Updated Rivals Depth Chart (Seniors Removed)

[gtrower]

I don't think it's an agenda-based comment on our offense being dangerous to QB's. Just because a house in the floodplain didn't get flood damage last year doesn't mean it's not at greater flooding risk, and just because we've not had a big QB injury since Nesbitt's arm doesn't mean we're not at greater risk.

Look at a bigger picture than our offense. It's fairly common knowledge that scrambler-type QB's get hurt more as a result of taking more hits. Maybe that's a myth (it might be), but you need to pull more results than just the last 7 years at Tech to prove it, and it's still not a myth about our O in particular.

Eh, you're kind of doing the same thing I'm accusing other fans/teams/coaches/media of doing. I wish I had more stats from other teams to back up the QB injury assertion - I don't so it's more speculation on my part. I'd think 7 years and almost 100 games is a pretty large sample size to draw from regarding this offense. JT does a fantastic job of not taking hits. He gets down, side-steps out of bounds, or takes it to the house. The only play I can really remember him putting himself in a bad situation the whole season was our first TD in Blacksburg where he dove from 4 yards out between 3 defenders.

Our QBs rarely take hits from defenders they don't see coming due to our schemed passing. And 4+ years without missing a drive (that I can remember) is a pretty telling stat IMHO. Where is the evidence that option QBs get hurt more often?

 

[Legal Jacket]

The thing is how often have we moved a players position in the spring and have them contribute at that position immediately? How long did it take Days to break into the depth chart at A-back or B-back? Perkins and Snoddy as well who both started at B-back but moved to A. I think we might be assuming that changing positions is easier than it really is. At best, Byerly would have a spring up on the other candidates for 2nd string B-back unless any of them enrolled early, then he would be no more experienced at it and instead we would have a freshman backup QB.

If you're talking about just using him in short yardage situations, why not just do what we have already done and have him be the QB in those situations and run it in.

The difference is those guys were moved to positions that had depth. We have no depth next year at AB and especially BB. If we move Byerly it gets him on the field and at the same time fills a need. Maybe our freshmen can do fine at BB by themselves. If they can't Byerly is a good choice to help them out.

 

[Legal Jacket]

Apples don't ripen on a cherry tree son.

Tell that to Synjyn Days. Should we have kept him at QB too?

 

[GTDGN04]

Wow, hard not to be super excited about the OL. I count 10 Fr/Soph behind the starters.

 

[QuadF]

Byerly will stay at QB, should stay at QB and should not waste his practice time trying to play catch-up to becoming an Aback. If anything, he should want to run the Bback spot if he wanted time at a position that he might actually be able to man on Sunday; a quasi-Hback hybrid TE blocking FB sorta guy. But the staff will surely want him to stay at QB, practice his limited snaps at QB and be mentally focused on playing QB

This. The most important piece of our offense is the qb. We need to ensure that we have at least a backup with experience should jt get injured. Additionally, a good backup means he can give jt a rest which makes jt less likely to get injured.

Putting TB in another spot doesn't make sense. He has a year left. Sure, he's a good athlete, but a senior with no experience at a given position won't necessarily be significantly better than a freshman and definitely won't offset the cost of losing a good backup.

Think of 2010 and the games we lost because we had a relatively new qb coming in instead of a senior qb.

 

[LegendaryGT]

Tell that to Synjyn Days. Should we have kept him at QB too?

Synjyn Days fell down the QB depth chart behind Tevin and Vad and more or less volunteered to switch. When somebody passes Byerly for backup duties, I'll be totally amenable to changing his role. Days' and Byerly's scenarios are not really comparable, though.

And Synjyn Days probably heard plenty about ripening apples, that analogy comes straight from Paul Johnson's playbook.

 

[Legal Jacket]

And a jack of all trades truly is a master of none.

It is simply too important to have a capable backup QB in this offense, maybe moreso than other offenses. IMO, we can not risk Byerly's injury nor should we be taking any reps at QB away from him to give him reps at another position.

What? When have we relied on our backup in the last 3-4 years? The last part of the dook game this year?

Is it more important to have a capable person on the bench or a capable person on the field? I'd take the crazy position that its more important to have a capable BB, especially in short yardage situations and especially in the red zone.

Has Byerly proven he's more capable at QB than Matthew Jordan? My point is only that if Byerly can run the ball well, we would get more out of him at a position where he could conceivably see the field as opposed to a contingency.

The jack of all trades quote would be possibly relevant if Byerly were going to see the field (like, for example, if we had Thomas returning kicks too). But it doesn't apply, at all, here because (i) Byerly isn't a master of anything - he's a backup; (ii) it doesn't matter if he's a master or a jack-of-all-trades if he's riding the bench; and (iii) we lose him in a year (so if we don't play him he's wasted).

We'd be much better off giving Jordan all the reps he can handle at QB and keep our fingers crossed that Thomas doesn't get hurt.

