Spring Practice Report - Saturday Scrimmage

Nice morning, good sized crowd. Most of the hill was full of people.

- started out in stretches and warmups

- moved to unit coaching...briefly

- horn blew and it was on. Officials there.

- Trey Dunmon was at center today practicing.

- No special teams today outside extra points and field goals

- Started about your own 20 each time. First unit to trot out was Josh, Evans, Jones, B-back #21, Bebe, Earls, Gardner, Hill, Voss, Smith, Brown.

- Whistle blew and they were off...the offense that is. In about 5-8 plays marched down the field to about the 20. Mix of A-back options, B-back options. A few WR passes and a few RB passes. Josh hit Dwyer wide open on a fake run and the big man rumbled for about 20 yards. The first team D was the usual suspects and they could not stop em. In fact if it wasn't for a few bad plays the offense probably would have scored a TD. They kicked a FG and it was missed by #31. He didn't kick again.

- The offense fools you so much, its hard to find the ball....its NEAT to watch.

- Second team unit had Booker, T Evans, Kelly, G Smith (who lit it up), some WR's (didn't catch the numbers). They made a nice first drive; that scored. Essentially the same mix of plays, but when Calvin was out there PJ opened it up. Alot of 3-4 WR sets with the option off of that, all under center. This showed me PJ feels Calvin is better at throwing it than running it; so he is catering to his strength. Calvin had a couple nice runs on the option too...and up to now looked like both QB's were primed to go....until....

- Josh came back out and continued to rep with the first and second units. Then it happened. He became unstoppable. Threw a 50 yard TD bomb to Bebe who abused Butler. Hit the A-backs in the flats, juked MJ and the DL so bad a few times gaining 10 yards they were hunting for their jocks. Had one bad fumble snap with Voss, but Dan is new at snapping and Josh is new at taking the snaps. All in all pretty clean outside this one instance.

- Josh had one play on 3rd down I thought he was dead, and bam speed baby, sneaks through and rips off 10 yards. He only did this about 5 times. He had some pitches at the last moment on outside pitch options...i thought oh man and bam the pitch goes and the a-back rips off 10. It was very exciting to watch this type of playmaking ability.

- Dwyer stuck it up in their hard nosed. Never ripped off a long run, had a few TDs, but looks great there.

- There is NO WAY G Smith shouldn't be starting at A-back. His impossible to bring down. Always makes the first two guys miss and gets at least 5 yards. Plus, he is a WR threat.

- Josh had one bad pass, where I think the Aback cut inside instead of outside...or josh miss-read either way it was a communication error...NO INTs.

- Calvin, outside the first drive and 1-2 good plays had a quiet day; Josh probably had 1-2 more series on the field...hint to me.

- Eventually Trey played with the first team. I think Dan struggled a little today. Trey is a beast and will start at Center, I think Dan gets his normal Gaurd spot. Jason Hill is a hoss too. To me, if trey earns #1 center there is a 3man competition at G between Voss, Smith, Hill.

- DL wore knee braces

- I would not like to be on DL

- Luke Cox ripped off about a 50 yard run today up the gut....very Navy looking.

- Thought by in large the secondary played well outside one bomb. DL And LBs were getting worked IMO.

- Did I mention I wouldn't like to play on D?

- Josh eventually ran some drills with the second grouping as well, with G Smith and Co. I really see good continuity between them. J Evans and Jones got many opportunities...and did ok. They struggled on playside blocking where if they crack back or cut the RB with the ball could get more yardage. I know this will be practiced and fixed over time.

- A Barrick ran as A-back and took a pitch the opposite way for 10 yards and pounded frierson out of bounds.

- It is punishing to play against a team like this. Its tiring. There is no way the D isn't tougher after spring. Now I know why PJ speaks of more mental toughness. You need it to defend and you want to have it to nail the coffin on offense. That killer instinct.

- Would say about 65-70% run vs pass.

- Still basic option plays...but they work. Even after two hours the D still didn't have an answer. PJ is right in the face of the players, yelling instructing DEMANDING.

- No playsheet, he knows what he wants, he is the new evil genius...LOL

- Nice to see all the coaches families there and A LOT of high school coaches trying to feed off of PJ's offense.

- I made a comment, before in a Gailey offense you only had to sit in one spot to watch it in practice b/c they rarely went past 10 yards. LOL....in PJ's i was walking up and down the field all day following the offense and going back to the beginning only to do it again.

- Josh's athleticism is great. Still, I am oood and aaahd about some of the plays he made...not just running but getting free and hitting a WR or Back ....very good improv work.

- Just no way IMO after these 4 days he isn't the leader..he has to be. BUT and a big BUT, there is a LONG way to go and I have seen too many times a player appear to get an early lead only to level off...its the turtle not the hare that wins. The positive is either way this goes, there will be a capable backup!!!!

