh fought through it and kept battling which was a good sign.
Collins said that Adonicas Sanders was the offensive player of the week against Duke, Djimon Brooks had a really good game at NT and was the DPOW and Kaleb Edwards was the special teams player of the week.
Collins said that Peje Harris really impressed him as he had both tackles on the two picks that Jeff Sims threw and they got zero points off those including the one where he saved a TD.
Developmental players of the week were James BlackStrain, Jamal Camp and Daylon Gordon were the offensive POWs and Jason Moore, Ja’Quon Griffin, Cole Neuber and Jalen Huff were the defensive developmental POWs.
Collins said they are hoping to get more guys back from injuries this week.
Collins said that Brennan Armstrong is really good at QB for UVA and they use a lot of window dressing (motion/formations) that are unique and complex. He said Armstrong is really accurate and throws a good deep ball and this will be the 4th time in a row they’ve faced a top 20 offense which is a fun part about the ACC right now.
On the OL front, Collins said that he has talked to some of the younger guys who are going to have to step up for injured players this week and he said he feels better about where they are now compared to a year ago and they’ve matured some in that room and they’ve got to be ready to go at a higher level. They are working on position flexibility as well there.
Collins said that Adonicas Sanders is a great young man and has a great attitude every day and is one of their top performers on the catapult in the top 3 every day per Ryan Horton. He is a great teammate and leader within the program.
I asked him about the 37 freshmen who could’ve redshirt to start the year and how they are balancing the numbers and how many might burn those shirts in addition to the first 13, he said all the kids want to play and they are trying to figure that out because they have one of the youngest rosters in the country still and some of the young guys have even taken up the leadership mantle. He said there are a few guys who may still burn their shirts.
Collins said they added some wrinkles to the run game to get guys going and he said that some of the passes people see are also extensions of the run-game as part of the RPO piece by Jeff Sims and that should be factored into it a bit as well. Collins said that when Sims gets in the zone he is as good as anyone in CFB in his opinion as a QB, just has to stay in that zone more. He said Kyric McGowan has helped him a lot.
I asked Collins about Scott Stadium and the struggles there 2-13 in the last 30 years and he said that it is a little like Durham, but they have a great fan base and it is a good environment and they just have to play well and he isn’t worried about history.
