2016: More Blitzing, Better Passing, Better Luck

ThisIsAtlanta

ThisIsAtlanta

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http://www.myajc.com/news/sports/college/paul-johnson-sets-priorities-for-georgia-techs-off/npyB9/

Please click the link and feed Ken's kids.
After Georgia Tech’s worst season in 21 years, Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson has chosen against clearing out his staff, an indication of his trust in his assistants to help right the Yellow Jackets’ ship. Monday’s departure of special-teams coordinator Ray Rychleski will apparently be the only change that Johnson makes.

But, in a lengthy session with reporters Monday, Johnson made clear he is ready to embrace new ideas and schemes as he and his staff continue their deep review of the 2015 season and plotting for 2016.

“While you don’t get any carryover, and you don’t think about it, just two seasons ago, we won 11 games and the Orange Bowl,” Johnson said. “So, it’s not like you blow up the whole thing and go, ‘Oh, woe is me,’ but you have to be realistic and look at it and go, ‘Hmm, we’ve got do better at this or this or this.’ We’ve got to.”

Tech did not lack for problems in its 3-9 season. A year after tying the NCAA record for third-down conversion rate, the Jackets fell to 108th at 34.9 percent. The defense, counted on to improve from 2014, was slightly better but still 91st in yards per play allowed (5.82). The kickoff return team averaged a meager 19 yards per return, 106th in the country.

“It wasn’t good,” Johnson said.

With no bowl practice to lead the team through, Johnson subjected himself to repeated screenings of game video from the season. Perhaps his two highest on-field priorities may not come as a great surprise – better pass protection and a more effective pass rush. Johnson said that protecting quarterback Justin Thomas will be his No. 1 priority going into spring practice. This past season, due to miscommunications on the line and poor play, Thomas rarely had time to set and throw. The protection became so untrustworthy that Johnson frequently resorted to sprinting Thomas out of the pocket or keeping in multiple backs to block, significantly reducing the scope of the passing game.

Thomas’ efficiency rating fell from 153.9 in 2014 to 119.4 this season, a fall from top 15 nationally (had he had enough attempts to qualify) to 89th.

Johnson said he wants to inspect the entirety of Tech’s pass protection, including the schemes that are used and how they’re coached. He said he is willing to consider adding protection schemes or eliminating others.

“You just watch it, and if it’s not very successful, you go, ‘Let’s try it a different way,’” he said. “It’s not like rocket science.”

Meanwhile, Johnson sounded desperate for the pass rush to improve. Without consistent pass rush to sack or hurry quarterbacks, opposing offenses exploited the Jackets’ secondary. Tech’s defense was 67th in opponent passing efficiency, tied for 72nd in yards per pass and tied for 85th in completion percentage. The Jackets also tied for 120th in sacks per game at 1.2 per game.

“One, we’ve got to create some turnovers and two, we’ve got to get some pressure on the passer,” Johnson said. “Because I don’t care who you are in the secondary, and I don’t care how many years you’ve played, if they don’t get any pressure and they’re not getting any sacks, it’s hard to play back there. Guys are going to get open.”

Johnson said Tech blitzed 26 percent of the time, but “they weren’t very effective.” He suggested that ramping up the aggression – sending seven defenders at quarterbacks instead of five or six – might be the answer.

The defensive play wasn’t all bad. It might come as a surprise to many that the Jackets held their own in third-down passing situations. On third down, Tech ranked 31st in opponent passer efficiency rating, according to cfbstats.com. Still, he said the defense will require the same self-examination that he wants to give pass protection.

“Certainly,” he said. “I think you do that even if you’re good.”

While citing areas that will go under the microscope, Johnson also was hopeful that better health and more experience will also spur a comeback from 2015. He said that the freshman class was probably as talented as any that he has had at Tech and that he is excited about the upcoming competition at B-back and cornerback.

He also recited the number of close calls that Tech had on the way to 3-9, and how breaks that went against Tech this season had gone for them in 2014 on the way to 11-3.

