Georgia Tech returned to the practice field on Tuesday to continue work on Boston College as the Jackets get ready for the second long road trip of 2020. The Eagles are a very different team than Tech normally faces and that presents unique challenges on both sides of the ball facing a bigger and more old-school approach on offense and defense. Jackets' head coach Geoff Collins spoke about having to refocus after an embarrassing home loss to Clemson while moving ahead and trying to stay maybe ahead of schedule in the rebranding of Tech football.
Coach Collins also shared some unfortunate news as true freshman receiver Avery Boyd is out for the season with an undisclosed injury. He got twisted up on his first career touch in the Louisville game.
"I've got a ton of confidence in this team, a ton of confidence in these players, and a ton of confidence in these coaches. We played the number one team in the country had some really good things happen for us early, we were not able to capitalize on them. We had some bad things happen to us early, they were able to capitalize on them. And then that's where the game kind of got away from this mid-second quarter," Collins said. "The biggest thing that I can say is we're much better at every single phase than we ever were at any time (last year) and we continue to get better. We're bigger, we're faster, we're stronger. The culture is stronger. The way these guys respond, the way they work the way they come to the building. The way they connect with each other the way they connect with the coaching staff, the faith, and the belief and all of those things in building a program are there. We ran into it. We had a bad day on Saturday. That does not change where this program is going, that does not change where this program is headed. I'm just really proud of these guys the way they've handled it a bad situation and come back and know that we've got another chance, another opportunity on Saturday against another really good team, you know, to show what we can be and what we can do those kinds of things."
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Patenaude said he is hopeful to have Jordan Mason back soon, I found this interesting because I had been hearing things trending the other way for Mason's return.
Collins said they spent a lot of time putting things to bed from the Clemson game. Collins said their game plan was to neutralize Travis Etienne and they were successful there, but Trevor Lawrence was able to pick them apart and they couldn't get him off his spot and he had time to make those plays plus he is just a great QB anyway. Collins said he is still involved in a lot of the defensive meetings despite his more demanding schedule and he liked the plan they had for Clemson on paper.
Collins said that Tucker Gleason was one of the developmental players of the week and he is now challenging for the holder job as well.
Collins said that Nate McCollum has really come on at special teams spots and that is why he was returning punts on Saturday too. Said he will play on more special teams going forward.
Collins said that Bruce Jordan-Swilling continues to shine on special teams and has made some really great plays there while trying to get on the field at RB.
Collins said this is a little bit of a weird matchup because BC likes to huddle and they are not used to that and their QB is best at throwing on the run vs in the pocket.
Collins said that Jahaziel Lee's decision to leave is up to him to discuss, but he loves him and wants him to be a part of the Jacket family forever, said he has really battled a lot of injuries during their time there that set him back and hopes he can find a good spot to play.
I asked Collins about the issues defending the middle of the field and he said this,
"As a defensive coach is, there's certain things that you want to have to know filled open, you have them, they'll feel closed their stress points on individuals within each scheme. And some of the times that we've been found and we lose those 5050 balls, or we just get beat. And we just got to continue to get better at those things, but our schematic package has been successful everywhere we've been, we continue to add on it and build on it relative to certain positions and body types that we have in the organization, every single place that we've been, and, but you know, the, what we're doing, who we're doing it with, you know, there's things that we're always going to look to improve on."
I asked Thacker if they are going to be more LB heavy because of the way BC plays and if that is an issue with the personnel and lack of LBs. Thacker said they've moved Charlie Thomas back to WILL LB and he played there a good bit against Clemson and will play there again against BC who have a lot of heavy sets. He said Avery Showell will have a bigger role as well as the best tackler in the safety room against this type of team.
Thacker said they spent a lot of time today working on getting the right personnel in the game and lined up correctly against what BC does. BC likes to move around pre-snap and try to catch the D reacting and they've been preparing for that.
I also asked Thacker about playing two bigger DEs with Antwan Owens and Curtis Ryans both back in the lineup now and playing bigger with them and Antonneous Clayton on the field together.
"We actually have both. thank God we got Antwan back to give us some bigger body as we've we've lost some defensive lineman, which is always a tough spot to lose and to have attrition there where we need size," he said. "We do have some multiplicity with packages. Yes, to answer your question, Curtis and Antwan will be on the field at the same time to give us some some more size on the interior. I'm very, very happy that those guys are healthy and being able to play and then we'll we'll try to be specific with personnel groupings to be able to attack them as well."
