Thanks to our new sponsor Inteleca for helping bring back Q's Take my weekly look at things around GT and college sports from my vantage.
The whole saga with Andrew Thacker and Travares Tillman's demotion and expected parting of the ways next January illustrates something I've harped on from day one with Brent Key. If Key sees something that isn't working or is a problem he is going to use his Georgia Tech brain and try to fix it. You saw that early in the season when he benched Thacker as the defensive play caller and inserted Kevin Sherrer into that role removing the co-DC titles and you will see it applied with the rest of the defense with both personnel and coaching choices this offseason I expect.
The offense was pretty solid and mostly functioning despite some holes and depth issues at running back and receiver and some adjustments on the fly that offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner and his staff had to make and the growing pains of Haynes King playing his first full season of football with some great ups and a handful of down games.
Offensively, Tech jumped from 113th to 31st in one season in total offense.
The defense however took a major step back as the staff struggled to replace Charlie Thomas, Ayinde Eley and Keion White the three key cogs to that group and a pair of key defenders, Sylvain Yondjouen and LaMiles Brooks both suffered serious injuries in the opening game against Louisville. Yondjouen was lost for the year and Brooks struggled to regain his All-ACC form the rest of the year showing flashes, but not building upon a great 2022 campaign.
The defense dropped from a not-great 85th in 2022 in total defense to 121st this season.
So Key knows he has to fix that. The defensive issues are both coaching/development and probably a larger chunk lack of developed talent issues.
There was no four-man pressure upfront because they didn't have an ACC-ready strongside end to replace Yondjouen who was pegged to replace White's production. To illustrate how far that position was off from 2022, White and Yondjouen combined for 10 sacks and 19 TFLs last season. This year that position produced 1.5 sacks and 5.5 TFLs.
You can start to see why the defense was so bad at one position group.
Eley and Thomas combined for 230 tackles, 20 TFLs, 5.5 sacks, 2 INTs, 6 forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries in 2022. Four linebackers, Kyle Efford, Paul Moala, Trenilyas Tatum and Braelen Oliver combined for 198 tackles, 17.5 TFLs, 3 sacks, 1 INT, 3 forced fumbles and no fumble recoveries and I left out Tatum's numbers from 2022 to show how much just two guys did the year before.
So that is part of the defensive problem, lack of depth/talent and some of it was coaching. They asked guys like Moala to play outside of his comfort zone or put too much on the defensive backs early in the year and as they played a little simpler on the back end of the schedule things got better and as Efford gained his first true experience playing he really improved, but it is still a mess on that side of the ball and there were so many plays missed in the secondary and potential TFLs and missed sacks that cost Tech in multiple losses.
Now Key wants to fix that and he has a plan. I am not privy to his plan, but given how he blew up the offense and has blown up every holder on defense now, I expect many changes will come down the line after the bowl game.
As I've now infamously said Key would fire his mom if he thought it would help GT win more games. No one was more pissed they lost to UGA who was the #1 team than Brent Key. He legit thought his team should've beat that Georgia team. That is what he is building toward and it should be fun to watch it over the coming years as he lays the foundation of his program and process honed under Nick Saban and GOL.
The next hires will be critical because if you get the defense into the mid-50s with the offense staying at a similar clip the Jackets should be competing in Charlotte for the ACC Championship again very soon and on a regular basis once again for the first time since PJ's early run through 2014.
The whole saga with Andrew Thacker and Travares Tillman's demotion and expected parting of the ways next January illustrates something I've harped on from day one with Brent Key. If Key sees something that isn't working or is a problem he is going to use his Georgia Tech brain and try to fix it. You saw that early in the season when he benched Thacker as the defensive play caller and inserted Kevin Sherrer into that role removing the co-DC titles and you will see it applied with the rest of the defense with both personnel and coaching choices this offseason I expect.
The offense was pretty solid and mostly functioning despite some holes and depth issues at running back and receiver and some adjustments on the fly that offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner and his staff had to make and the growing pains of Haynes King playing his first full season of football with some great ups and a handful of down games.
Offensively, Tech jumped from 113th to 31st in one season in total offense.
The defense however took a major step back as the staff struggled to replace Charlie Thomas, Ayinde Eley and Keion White the three key cogs to that group and a pair of key defenders, Sylvain Yondjouen and LaMiles Brooks both suffered serious injuries in the opening game against Louisville. Yondjouen was lost for the year and Brooks struggled to regain his All-ACC form the rest of the year showing flashes, but not building upon a great 2022 campaign.
The defense dropped from a not-great 85th in 2022 in total defense to 121st this season.
So Key knows he has to fix that. The defensive issues are both coaching/development and probably a larger chunk lack of developed talent issues.
There was no four-man pressure upfront because they didn't have an ACC-ready strongside end to replace Yondjouen who was pegged to replace White's production. To illustrate how far that position was off from 2022, White and Yondjouen combined for 10 sacks and 19 TFLs last season. This year that position produced 1.5 sacks and 5.5 TFLs.
You can start to see why the defense was so bad at one position group.
Eley and Thomas combined for 230 tackles, 20 TFLs, 5.5 sacks, 2 INTs, 6 forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries in 2022. Four linebackers, Kyle Efford, Paul Moala, Trenilyas Tatum and Braelen Oliver combined for 198 tackles, 17.5 TFLs, 3 sacks, 1 INT, 3 forced fumbles and no fumble recoveries and I left out Tatum's numbers from 2022 to show how much just two guys did the year before.
So that is part of the defensive problem, lack of depth/talent and some of it was coaching. They asked guys like Moala to play outside of his comfort zone or put too much on the defensive backs early in the year and as they played a little simpler on the back end of the schedule things got better and as Efford gained his first true experience playing he really improved, but it is still a mess on that side of the ball and there were so many plays missed in the secondary and potential TFLs and missed sacks that cost Tech in multiple losses.
Now Key wants to fix that and he has a plan. I am not privy to his plan, but given how he blew up the offense and has blown up every holder on defense now, I expect many changes will come down the line after the bowl game.
As I've now infamously said Key would fire his mom if he thought it would help GT win more games. No one was more pissed they lost to UGA who was the #1 team than Brent Key. He legit thought his team should've beat that Georgia team. That is what he is building toward and it should be fun to watch it over the coming years as he lays the foundation of his program and process honed under Nick Saban and GOL.
The next hires will be critical because if you get the defense into the mid-50s with the offense staying at a similar clip the Jackets should be competing in Charlotte for the ACC Championship again very soon and on a regular basis once again for the first time since PJ's early run through 2014.