 

[gtrower]

Another thing to think about at BB - what do we do with the incoming frosh.

- We'll have Leggett as a RS-FR.
- Weimerskirch is enrolling early - a big leg up to being the #2 in 2015.
- MLD is the heralded frosh - can we afford to RS him and leave Leggett/Weimerskirch as the guys?

If not then we'll have our Top 3 BBs in the same class. That would be a problem.

 

[Legal Jacket]

Synjyn Days fell down the QB depth chart behind Tevin and Vad and more or less volunteered to switch. When somebody passes Byerly for backup duties, I'll be totally amenable to changing his role. Days' and Byerly's scenarios are not really comparable, though.

And Synjyn Days probably heard plenty about ripening apples, that analogy comes straight from Paul Johnson's playbook.

Well your first point was one thing (a QB) can't be something else (a BB). I pointed out that Synjyn (a QB/Apple) just ripened (as a BB/Cherry).

Who knows the gap between Matthews and Byerly. Days and Byerly were comparable because both were backups and not seeing the field much. I'd much rather have Byerly ripen as something else than have him rot on the tree.

 

[Architorture23]

I'd like to see some stats on how many games/drives/snaps QBs in this offense have missed because of injuries sustained in a game. Off the top of my head...

'08: Nesbitt 1/2 games for an ankle, Jaybo 1 game
'09: Nesbitt 1/2 drives for UGA intentionally twisting his ankle
'10: Nesbitt 4/5 games for breaking his arm trying to tackle
'11: none
'12: none
'13: none
'14: none

The only significant missed time was for a play from Nesbitt that was not option-related. I don't remember Tevin, Vad, or JT missing a game for any reason - maybe a play or two here and there? I won't call it a myth, but just another strange misconception that people have about this offense despite never seeing any of them with their own eyes. Add it to the pile I guess...

Tevin injured his knee on the very last offensive play of the bowl game against Air Force. It did not cause him to miss any time due to when it happened, but that was just luck. He had to have it scoped right after spring practice of the next year.

Nesbitt also carried the ball about a hundred more times in the same amount of games in his career.

 

[Legal Jacket]

The thing is how often have we moved a players position in the spring and have them contribute at that position immediately? How long did it take Days to break into the depth chart at A-back or B-back? Perkins and Snoddy as well who both started at B-back but moved to A. I think we might be assuming that changing positions is easier than it really is. At best, Byerly would have a spring up on the other candidates for 2nd string B-back unless any of them enrolled early, then he would be no more experienced at it and instead we would have a freshman backup QB.

If you're talking about just using him in short yardage situations, why not just do what we have already done and have him be the QB in those situations and run it in.

Who is the first string BB? We gonna start a RS Fr? Byerly would have a very real shot at getting PT at BB if we wanted him there.

Would you rather have a freshman BACKUP QB or a freshman STARTING BB?

My point is that we should be flexible. If our BBs, who are all freshmen, can't get it done, we should look into moving Byerly there.

Even for short yardage - give me Byerly and Thomas in the game at the same time over Thomas and Leggett. I'd rather trust a Senior not to fumble than a Freshman.

 

[Architorture23]

What? When have we relied on our backup in the last 3-4 years? The last part of the dook game this year?

Is it more important to have a capable person on the bench or a capable person on the field? I'd take the crazy position that its more important to have a capable BB, especially in short yardage situations and especially in the red zone.

Has Byerly proven he's more capable at QB than Matthew Jordan? My point is only that if Byerly can run the ball well, we would get more out of him at a position where he could conceivably see the field as opposed to a contingency.

The jack of all trades quote would be possibly relevant if Byerly were going to see the field (like, for example, if we had Thomas returning kicks too). But it doesn't apply, at all, here because (i) Byerly isn't a master of anything - he's a backup; (ii) it doesn't matter if he's a master or a jack-of-all-trades if he's riding the bench; and (iii) we lose him in a year (so if we don't play him he's wasted).

We'd be much better off giving Jordan all the reps he can handle at QB and keep our fingers crossed that Thomas doesn't get hurt.

It's all ridiculous conhecture anyways because nobody has ever seen Byerly take a single snap at BB. Nobody knows if he would be any good. Nobody knows if he would be interested in switching. Nobody knows how good Leggett, Weimerskirch, and Lands-Davis will be.

They are the ones who have played running back for the last 3 or 4 years of their lives and they are the ones who Georgia Tech staff thought were good enough to be offered a scholarhip to come in and PLAY RUNNING BACK. Byerly was not.

Just because we haven't relied on him doesn't mean we will not have to rely on him at any moment. And I prefer not to cross my fingers on that kind of stuff when we have 3 guys who can play BB and were, in fact, recruited to do just that. So what that they're freshmen. Hand them the ball and tell them to run.