Thacker got asked about eye disicipline and what that means, he explained it like this.
"Most coverages your eyes have a certain key that key is most often a man or a wide receiver. And then we have vision coverages vision imply that you have vision on the quarterback. So our man discipline eyes are the thing that we need to improve most every single technique has a I progression to it as well and that is at all phases again from defensive line to linebacker to secondary. So again, every time technique guys are told where to place their eyes. It's one of our most important tools. A lot of people obviously understand our feet and our movement patterns and certainly hands being a tool on defense, but eyes are often the most critical. And when explosive plays happen, eyes are very critical."
Patenaude said playing BC, they load up in your gaps and try to trap you in the run game and they play man-to-man in the pass game and challenge you with their FS 18-19 yards deep playing centerfield to clean up. He said they have some exotic blitzes for third downs.
Patenaude said defenses have been really scheming to keep AB from getting behind them and that they are keying on him as well so it makes it harder to get him the ball. They ran several plays for him on Saturday and most of the time he was covered and Jeff Sims had to check it down to a TE or similar. He also said that Jahmyr Gibbs has taken some of his type of plays away too. He said that some of the plays for Gibbs can be even a higher percentage play and he is better with the ball in space.
On James Graham,
"He was great. He was a little sick last week. That's why he wasn't ATL. He had like the sniffles kind of thing last week, and that's why he wasn't on there," Patenaude said. "He's practiced today and had a good day. He's been terrific man. I, I actually had a conversation with him yesterday, I pulled him in. And I said, Listen, I really appreciate the fact how you handled yourself, you know, you've been really mature with it. I understand you want to play. You know, as crazy as it sounds the week before against Louisville, he got, you know, we give out awards for guys who are, you know, hyped up into the game and like the juice crew type of stuff. And he was one of them. So I thought that spoke volumes of the fact that he was deeply involved with what we're doing. He was cheering him on. When Jeff comes to the sideline, he's talking to Jeff and pumping them up, hey, this is good, or this is what the defense was, or he's been great. I mean, he's, he's handled it like a pro. He understands he's got to be ready to go."
Patenaude said that Mikey Minihan has done a pretty good job considering he has only been playing center for five games in CFB. He actually snapped the ball better against Clemson than he had all season except that one bad one. He said Jeff Sims has to help him there and bend his knees to and keep it from being a fumble. He said Minihan was in very early on Sunday looking at film and he cheered him up some.
Coach Collins also shared some unfortunate news as true freshman receiver Avery Boyd is out for the season with an undisclosed injury. He got twisted up on his first career touch in the Louisville game.
"I've got a ton of confidence in this team, a ton of confidence in these players, and a ton of confidence in these coaches. We played the number one team in the country had some really good things happen for us early, we were not able to capitalize on them. We had some bad things happen to us early, they were able to capitalize on them. And then that's where the game kind of got away from this mid-second quarter," Collins said. "The biggest thing that I can say is we're much better at every single phase than we ever were at any time (last year) and we continue to get better. We're bigger, we're faster, we're stronger. The culture is stronger. The way these guys respond, the way they work the way they come to the building. The way they connect with each other the way they connect with the coaching staff, the faith, and the belief and all of those things in building a program are there. We ran into it. We had a bad day on Saturday. That does not change where this program is going, that does not change where this program is headed. I'm just really proud of these guys the way they've handled it a bad situation and come back and know that we've got another chance, another opportunity on Saturday against another really good team, you know, to show what we can be and what we can do those kinds of things."
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Patenaude said he is hopeful to have Jordan Mason back soon, I found this interesting because I had been hearing things trending the other way for Mason's return.
Collins said they spent a lot of time putting things to bed from the Clemson game. Collins said their game plan was to neutralize Travis Etienne and they were successful there, but Trevor Lawrence was able to pick them apart and they couldn't get him off his spot and he had time to make those plays plus he is just a great QB anyway. Collins said he is still involved in a lot of the defensive meetings despite his more demanding schedule and he liked the plan they had for Clemson on paper.
Collins said that Tucker Gleason was one of the developmental players of the week and he is now challenging for the holder job as well.
Collins said that Nate McCollum has really come on at special teams spots and that is why he was returning punts on Saturday too. Said he will play on more special teams going forward.
Collins said that Bruce Jordan-Swilling continues to shine on special teams and has made some really great plays there while trying to get on the field at RB.
