ATLANTA- Georgia Tech hits the final quarter of the season starting with Boston College on Saturday afternoon in Bobby Dodd Stadium and head coach Geoff Collins and his coordinators spoke to the media on Tuesday about what they expect from the Eagles and how to measure progress in year three when the Jackets remain stuck on three wins for the third straight season. Can they get number four on Saturday?
Collins said looking back at the film, penalties were the real killer at Miami as they had several drive killers and extenders along with the two big pass plays to Charleston Rambo including the flea-flicker.
"Penalties got us and extended drives and that cannot happen. We are playing this closer, you have got to create margin not eliminate the margin for yourself," Collins said. "Then the other piece was the two big pass plays that got us, one was on third and 12 and we needed a stop and had a miscommunication and they ended up scoring on us and the other was was the first play out of the half on the flea-flicker. I showed that to the entire team today and that was the story of the game. We have a lot of big-time players making big plays and they had the attitude and mindset to go down there and play at a high level and they did, but just a couple of key plays ended up hurting us."
When asked about needing to win more games to show progress this year, Collins had a simple answer.
"I think we are showing progress. The team that you see out there competing every single week has grown and developed. I think that is obvious, the growth and development in this program. If you can't see how much we have grown, how much we have developed, you don't want to see it," Collins said. "We want to win every game. Having Boston College a really good ACC opponent coming into town, our focus will be to the right way to win the game."
Collins said the theme of last week was big-time players make big-time plays and they had a couple from Jaylon King on the fumble-six and Juanyeh Thomas on the pick-two that was a 4-pt swing. He said he showed the team those plays, he said on Juanyeh's return Sylvain Yondjouen and Zamari Walton both had big plays to help make that happen on effort on the return.
Collins said they still have too many key penalties and they had two that kept them on the field and extended drives on third and long when they should've been off the field.
Collins said that Henry Freer had to play for an injured Cade Long last week and he stepped in and had one miscue on the snap to David Shanahan out of their own end zone and David made a great play to get the ball off out to the 50, but Miami was able to score on the short field.
Collins said he can't put into words how much JP Mason means to the program and said he is 13th all-time now on the GT Rushing list he was the offensive player of the week.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jordan Mason
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Juanyeh Thomas
SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jahmyr Gibbs
Collins talked about what an amazing teammate Gibbs is and what he means to the country. He said he is 3rd in the nation this year in all-purpose yards despite having so many big plays called back.
Collins also said that Quez Jackson did a great job leading the team last week and mentioned he is sixth in the country in tackles this season.
DEVELOPMENTAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Offense: James BlackStrain, Will Milam, Joe Fusile, Defense: Sirad Bryant (he got to travel and will play some special teams), Grey Carroll and Connor Mack (no idea who this is).
Collins said BC got their QB back and he is really talented and they are good across the board at BC and have a layered and physical run game and a layered passing game.
Collins said he was proud of Weston Franklin having to play in a game like Miami coming in off the bench as a true freshman at the hardest position to play as a freshman and he did a good job despite Miami lining a guy up right over him. He said that Paula Vaipulu also stepped up and then are excited about those two and Wing Green and Jakiah Leftwich, all are ready to be in the two-deep now. He said the culture is good in that room and Devin Cochran and Ryan Johnson have helped mold those guys to step in and play. Collins said that Weston competed admirably.
I asked Collins about the slew of injuries on the OL and how much of an impact not having KJ Kirby and Nick Pendley most of the season has meant to the team. He said it is unfortunate that KJ doesn't have another year and he is just working hard trying to get ready to play before the end of the year. He said that Pendley was a guy they had high hopes for and he looked good when healthy this year and has a chance to be really good.
Collins said that Jeff Sims is now 9th on the all-time passing list at GT despite still being a freshman thanks to COVID and they are just young all over.
Collins said there is a sense of urgency from the seniors on the team about winning as the clock ticks down on Cochran or Johnson's career for example, but they don't wait to ramp it up and just flip a switch, they have been like that all year. He said you just can't flip a switch on Saturday to be more competitive it is built throughout the week and season.
I asked if they are redshirting Jamious Griffin, he said they've had some really good conversations with him and hopefully he will play on Saturday against BC and he has been a great teammate this season despite being not on the field every week and he is a key piece of the great running back room.