 

[Legal Jacket]

I can still see Byerly helping fill the depleted A back corps. He has enough speed, though not great. But depending what goes down in the spring for B back, that might be in play. As for Thomas, he does have great speed. But what sets him apart, what springs him, is remarkable quickness and footwork. Just watched part of the MS State game again, and he hit gaps that weren't gaps. Great to watch.

The difference to me is that AB is a much tougher position to learn. A lot of BB is learning the mesh, and Byerly at least has a good grasp on that from the other direction.

We also at least have two established ABs.

My main issue with the BB corp. is that we are literally returning zero college snaps there next year.

 

[gtrower]

The difference to me is that AB is a much tougher position to learn. A lot of BB is learning the mesh, and Byerly at least has a good grasp on that from the other direction.

We also at least have two established ABs.

My main issue with the BB corp. is that we are literally returning zero college snaps there next year.

What could have been with Custis...sigh

 

[Architorture23]

Even for short yardage - give me Byerly and Thomas in the game at the same time over Thomas and Leggett. I'd rather trust a Senior not to fumble than a Freshman.

a senior that has never taken belly mesh handoffs...

 

[Legal Jacket]

It's all ridiculous conhecture anyways because nobody has ever seen Byerly take a single snap at BB. Nobody knows if he would be any good. Nobody knows if he would be interested in switching. Nobody knows how good Leggett, Weimerskirch, and Lands-Davis will be.

They are the ones who have played running back for the last 3 or 4 years of their lives and they are the ones who Georgia Tech staff thought were good enough to be offered a scholarhip to come in and PLAY RUNNING BACK. Byerly was not.

I've at least seen Byerly run with the football enough to know that he can run with the football. He's got 63 career carries and 323 career rushing yards. That's 63 carries and 323 career rushing yards more than any BB on the roster.

Plus it's a pretty well known fact that we offer scholarships to play football for us, not to play a specific position all four years. You want to keep Demon Smith at QB? How bout Synjyn Days? Maybe Dennis Andrews, he shoulda stuck at QB.

I don't know if Byerly is interested in switching. I'm not saying we should, 100%, switch him. I'm saying we should consider it. We've got literally zero experience at BB next year. We've got a great QB, and someone who we hope is a capable backup in Matthews.

We obviously like Byerly's rushing ability enough to get him in the game in short yardage situations. My point is only that, if our other BBs play like Freshmen (which they are), it may be a better use of Byerly to get him in the game at BB as opposed to letting him rot on the bench as a backup.

 

[Legal Jacket]

a senior that has never taken belly mesh handoffs...

Which means he has taken exactly the same amount of "belly mesh handoffs" in a game as everyone else on the team.

 

[Legal Jacket]

What could have been with Custis...sigh

agreed. he'd have a pretty golden situation right now if he hadn't messed it up.

didn't he just hurt himself too?

 

[LegendaryGT]

Well your first point was one thing (a QB) can't be something else (a BB). I pointed out that Synjyn (a QB/Apple) just ripened (as a BB/Cherry).

That wasn't my point at all. My point was that the QB in this offense is required to have intimate knowledge of his assignments and decisions on each of his plays, and is required to make those decisions at lightning speed with intense focus. The better he is at that, the better the offense runs, and the quicker he is able to improvise when something breaks down. This is the magic potion that, along with his ridiculous legs, makes JT what he is for us. It may not seem like much, but if you run the guy at AB even just a little, then you have to teach him some AB plays, and when he goes on the field he's got to separate between his duties as an AB and his duties as a QB. You're going to slow down his thought process by doing this, and a fraction of a second really does matter. If you intend for the guy to develop as a good QB in this system, you can't start putting him in situations where he's not a QB at all.

Who knows the gap between Matthews and Byerly. Days and Byerly were comparable because both were backups and not seeing the field much. I'd much rather have Byerly ripen as something else than have him rot on the tree.

Days was a pretty clear third stringer by the time he moved, and Byerly is a pretty clear backup, in addition to some of the work he did on the goal line as a change of pace, right now, so I'd say they are still not comparable in that regard. Maybe Matthews passes Byerly on pure athleticism, but I doubt it. Byerly is pretty öööö good and CPJ values experience a ton (something everyone seems to forget every year when looking at the QB depth chart). Days also had time to learn a new position and play, of which Byerly has less because this is his last year. If you move him, you have a far greater chance of him rotting on the tree than ripening as something else, and you take him away from his development as a QB, which is something we might need.

 

[Flywheel]

Marcus Allen was recruited as a BB and moved to LB. On the depth chart in the OP, he's 3rd string there. I bet that if coaches feel like we're in a pinch at BB, he could move back there this offseason.

Obviously it's best to spread your guys out, but at least MH is available, we were able to redshirt Leggett this year, and QW will be enrolling early. That's zero game snaps, but at least a fair amount of practice experience between those 3.