“The only thing that made (the 2015 season) bearable was the kids kept trying and they kept playing and they didn’t give up or didn’t quit, so it was so frustrating that you couldn’t find more of a way to help them,” he said. “And hopefully we got all our bad luck out of the way in one year. You’d hope.”
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so basically...we wish we had Jon Tenuta.
 
A good summary by Coach Johnson. At times I have felt he has simply blamed the players when things did go right. It is clear that 3-9 has caused him to take a deep look at how we are scheming and coaching and that he is committed to working hard to help the players be more successful. What more could we ask of him this off season?
 
Good article, only problem I see is Sewak has no idea how to coach pass blocking, that worries me. Hopefully they bring in an assistant OL coach that has some of that experience..
 
We had a ton of experience in the secondary, a weak front 7 and we only blitzed 26% of the time and only brought one extra guy?

Don't think we needed to wait for post-season reflection to see what the issue is with that.
 
refrigeratormover said:
Good article, only problem I see is Sewak has no idea how to coach pass blocking, that worries me. Hopefully they bring in an assistant OL coach that has some of that experience..
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Have you had any calls?
 
Don't want any, now that my sons playing days are over at The Citadel, I have two years to enjoy going to the games again until my other son starts college.
 
FWIW, there are plenty of issues in the trenches on both sides.

Defensively, if we are ever going to have a consistent pass rush we will need big bodies on the interior of the line. We have some potential in the size of the kids that are coming up in the next few years, but our current upperclassmen/recent graduates are consistently about 30lbs lighter than the typical interior linemen.

Example:
Here is Jarran Reed, Darren Lake, and A Shawn Robinson from Alabama - all defensive linemen are approx 6'4", 315lbs.

darren-lake-ncaa-football-alabama-a-day.jpg


Everyone we put on the defensive line this year, among upperclassmen, were consistently 30-50lbs shy of these guys. Gotsis would likely only see the field at Alabama when they are running their hybrid 3-4/4-3 sets. Really, though, we are under sized across the board in our front 7.

Shall Lawson (DE) has 20lbs on KeShun Freeman. Freeman is the size of a linebacker at Alabama. The lack of size on the interior will only make it harder for him to reach the QB at the defensive end slot.


Point is, the reason our blitzing doesn't reach the quarterback is because offenses often don't have to fear more than one defensive player. If you rewatch the Alabama game, you can see Jarran Reed shed a center, toss a guard, and plug two gaps and stall the run game. We don't have someone with the size to do that (and, presumably, the strength the extra size would give).

Is it a S&C conditioning problem? Maybe. I do think our S&C game has improved with Sisk and staff. Our upperclassmen are starting to actually have a physique that resembles a football player. In past years, I would have said we looked like a high school outfit against some of our opponents. Our improvement in muscle size has also helped in handling some of the teams we've played the past couple of seasons. We've kept it close with the more athletic teams on our schedule.

Is it a recruiting problem? Maybe. I can't tell you how hard it is to recruit because Ive never done it. Going strictly after measurable features may have a good yield - it seems to work for Saban, who has a strict method to recruiting based on size. We obviously have a lot of compounding factors in recruiting that don't need repeating. At the end of the day, we have to ask ourselves this: Can we put 45lbs of muscle on guys like Cerge-Henderson?
 
Joe Anoai was 275. Darryl Richard and Vance Walker were both slightly under 300 at their peaks. They were playmakers. TJ Barnes was every bit of 340+, and he spent several years getting pushed backward for us. I'm not saying size doesn't matter, but I don't think the answer to our DL issues is just "bigger guys". I also think you have a strange idea of what makes a "typical" interior lineman. Typical in the NFL maybe.
 
ScionOfSouthland said:
Is it a recruiting problem? Maybe. I can't tell you how hard it is to recruit because Ive never done it. Going strictly after measurable features may have a good yield - it seems to work for Saban, who has a strict method to recruiting based on size. We obviously have a lot of compounding factors in recruiting that don't need repeating. At the end of the day, we have to ask ourselves this: Can we put 45lbs of muscle on guys like Cerge-Henderson?
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Of course it's a recruiting problem, but that's not necessarily on Johnson. Saban can have that strict method for recruiting based on size because he gets his pick of the best recruits in the nation. We don't have that luxury.
 
