As Georgia Tech’s defensive coordinator, Andrew Thacker has made a priority out of his team taking the ball away from the opposition.
That has been stressed in meetings, drilled in practice and celebrated in games. Last year, it helped the Yellow Jackets tie for sixth in the ACC in takeaways, with 18 in 10 games, up from 16 in 12 games in 2019, Thacker and coach Geoff Collins’ first season at Tech. Before his third season leading the Jackets defense, Thacker has set his sights for his defense much, much higher.
“One of our immodest goals is to lead the country in takeaways,” Thacker said Wednesday. “We talk in those terms every single day. To do that – it sounds cool to say that – but we have to train behaviors every single day. So we train, reinforce and incentivize us attacking the football.”
Averaging about 2.5 takeaways per game would get the Jackets to the top of the FBS list, or close to it. By nullifying opponent possessions and often creating beneficial field position for the offense, it also likely would impact the win-loss column. Of the 33 teams with the most takeaways in 2019, 28 went to bowl games. The top 11 teams averaged 10.5 wins.
“We always talk about where we ranked last year and the year before that, and how we want to keep progressing in those ranks,” defensive tackle T.K. Chimedza said. “Because you can’t win championships without takeaways, so that’s a big emphasis on our defense.”
While creating fumbles is the main thrust of his turnover strategy, Thacker is not preaching a high-risk, high-reward scheme in blind pursuit of the ball, heavy on blitzes and players in the open field going for the strip over the tackle.
The job of the first player to the ball, Thacker said, is to get the ball carrier to the ground. It’s more upon his swarming teammates to get the ball out.
He and his staff are trying to train the skills to create fumbles and recognize the scenarios when the ball is most vulnerable. When the ball is on the perimeter, for instance, on stretch run plays or bubble screens, those are times when ball carriers often aren’t securing the ball well. Another is when running backs are running up between the offensive tackle and defenders can attack from different angles. Specifically, if a defender is approaching from the side where the runner is holding the ball, that’s a prime chance to punch or strip the ball out.
“We work on different drills on how to get the ball out, being in good body position and focusing on when you have someone in a vulnerable position where the balls are, getting them out,” defensive end/outside linebackers coach Marco Coleman said.
Meeting time is spent reviewing plays where defenders missed chances to get the ball out.
“We regularly will show them, here’s an opportunity where, great, you got the sack, but let’s go to the next level and get the ball out,” Coleman said. “That’s just awareness and experience.”
The most opportune situation is when the quarterback has the ball, as he is “the dude with the worst ball security on the field,” Thacker said.
When the quarterback is in the pocket or scrambling, “we’re going to attack the football in the way that we tackle him,” Thacker said.
Thacker’s goal is three takeaways per game, which would be a staggering average. Between 2009 and 2019, only six FBS teams hit that standard.
Thacker sees it as a function of consistency. He said that in 60 plays per practice, the defense has had opportunities to punch the ball out between 16 and 20 times. If that rate carries over to a game, where the Tech defense is on the field for 80 plays, that’s somewhere between 21 and 27 chances. If the Jackets can be successful on only a few of those opportunities, they can change games. (It bears mention that recovering one fumble per game is an elite rate.)
“Everybody sees when you punch the ball out, and it’s a big celebration,” linebacker Ayinde Eley said. “But realistically, before you get that one punch out, you’ve probably tried 20 times before that to get a punch out. So it’s just a conscious effort and repeated muscle memory of just punching or trying to get the ball, trying to get the ball.”
The interceptions, Thacker said, “always take care of themselves.” They didn’t quite so much last season for Tech, when the Jackets secured only six. But what is expected to be an upgraded defensive front should create more pass-rush pressure, which should lead to more chances for an experienced secondary.
Whether it can reach the top of the takeaway chart, it’s imperative that the Tech defense improves. While the Jackets were hit hard by injuries and faced multiple high-scoring offenses, the bottom line is that they gave up more points per game (36.8) than all but one Tech team in school history. Collins’ plans for a winning team in his third season likely can’t tolerate a defense that is as vulnerable as the 2020 version.
A Thacker defense has done it before. In 2018, his first as a coordinator for Collins at Temple, the Owls tied for third in takeaways in FBS with 31 (13 fumble recoveries and 18 interceptions), one shy of the top spot.
“We’re just going to attack the football,” Thacker said. “That’s what we preach more than anything.”
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