Collins said this is a little bit of a weird matchup because BC likes to huddle and they are not used to that and their QB is best at throwing on the run vs in the pocket.
Collins said that Jahaziel Lee's decision to leave is up to him to discuss, but he loves him and wants him to be a part of the Jacket family forever, said he has really battled a lot of injuries during their time there that set him back and hopes he can find a good spot to play.
I asked Collins about the issues defending the middle of the field and he said this,
"As a defensive coach is, there's certain things that you want to have to know filled open, you have them, they'll feel closed their stress points on individuals within each scheme. And some of the times that we've been found and we lose those 5050 balls, or we just get beat. And we just got to continue to get better at those things, but our schematic package has been successful everywhere we've been, we continue to add on it and build on it relative to certain positions and body types that we have in the organization, every single place that we've been, and, but you know, the, what we're doing, who we're doing it with, you know, there's things that we're always going to look to improve on."
I asked Thacker if they are going to be more LB heavy because of the way BC plays and if that is an issue with the personnel and lack of LBs. Thacker said they've moved Charlie Thomas back to WILL LB and he played there a good bit against Clemson and will play there again against BC who have a lot of heavy sets. He said Avery Showell will have a bigger role as well as the best tackler in the safety room against this type of team.
Thacker said they spent a lot of time today working on getting the right personnel in the game and lined up correctly against what BC does. BC likes to move around pre-snap and try to catch the D reacting and they've been preparing for that.
I also asked Thacker about playing two bigger DEs with Antwan Owens and Curtis Ryans both back in the lineup now and playing bigger with them and Antonneous Clayton on the field together.
"We actually have both. thank God we got Antwan back to give us some bigger body as we've we've lost some defensive lineman, which is always a tough spot to lose and to have attrition there where we need size," he said. "We do have some multiplicity with packages. Yes, to answer your question, Curtis and Antwan will be on the field at the same time to give us some some more size on the interior. I'm very, very happy that those guys are healthy and being able to play and then we'll we'll try to be specific with personnel groupings to be able to attack them as well."
Thacker got asked about eye disicipline and what that means, he explained it like this.
"Most coverages your eyes have a certain key that key is most often a man or a wide receiver. And then we have vision coverages vision imply that you have vision on the quarterback. So our man discipline eyes are the thing that we need to improve most every single technique has a I progression to it as well and that is at all phases again from defensive line to linebacker to secondary. So again, every time technique guys are told where to place their eyes. It's one of our most important tools. A lot of people obviously understand our feet and our movement patterns and certainly hands being a tool on defense, but eyes are often the most critical. And when explosive plays happen, eyes are very critical."
Patenaude said playing BC, they load up in your gaps and try to trap you in the run game and they play man-to-man in the pass game and challenge you with their FS 18-19 yards deep playing centerfield to clean up. He said they have some exotic blitzes for third downs.
Patenaude said defenses have been really scheming to keep AB from getting behind them and that they are keying on him as well so it makes it harder to get him the ball. They ran several plays for him on Saturday and most of the time he was covered and Jeff Sims had to check it down to a TE or similar. He also said that Jahmyr Gibbs has taken some of his type of plays away too. He said that some of the plays for Gibbs can be even a higher percentage play and he is better with the ball in space.
On James Graham,
"He was great. He was a little sick last week. That's why he wasn't ATL. He had like the sniffles kind of thing last week, and that's why he wasn't on there," Patenaude said. "He's practiced today and had a good day. He's been terrific man. I, I actually had a conversation with him yesterday, I pulled him in. And I said, Listen, I really appreciate the fact how you handled yourself, you know, you've been really mature with it. I understand you want to play. You know, as crazy as it sounds the week before against Louisville, he got, you know, we give out awards for guys who are, you know, hyped up into the game and like the juice crew type of stuff. And he was one of them. So I thought that spoke volumes of the fact that he was deeply involved with what we're doing. He was cheering him on. When Jeff comes to the sideline, he's talking to Jeff and pumping them up, hey, this is good, or this is what the defense was, or he's been great. I mean, he's, he's handled it like a pro. He understands he's got to be ready to go."
Patenaude said that Mikey Minihan has done a pretty good job considering he has only been playing center for five games in CFB. He actually snapped the ball better against Clemson than he had all season except that one bad one. He said Jeff Sims has to help him there and bend his knees to and keep it from being a fumble. He said Minihan was in very early on Sunday looking at film and he cheered him up some.