- On defense I thought towards the end the DL started taking this personal and played better, especially at tackle. Lots of hands on the hips....

- Kyle Jackson played well in spurts, so did the whole D, but all in all they struggled...its new to them too.

- The second team D did better vs the second team O, in general than the first team D did vs the first team O, until josh was on the second team O then he physically accounted for many of the yards...

- Still looking for a bigger visible leadership component out of Josh...but I am seeing signs...CB has good leadership.

- Only other QB to get any significant reps was #16...and he did a fine job...

- D Reese is a gritty tough SOB at S. Why he didn't play last year at nickel cb..don't ask me. Another baffling decision. Along with not RS Butler and Jefferson. Sp teams has wasted players talent and time IMO in the past. Oh well. PJ likes to RS alot so I am glad there. Just my opinion here.

Anyway alot happened

Main takeways is the offense is coming along nicely. D is still learning as is the O. Josh is starting to get more comfortable and separate IMO. I think the D will improve...it takes time. I am very impressed with the execution on O this early in spring. Alot of positives. Team needs to continue to learn to give great effort, and get mentally tougher IMO...but they are improving. Don't get me wrong...as impressed as I came away with the offense ITS MORE B/C ITS DAY 4 NOT AS MUCH AS IT WAS THEY WERE DOING WELL. Again, they have a while to go to get passing game smoother and execute better on the option, but for Day 4 of a brand new offense in spring...that is why I was so impressed...And to me Josh is the guy....And oh...I wouldn't want to defend this offense for 4 quarters....no way.

Great practice report, I appreciate the time you put into these as I can't attend practices. Does this seem to be the format with scrimmages on Sat mornings each week? Also, what types of defenses did they play with? And did the D favor a certain set?

Along with this, do you think the D may have struggled b/c they were practicing sets that are more geared towards stopping a traditional offense as opposed to stopping a TO?

Nice report #33. Thanks for all you do.

same here 33!

Thank you for a great report. One question...Did you get a look at any of the R-Fr O linemen? Particularly interested in Claytor, Yandell and Gilbert.

Thanks 33Jacket, it was an excellent report.

This is the kind of reporting we received several years ago by some excellent posters until the scout board took over and keeps this information secret. I am glad to see someone who is fervent about Tech and wants others to be also.

You are a great asset to both Tech and us fans.

Father Time

Thanks 33Jacket!

Great report...

Semper Fi

33Jacket- excellent report. I enjoyed meeting you and talking to you most of practice. It's obvious we share the same views about GT Football. I took your advice and joined this forum. See you soon!

-BDB

33, it's nice to see the offense is rolling full speed ahead. Thanks for filling us in with the awesome report!

Thanks for the great report Three-Three. Being a Tech grad but living in the DC area, I get to watch Navy in person more often than I get to watch Tech. Consequently I became a huge fan of PJ and the FlexBone. You can imagine how stoked I am that PJ is at Tech. And knowing the athletes that Tech has, and the potential of PJ's brilliant scheme, I think this offense will be unstoppable.

Even though I could tell from your report that you were trying to be conservative with your assessment, it was evident that you were psyched about what you saw. And this is only the 4th practice!

I listened to the show the other night too. I appreciate the time and effort to keep us Tech fans informed when we can't get to Rose Bowl Field. Thanks to Machine and Matt as well.

I sat next to Machine's family at the Clemson game. Nice folks, and Machine had a good game.

Cheers,

PN

I'm gonna contrast 33's report just a bit by stating I thought the 1st string D played pretty well. They did a great job stringing out the pitch sweeps from the option all the way to the sideline because of good speed.

They stuffed several plays in the middle because DRich and Vance Walker are fantastic. However, on several run plays that didn't seem to do much, after you check the chains, we got 5-6 yards. That's what this O is designed to do. It is tough to keep up with the ball. When they really get better at it, look out!!

Reese is a good looking safety. Very aggressive and makes solid hits and appears to be a good tackler. I really like Tony Clark back at safety as well. This kid is buff with good speed and a hard hitter.

There's a lot of competition at LB. Who knows who ends up starting. I hope we see a lot of subbing to keep fresh legs on the field.

Before I get to the happy face stuff, there's a lot of work to do on the O to get this thing running like a well oiled machine but when you keep in perspective this was the fourth practice and they're running the plays as well as they are is pretty impressive. There were fumbles, miscues with motion from the A-backs, etc but that's really no surprise.

Oh Nesbitt!! This kid could really be something special. You can tell things are moving a lot slower for him out there. We should see some big plays out of him just from scrambling. He has the knack to make people miss. I saw the classic dodge of a sack when he was about to get sacked and ducked at the last minute only to scramble away and get yardage.

