Everything From RB Jamal Haynes and DL Jordan van den Berg After Georgia Tech's Spring Game

Veteran leaders Jordan van den Berg and Jamal Haynes chime in on spring and give their thoughts on where the team is at in the position groups they play. Here is what both had to say.

Jordan van den Berg on how spring has gone

“Yeah, I definitely feel like the spring was really effective for me. Last year, unfortunately, I wasn't able to come during spring ball. I definitely felt like this year I was able to really utilize it, and really started improving my pass rush and just my overall technique."

Jamal Haynes on trick play touchdown pass

“Haynes just passed me the ball, and I threw it to him. That's it. That's it. We put it in yesterday. We just wanted to bring a little fun to the game. Even though it's the end of spring, it's also my senior year, so I just wanted to bring a little fun to the spring game. That's it. Luckily, I had a great receiver to track down the ball, because I was a little duck."

Haynes on how the running back room is progressing and how young guys are performing

“Young guys are doing really great, but I feel like this is probably the most depth we’ve had at running back in a really long time. So just really seeing those guys grow up and really maintain the offense, and what we're trying to do as an offense. That’s really good to see, and then like you said like I don't have to be reliable too much as far as okay pounding. Let him go in on 3rd and 2 or 3rd and 3, and we have several guys in the backfield that can get that job done. That gives me the opportunity to be more versatile."

Both players on who give them the most problems on the opposite side of the ball.

JJ: "I would say #77 Big Red. I really like going against him. I just feel like he's one of the best players in our conference. So really enjoy getting to go against him and just sharpen up my skills."

JH: “Just to go along with that, I'm not going to really pick out one person. I'm just going to give a shout out to all the linebackers. All the linebackers really do a really good job just coming in day in and day out, just working with the running backs and really giving us great competition. So I just want to shout out all of our linebackers."

Haynes on being able to stay fresh throughout the season with running back depth, the team has

“It's a great feeling. And on top of that, I just really feel like I played my best football when I did had depth, when I did have some help. And also when I stayed fresh, I feel like that's when the Georgia Tech offense really was very fluid in a sense."

Jordan on defensive line depth on the team

“I'd definitely say spring has been helpful because we had some of these young guys come in and really help them just get better and all. But I'd say definitely playing with Matt Alexander, he's going to be a huge piece of this. He's got some really good natural pass rush. So that's something that we're really excited for coming off of last season. We needed to up our production in the middle with a pass rush. So I really feel like also bringing in more guys on the edge is going to lead to more chaos in the middle as well. If you're getting more of your defensive ends and rushers to the quarterback, it's going to make the quarterback step up, leading to more sacks throughout the whole defense. So I'd definitely say that our pass rush has really been the main emphasis. We've been really harping on getting that better."

Jordan's thoughts overall on the defensive line and excitement for the group

“I mean, you can see from today that we're flashing. Both of them are great players (Andre Fuller and Brayden Manley). You've seen Matthew have a sack today also. So all of that is really promising. I really feel like last year we were really good against the run, but we just needed to complete, like really complete both sides of it. I really feel like we're flashing, but we just gotta get more consistent."

Jordan on how the installation has gone under the new defensive coordinator

“Definitely, I'd say Coach Gideon's come in and done a real good job. He's kept a lot of what we were really good at before, kept it in our game, allowing us to play fast, allowing us to shank blocks and everything. And we've also added in some new pieces that I really feel like have helped us. Texas has had a lot of success over there, and we've brought in some key pieces from that. So I really feel like combining what Santucci did and what he can do, it's gonna be a really powerful defense."

Additional Links

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