"Hopefully we got all our bad luck out of the way....."

Wonder how many coaches of consistently top 20 teams rely on hope?

Hell, we do not even know if being in top 20 consistently is even one of CPJ's goals, like it was for GO'L. His only stated goal I ever heard from him was during a call in show last season when he said we have to rush for 350-yards / game.

He can beat ugag, vt, and um 4 years in a row and only be at 50% vs them.

Hope
 
Flywheel said:
Joe Anoai was 275. Darryl Richard and Vance Walker were both slightly under 300 at their peaks. They were playmakers. TJ Barnes was every bit of 340+, and he spent several years getting pushed backward for us. I'm not saying size doesn't matter, but I don't think the answer to our DL issues is just "bigger guys". I also think you have a strange idea of what makes a "typical" interior lineman. Typical in the NFL maybe.
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I'm glad you brought them up. Joe Anoai, Vance Walker, and Darryl Richard were all good talents.

Joe never played a down in the NFL, Darryl played on a practice squad, and Vance moved to defensive end. None of them were NFL-ready defensive tackles. The fact of the matter is this: We are playing teams who are producing NFL-ready defensive tackles. Teams all over the country are producing them. We, however, are not. With strength and conditioning programs starting as early as junior high and our ever increasing knowledge of the body, kids are coming out of high school more ready than ever to go to the NFL.

But, as I already noted in both my observation of our S&C as well as my question about Cerg-Henderson, size alone isn't good enough. TJ Barnes did get pushed around. He was also big enough to warrant double teams, and he is also the only defensive tackle still playing that position in the NFL, even if it is on the practice squad. Size matters, but good size is important.

Let me ask you this: let's say you weigh 150lbs. You are strong for 150lbs, but you only weigh 150lbs. Now, you have the task of beating a blocker in an Oklahoma drill and getting to the running back, but that blocker is 200lbs, and he is strong even for 200lbs. Do you think you will ever make it to the running back? The answer is no. You won't. Not without help. Now, as a defense, we have to send 2 guys to do the job of 1 because the first guy can't get it done on his own. Meanwhile, there is a gap on the field, and any good running back as diverted to that gap.


This is precisely what happens when our defensive line goes head-to-head with the NFL-ready offensive lines we are playing. They can't shed the blocks that other players can, or eat double teams that free up defensive ends and linebackers. This is why we rush 6 men on 26% of snaps, but only reach a quarterback 1 time a game. In a game with 80 snaps, we are blitzing about 20 times and that blitz is successful 1 time.

Now you know why we give up 5.3 yards per play. Our good secondary contained a lot of problems for us.
 
refrigeratormover said:
Good article, only problem I see is Sewak has no idea how to coach pass blocking, that worries me. Hopefully they bring in an assistant OL coach that has some of that experience..
Click to expand...

Well, they fired the ST coach to make room for hiring another OL coach. Maybe instead of breaking it up by position like he's done before, they'll have a run blocking coach and a pass blocking coach. ..?
 
itjacket said:
of course it's a recruiting problem, but that's not necessarily on johnson. Saban can have that strict method for recruiting based on size because he gets his pick of the best recruits in the nation. we don't allow ourselves that luxury.
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fify.
 
beej67 said:
Well, they fired the ST coach to make room for hiring another OL coach. Maybe instead of breaking it up by position like he's done before, they'll have a run blocking coach and a pass blocking coach. ..?
Click to expand...

I hope so.
 
Wow you use Alabama DL as a prerequisite for what we should like? HAHA!!! What is ironic about that is when were in the 3-4 we had that size up front, as stated, w/ TJ at 340lbs, both Euclid and Izaan at 6'3-6'4 300lb+

We've been lacking skill and technique on the DL. We have absolutely sucked at shedding blocks and DEs have been a one trick pony on the edge at getting to the QB
 
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