I asked about the officiating and he said ACC officials do a great job communicating and trying to educate on the calls and that has been beneficial to the players. He said sometimes it is as simple as a guy's hand sliding up into the face of a player (penalty on Keion in the Miami game) and they have to clean that up.
Collins said looking back at the film, penalties were the real killer at Miami as they had several drive killers and extenders along with the two big pass plays to Charleston Rambo including the flea-flicker.
"Penalties got us and extended drives and that cannot happen. We are playing this closer, you have got to create margin not eliminate the margin for yourself," Collins said. "Then the other piece was the two big pass plays that got us, one was on third and 12 and we needed a stop and had a miscommunication and they ended up scoring on us and the other was was the first play out of the half on the flea-flicker. I showed that to the entire team today and that was the story of the game. We have a lot of big-time players making big plays and they had the attitude and mindset to go down there and play at a high level and they did, but just a couple of key plays ended up hurting us."
When asked about needing to win more games to show progress this year, Collins had a simple answer.
"I think we are showing progress. The team that you see out there competing every single week has grown and developed. I think that is obvious, the growth and development in this program. If you can't see how much we have grown, how much we have developed, you don't want to see it," Collins said. "We want to win every game. Having Boston College a really good ACC opponent coming into town, our focus will be to the right way to win the game."
Collins said the theme of last week was big-time players make big-time plays and they had a couple from Jaylon King on the fumble-six and Juanyeh Thomas on the pick-two that was a 4-pt swing. He said he showed the team those plays, he said on Juanyeh's return Sylvain Yondjouen and Zamari Walton both had big plays to help make that happen on effort on the return.
Collins said they still have too many key penalties and they had two that kept them on the field and extended drives on third and long when they should've been off the field.
Collins said that Henry Freer had to play for an injured Cade Long last week and he stepped in and had one miscue on the snap to David Shanahan out of their own end zone and David made a great play to get the ball off out to the 50, but Miami was able to score on the short field.
Collins said he can't put into words how much JP Mason means to the program and said he is 13th all-time now on the GT Rushing list he was the offensive player of the week.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jordan Mason
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Juanyeh Thomas
SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jahmyr Gibbs
Collins talked about what an amazing teammate Gibbs is and what he means to the country. He said he is 3rd in the nation this year in all-purpose yards despite having so many big plays called back.
Collins also said that Quez Jackson did a great job leading the team last week and mentioned he is sixth in the country in tackles this season.
DEVELOPMENTAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Offense: James BlackStrain, Will Milam, Joe Fusile, Defense: Sirad Bryant (he got to travel and will play some special teams), Grey Carroll and Connor Mack (no idea who this is).
Collins said BC got their QB back and he is really talented and they are good across the board at BC and have a layered and physical run game and a layered passing game.
Collins said he was proud of Weston Franklin having to play in a game like Miami coming in off the bench as a true freshman at the hardest position to play as a freshman and he did a good job despite Miami lining a guy up right over him. He said that Paula Vaipulu also stepped up and then are excited about those two and Wing Green and Jakiah Leftwich, all are ready to be in the two-deep now. He said the culture is good in that room and Devin Cochran and Ryan Johnson have helped mold those guys to step in and play. Collins said that Weston competed admirably.
I asked Collins about the slew of injuries on the OL and how much of an impact not having KJ Kirby and Nick Pendley most of the season has meant to the team. He said it is unfortunate that KJ doesn't have another year and he is just working hard trying to get ready to play before the end of the year. He said that Pendley was a guy they had high hopes for and he looked good when healthy this year and has a chance to be really good.
Collins said that Jeff Sims is now 9th on the all-time passing list at GT despite still being a freshman thanks to COVID and they are just young all over.
Collins said there is a sense of urgency from the seniors on the team about winning as the clock ticks down on Cochran or Johnson's career for example, but they don't wait to ramp it up and just flip a switch, they have been like that all year. He said you just can't flip a switch on Saturday to be more competitive it is built throughout the week and season.
I asked if they are redshirting Jamious Griffin, he said they've had some really good conversations with him and hopefully he will play on Saturday against BC and he has been a great teammate this season despite being not on the field every week and he is a key piece of the great running back room.
I asked about the officiating and he said ACC officials do a great job communicating and trying to educate on the calls and that has been beneficial to the players. He said sometimes it is as simple as a guy's hand sliding up into the face of a player (penalty on Keion in the Miami game) and they have to clean that up.
