However, pressure often required lightning assistance, which left the back of the jackets vulnerable if lightning was picked up or the ball was thrown before lightning reached its target, as it often did. Or, in another common shortcoming, quarterbacks took advantage of gaps in their pockets either to look for positive gains or to get away from the pressure and keep the games alive. Or if Tech Four hurried, quarterbacks could wait for the targets to open, putting pressure on the secondary. Against opposing crimes, the jackets’ 22/6 touchdown / interception ratio was the worst in the conference.
With almost all of Thacker’s defense coming back, an improved pass rush is a reasonable expectation. The line of defense is a particularly young group, with defensive newbies Jared Ivey and Kyle Kennard showing off lightning as edge defenders. Thacker will receive a particularly interesting transfer on the defensive. Keion White, who finished tenth in the FBS in 2019 at 19 against FBS in the Old Dominion.
A more effective pass rush, in turn, would help the secondary, which was not doing as well as it could have been, also because it often had to track recipients over long periods of time. The starting secondary is returned intact. Cornerback Tre Swilling and safety Tariq Carpenter will be back as a starter for the fourth time.
Towards the end of the season, the Tech Duke and NC State defenses held under 100 rushing yards, the second and third time the Jackets hit that standard with Collins. Linebackers David Curry and Quez Jackson were particularly instrumental in both ending their season on an upswing, Curry as a jacket in his final games. It helped tech hit an average of 4.4 yards per opponent in league games, which is a decent rate and improvement from 2019 (5.0).
Similar to the Pass Rush challenges, however, too many times, Tech’s defensive line has been easily removed from the line and lanes have been opened for returns for big wins. Before and after Duke and NC State efforts, Boston College ran for 264 yards, Notre Dame 227, and Pittsburgh 317 – in a game where the Jackets played a short break while the Panthers had an open week behind them.
Even with so many returning players, progress can be expected as the team with strength coach Lewis Caralla can train for another off-season. Ja’Quon Griffin returns with his mid-speed speed, but there’s a reason Collins puts so much emphasis on weight, like two in-depth defensive tackles – high school signer Zeek Biggers (6-foot-6 ) 325 pounds) and transferred to Makius Scott (6-4, 300). An off-season in the weight room is sure to help Ivey and Kennard, as is the expected return of Sylvain Yondjouen and TK Chimedza after injuries at the end of the season.
Thacker must develop a replacement for Curry, who led the team with 84 tackles and tackles against losses with nine while also offering a superior lead. Apart from Jackson, returnees have little experience, which makes the transfer of linebacker Ayinde Eley (11 career starts with Maryland) particularly valuable.
Secondary school will be asked to play a better game in 2021 after failing to meet standards this season. In that group, nickel-back Wesley Walker and Safety Derrik Allen were among the better players who could see their roles grow.
Perhaps the only area where Thacker’s unit performed well was in creating and restoring fumbles. The jackets recovered 12 fumbling, the second most common in FBS. Two of the season’s most memorable defense games were fiddly restores for touchdowns – cornerback Zamari Walton’s 93-yard return against Notre Dame (enforced by security Juanyeh Thomas) and Domineck’s strip-sack and fiddly restoration in the end zone against Duke.
By and large, the way you tackle it – namely, packing up and taking the right angle – has to be better. It was better in the Duke and NC State games, but again lagged against Pitt.
An overarching problem or challenge with defending tech is that off-season unity doesn’t make a clear distinction, as does quarterback Jeff Sims or Jahmyr Gibbs, a player you can count on to play the game too Change in favor of tech with unique games. The next one could be Domineck.
The jackets have a ton of experience with players like Thomas, Swilling, Carpenter, Griffin, Walton and the nickel-backed Kaleb Oliver and Charlie Thomas. It will be the job of Collins, Thacker, the staff and the players to develop into consistent playmakers.
And it is possible that there is an immediate star among the transfers or high school signers, which is White. Two transfers that were highly rated by Grayson High – corner Kenyatta Watson (Texas) and defender Kevin Harris (Alabama) – are different.
But if the jackets try to move up, there’s still a lot to do.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.