It isn’t often that Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins will offer critical assessments of his team, particularly when narrowing it down to a position group. On Tuesday, though, he was willing to go that route in a critique of the Yellow Jackets secondary last season.
“There were times that were frustrating for me, that we were a collection of corners sometimes. We were a collection of safeties sometimes,” Collins said following a spring-practice workout. “And not always a defensive back unit, a secondary unit.”
The secondary is deep in experience and talent, starting with safeties Tariq Carpenter and Juanyeh Thomas, and the group’s play last season did not measure up to expectations, although the defense’s shortcomings went well beyond ineffective play in the back end. For example, though, Tech ranked 12th in the ACC in passes defended (interceptions plus pass breakups) per game at 3.9 per game.
Collins said that safeties coach Nathan Burton and cornerbacks coach Jeff Popovich have had their units meet and work together to the goal of playing with more cohesion.
“They’ve got a chance to be a really, really good group, playing together, playing as one, and that has been a huge emphasis this offseason,” Collins said.
Penalty flags declining
At the start of spring practice, Collins made clear that the team needed to reduce its penalty numbers from last season. The Yellow Jackets ranked 119th in FBS in penalty yardage per game (74.9 yards per game). They committed 2.6 false starts per game, among other avoidable infractions.
Two weeks into spring practice, Collins said the team was improving. The team has had seven or eight ACC officials at each practice, Collins said, and gets a report after every practice about how many penalties were committed that day and by whom. Collins said that the penalty total from Saturday’s practice was the fewest of the spring.
“I think we’ve gotten better,” Collins said.
Collins has made a point to prioritize penalty avoidance. When he gets the penalty report at the end of practice, he reads aloud the names of the transgressors and their penalty. There is “really good dialogue,” he said, whenever a player is called for a penalty at practice. Around the football facility, lists are posted detailing which players and position groups have been flagged and what the penalty yardage has been. He said that team leaders have embraced the priority, holding players accountable.
“We have to fix that, have to fix giving up the ball on turnovers,” Collins said.
Kevin Harris showing well
Kevin Harris, a defensive end who transferred from Alabama after two years with the Crimson Tide, has been conspicuous in his ability to use his speed and power to create pass-rush pressure around the edge.
Harris, from Grayson High, has the potential to be a difference-maker for the Jackets, who need to do better at pressuring quarterbacks with a four-man pass rush. Collins said that Harris has been “just relentlessly working every single day” and shared his excitement about another newcomer at end, early-enrollee freshman Josh Robinson from Douglas County High.
Both fit into the physical mold that Collins has established for the position. All of Tech’s scholarship defensive ends are between 6-foot-3 and 6-6, starting at 235 pounds and going up to 270. Harris is 6-4 and 240 pounds. Robinson is 6-4 and 235 pounds.
“We’ve talked about ever since we got here – the length and the speed that we want, especially coming off the edge – and really on the whole football team, and you see that in display every single day,” Collins said.
Team ‘getting closer and closer’
Tuesday’s practice had to be abbreviated because of what Collins called “scheduling deals,” which meant that periods dedicated to individual work were cut out, leaving time mostly for team periods. When Collins informed a small group of players before practice, the message was received well.
“And they were so fired up,” Collins said. “There was genuine excitement that we were just going to come out of the gate and play football. And they did a really good job competing, protecting each other. This group, this team is getting closer and closer every single day.”
Collins called it “an exciting time” as the team is able to be around each other more frequently this spring as compared with last fall.
“We really like the demeanor and the attitude and the attention to detail of this team,” he said. “We’ve just got to continue to build on it for the last few practices and throughout the summer and preseason camp as well.”
‘Good vibe’ among linebackers
While three-year starter and two-time captain David Curry’s career has finished, Collins likes what he has seen from his linebackers, calling it “a really good group.” Returning starter Quez Jackson is joined by the versatile Charlie Thomas and graduate transfer Ayinde Eley to form the core. Eley, who came to Tech from Maryland, has added “work ethic, energy, focus and just a presence in that room,” Collins said. “It’s got a really good vibe.”
Tyson Meiguez and Khatavian Franks, who had limited roles as freshmen last season, are having “really good springs,” Collins said. Early-enrollee freshman Trenilyas Tatum “has pop, he has a physicality to him,” Collins said. “Tremendous movement skills.”
Special-teams work getting attention
Collins said that “a lot of drill work” has been put into the punt, punt-return, kickoff and kickoff-return units. All four need attention.
“We’ve been focused a lot on fundamentals and technique and attention to detail,” Collins said.
Tech will add new specialists after the semester with the arrival of kicker Brent Cimaglia, a transfer from Tennessee, and punter David Shanahan, a signee who is from Ireland.
Preparing for in-person recruiting
Tech’s recruiting operations are preparing for in-person recruiting to re-open. The NCAA stopped all in-person recruiting – official and unofficial campus visits, camps and visits to high schools and homes – in March 2020 because of COVID-19. The NCAA is expected to lift the ban starting June 1, according to a CBS Sports report.
General manager Patrick Suddes and his staff “have got things set up,” Collins said. “We’ve got tentative plans for camps, we’ve got tentative plans for official visits, we have dates set, we have things set for whenever we get the green light. We’re ready to go.”
Several Tech recruits have tweeted their plans to attend an official-visit weekend set for June 11-13.
About the Author
