Justin Thomas

Nawaab

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Mar 7, 2010
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Let me start by clearly stating that yesterday's loss in no way can be pinned on him. There was an utter failure of all the blocking in front of him that led to our offensive disintegration. Our blockers just flat out got beat by a more talented (and much more importantly) hungrier opposition. That's life. Sometimes you get beat by someone who has something to prove, or who has outworked you. That said...

If there is one thing that surprised me most about yesterday, it's how JT kind of fell apart when things went bad. He obviously got flustered, started making bad decisions, and lost the ability to throw the ball the way he normally can. I thought the kid was it after last year, and that he was the leader that our offense in a way that neither Nesbitt, Tevin, or Vad could be. In short, he was everything what a Heisman contender should be.

I'm disappointed in his play yesterday, but maybe we all lost sight that he was only making, what, his 17th start as QB and leader of team. He's got some experience, but he doesn't have what a 5th year senior leader has. Not to mention, our offense is insanely hard to run at a high level. The kid is special, but he's being asked A LOT of. I think yesterday was a wake up call for both him and us.... he's got a lot of work to do. He's got a lot of raw capability, but there is always another level we can all reach with hard work and patience. He's just not there yet, but he can be, and I'm willing to bet he will. I think it's a good think that he got punched in the mouth yesterday. I hope JT gets mad at himself, and mad at his teammates on offense. I hope he chews them out for letting themselves get outworked and outhustled. This is what JT needed to do during the game yesterday, and didn't. He needs to lead, especially during the toughest of times.

It's a hurtful loss, but if it motivates JT and all the guys to work to be better, it can turn out to be what was needed for us to reach the level where we want to be. In our upcoming games, I'm going to be watching closely what's he's doing between plays and between possessions, cause it's time for him to take it to the next level. It starts at Duke.
 
Good post Nawaab. Seeing how Smoov responds this week is going to be very interesting. Hopefully after getting his lunch eaten by Notre Dame, he comes out hungry, angry and ready to lead against Duke. We know what he's capable of and now he knows what happens when he's not focused and collected.
 
I remember how he bounced back from the duke game last year. He'll definitely be fine
 
I don't think he played that poorly other than the fumble and a few other smaller mistakes (e.g., overthrow to Qua). Everything looked covered and JT was running for his life all game--which he's pretty good at. I mean at one point he had to do a öööö bounce pass to get the ball pitched. (Is that the play where Qua got injured?) We weren't blocking enough guys and our receivers weren't getting separation
 
It is difficult to complete passes when running for your life. Our offensive line has work to do. They were to be the cornerstone of our offense this year and they could not handle a tough team. I don't think any of them had a game that would be called a winning effort. Blocking on the perimeter is similarly lacking. There is work to be done on this team and now is a good time to start.
 
There is work to be done on this team and now is a good time to start.

It's weird, but our chances of winning the ACC probably went up a little due to this loss. It will at least focus our kids in practice.
 
He's a special player and he'll learn from the experience.

He also suffered some drops and a couple of plays that looked like over throws but I'd bet upon review were attributable to poor route running.

Almost all goals are intact. Maybe all goals, in fact. So I look forward to the rest of the season.

But make no mistake, as much as I love the group of players who accepted the challenge of attending Georgia tech, they will only "out talent" a couple of teams remaining on the schedule. They need to scratch and claw the rest of the season. If they do that, it could lead to special results.
 
Don't think many QB's could have done much better with the failed blocking.
 
It's weird, but our chances of winning the ACC probably went up a little due to this loss. It will at least focus our kids in practice.

Yeah, I'm really hoping we use this like Miami 09 or the Duke/UNC losses last year. Hopefully, just the wake up call we needed to get focused.
 
Apologies for the delay in responding. I think it would be harmful for anyone to brush off their role in our loss, especially JT. One of the most important parts of being a leader is absorbing the blame above anyone else, even if it isn't your fault. I think a good leader gets up in front of everyone and says I didn't do my job, and I need to be the first one to get better. Then you can tell everyone else what they need to do improve.

I don't know is that is what is happening this week, but I really hope so. For all of Jameis Winston's off the field dumbassery, he was a master at this. He always said I need to get better for my teammates. That's exactly what JT needs to be saying this week. We are going to find out a lot about this kid in the next 1 month.
 
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