Reflections Following Week 9 vs. Virginia

The dust has settled in Charlottesville, VA and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets return to Atlanta having suffered a 33-28 loss to the Virginia Cavaliers. Albeit their 7th loss of the season, one that officially removes them from bowl contention, there were still positive takeaways from the ACC affair.

Budding Leadership

As a young player coming off of a disappointing performance, it was would have been very easy for QB James Graham to start the game struggling. He was heading into the matchup against the Hoos having just put up the worst performance of the season as a starter in the previous game. A game where he wasn't the sole quarterback taking reps under center.

Instead, the redshirt freshman came out slinging the pigskin. He was responsible for 119 yards of total offense and two touchdowns on Tech's first two possessions of the game. Even after UVA made adjustments on defense and took advantage of great field position through most of the second half, Graham didn't deter despite being down by two scores with roughly 11 minutes to go. He lead a 12 play, 75 yard drive to pull the Jackets to within 5, and was responsible for 3 of Tech's 4 first downs conversions on the drive.

Next Man Up

It's no secret that Georgia Tech is a young football team at this point in the season, with head coach Geoff Collins having started that "73% of our plays run" involve freshmen & sophomores. It also didn't help that the Yellow Jackets were without 3 key contributors on defense in Antwan Owens, Chris Martin and Kaleb Oliver, with all 3 believed to be out due to injury.

But even without substantial parts of their defensive front, the young bucks on the team stepped up in place of them and made plays. Lineman Sylvain Yondjouen and linebacker Demetrius Knight II had 3 tackles a piece, with linebacker Jordan Domineck setting a career high 7 tackles. All 3 players are true or redshirt freshmen.

Bright Offensive Future

Speaking of freshmen, the one with perhaps the biggest impact on the team, specifically the offense, is wide receiver Ahmarean Brown. Since Coach Collins opted to go with James Graham as his starter at QB going forward, he has quickly developed chemistry with Brown and become one of his favorite deep threat targets.

Utilizing his pure speed, Brown has made a habit of going over the top of the safety, doing so twice in the last two games. Both times resulting in touchdown receptions of 50 or more yards. He has a receiving touchdown in 4 of his last 5 games, and his 5 touchdowns so far in 2019 is the most by a Georgia Tech frosh since Megatron had 7 in 2004.

.@Ahmarean2 hit 21.13 MPH on this play.
That would have ranked him as the fastest offensive ball carrier in the NFL last week (week 9) according to @NextGenStats https://t.co/FW5blBzm86
— Ryan Horton (@CoachRyanHorton) November 10, 2019

Room For Improvement

Though, as indicated by the final scoreboard from Scott Stadium, not everything was perfect. Besides the offense having a sluggish second half, the Yellow Jackets also committed some untimely penalties. While they did come into the game averaging only 4.75 a game, and committed only 6 against the Cavaliers, a couple of them were major turning points. A holding penalty on third down that would have resulted in UVa attempting a field goal, gave new life for the Hoos and allowed them to tie the game up a 7 a piece in the first quarter. In the second, an illegal shift in the red zone killed all drive momentum and instead of continuing the drive from 1st and 6 at the goal line, the drive would stall and GT would wind up missing the field goal attempt.

Speaking of special teams miscues, Tech needs an answer at the kicking position. Against Virginia, Geoff Collins opted to go with Wesley Wells in place of Brenton King, after King had gone 3-6 in the 8 game prior. That didn't net much progress either, as Wells missed his only attempt on the day: a 30 yard try that sailed wide left. Whether it is King, Wells, or redshirt freshman Cliff Gandis, a kicker needs to step up in case their name is called in a pressure situation.

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