The bomb!! This was a tight spiral laser of over 50 yards. Gailey really wasted this kid's talent last year with the 2 plays he let him run. We're finally seeing his true potential now. And yes, we're throwing the ball. I don't see any difference in the ratio from last year.

I spoke to MJ on the way in and asked how much he's weighing. He said 259. Freakin' huge.

Seems CPJ has traditionally used more than 1 QB most years. Looking into your crystal ball, do you see Josh as #1 and Calvin as the change up guy? Does he look like he can run the option well enough to give us a few series per game at this point?

4NC's,

Nice perspective on the play of the D. It will be interesting to see how the defense adjusts after scrimmaging against this offense over and over. The irony is that the play of the Tech defense against PJ's offense won't really be a good indicator of how well other defenses will handle us, since our guys on defense will be used to seeing the option by the beginning of the season. Where other defenses will be seeing it for the first time.

On the other hand, I have to wonder how Tech will prepare the D for more conventional offenses. I really don't know how PJ handled this at Navy. I assume by Summer we'll have set up a practice squad on Offense that will run a traditional O against our 1st and 2nd squad defenses. Does anyone know?

PN

Great Report 33Jacket!

Rare gem on Tech football from (UG)AJC.com.

This analogy from an otherwise crappy story on today's scrimmage was great.

"When Johnson and his staff moved South they inherited a talented roster, one whose potential clearly excites them. But it's as if they swapped their finely-tuned station wagon for a Porsche with faulty timing, a balky transmission and misaligned wheels. A great race car might emerge from the shop if the mechanics find all the parts they need and make dozens of adjustments under the hood."

Here's the story link.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/gatech/stories/2008/03/29/techfoot_0330.html

good analogy.

The only issue I have is that the report was a little too short. I wasn't really ready to quit reading.

I gotta have more Cowbell.

Quote :

"We're going to get there. I don't know how fast we're going to get there, but we'll teach them."

You mean our kids are learning offense and not just going throught the motions!?!?? Thank God Paul Johnson has arrived on the flats. The hard work and mental toughness this man brings to our program is unrivaled. Best coach Tech has had in years already. If he sticks with his reputation and game savyness there is no stopping GT football.

Can someone inform me about Dwyers current weight? Playing the B back would mean he needs to pack on a few pounds I would think. I know he's big already but you really want a buss running through that line? I know we got a pretty big kid in Watson coming soon. Any chance we'll see him behind Cox and Kelly?

Oh and 33 did you see any of these out there?



LOL didn't think so!!!!

Savannah,
Dwyer was doing drills right in front of me today and I would say he's either tightened up a bit or maybe dropped a few. He's listed at 228 and I would agree with that number. Somewhere between 225 and 230. He held up quite well running up the gut with the entire front 7 stacked on him.

If someone told me we would put Austin Barrick at 6-3 254 at A-back, I would not have thought that to be a good idea and this may only be an experiment but he's a hoss turning the end with decent speed.

Also, this O has got a lot of mis-direction plays and potential for trickery. The two passes where Josh hit Dwyer wide open for big gains was impressive. Josh had the entire D looking left then turned to find Dwyer all alone. Dwyer all lone in open field is, well you do the math.

4NCsAndCounting wrote:

Savannah,
Dwyer was doing drills right in front of me today and I would say he's either tightened up a bit or maybe dropped a few. He's listed at 228 and I would agree with that number. Somewhere between 225 and 230. He held up quite well running up the gut with the entire front 7 stacked on him.

If someone told me we would put Austin Barrick at 6-3 254 at A-back, I would not have thought that to be a good idea and this may only be an experiment but he's a hoss turning the end with decent speed.

Also, this O has got a lot of mis-direction plays and potential for trickery. The two passes where Josh hit Dwyer wide open for big gains was impressive. Josh had the entire D looking left then turned to find Dwyer all alone. Dwyer all lone in open field is, well you do the math.

Dwyer Is still around 220lbs but it is a good weight for him in my opinion. You need someone that is big enough to get those tuff yards but also someone that has breakaway speed. Teams will miss there responsibilities on defense and the middle will be wide open, a 250lb B-back would not have the speed to go all the way. The middle will open up against undisciplined defense.

Good reporting, I think we see the upside potential and this will silence some of the critics out there. Its great to hear the players have embraced the new system and are open to new positions and the new attitude.

Question, I found a site called the Flexbone Association which details a streamlined playbook online. It actually says the counter option was developed by watching Johnson's teams at GSU.

Does this hold a resemblance to what we are seeing on the field?
http://www.flexboneassociation.com/

Keep it up~
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