Georgia Tech quarterback James Graham did not play well against Virginia Tech this past Saturday. Monday, he took full ownership of his performance in the Yellow Jackets' 45-0 loss to the Hokies.
“I just wasn’t locked in,” Graham said. “I really didn’t prepare myself as I did the week before. I just wasn’t executing the plays that were called and I just wasn’t in the game.”
Two Saturdays ago, the redshirt freshman played the best game of his career, completing 15 of 22 passes for a career-high 229 yards and two touchdowns and an interception along with rushing for 42 yards and a touchdown. Against Virginia Tech Saturday, Graham was 7-for-14 for 43 yards with two interceptions, and his eight rushing attempts netted two yards.
Graham acknowledged not being aware of the play clock prior to Tech’s first play of the game, causing a delay-of-game penalty, and being “greedy” when he tried to complete a second-quarter pass out of the end zone while under pressure. The pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown for a 28-0 Hokies lead.
“I could’ve thrown the ball away and just went to the next play,” Graham said. “I wanted to be greedy. I’m going to learn from it, come back and just try to get better every day in the lab and just learn from my mistakes.”
At the same time, he praised freshman quarterback Jordan Yates, who came in for Graham in the third quarter.
“He did an awesome job,” said Graham, smiling. “He did what he could do. He got the ball out of his hand and he did his thing. I salute Jordan for that.”
After such a disappointing game, playing N.C. State five days later is welcome.
“I just want to get better and lock in on the small details and just fix everything I didn’t do well last week,” Graham said. “And just have a better mindset and just put the last game behind me.”
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