Ga Tech Week, Volume 2 (Holy Option! edition) ...

Hey, I bet you haven’t heard: Georgia Tech has a really good rushing attack. It’s this crazy, new-fangled option offense. I’m pretty sure the Yellow Jackets’ second-year coach, Paul Johnson, invented it.

Kidding, of course. I just think it’s funny that after 19 games of this stuff at Georgia Tech (not to mention years and years of it at Navy when Johnson was there) we’re all still talking about the triple-option as if it were the invention of electricity.

It is an attack whose roots go back many decades. It’s an attack that, in part, can be seen still in numerous high schools around the country. And it’s honestly not all that complicated.

Johnson spreads his offensive linemen out to create wider running lanes. He uses lighter, leaner, more athletic linemen who can get out in space and block (and chop-block defenders). He has a tailback on either side of the QB, one fullback behind the QB. Either the QB or FB will run up the gut. Or the QB will run wide and either keep it or pitch it to one of the backs on the wing. Or, they’ll fake one of those runs every once in a while and throw it deep.

And that, folks, is pretty much it. The key is precision ... in the blocking, in the handoff, in the pitch. It’s all timing and misdirection. It’s keeping the defense guessing about who has the ball and who’s going to get the ball. It’s about spreading the field, keeping defenders honest on their man, creating one-on-one situations that require the ball-carrier (or receiver) to beat a single defender to create a big play.

The big play is where this offense lives and dies. The Jackets can strike as quickly on the ground as any team that chucks the ball deep 25 times a game.

So far this season, Georgia Tech has 46 rushes of 10-plus yards. The Jackets have 12 rushes of 20-plus yards. They’ve scored 18 times on the ground. They have broken runs of 32, 39, 60, 69, 74 and 82 yards.

They have three players with at least 300 yards rushing – RB Jonathan Dwyer (511), QB Josh Nesbitt (503) and RB Anthony Allen (308) – and six guys with at least 50 yards on the ground.

Now you know what the Hokies have to stop on Saturday night in Atlanta. Here’s a little look at how they hope to accomplish that ...

D-LINE COACH CHARLEY WILES

ON HOW THE JACKETS GET THE BALL TO STAR JONATHAN DWYER, TECHNICALLY THE FULLBACK IN GT’S OFFENSE: “They’ve got some unique ways of getting him the ball, other ways than just running triple (option). They get him the ball in some other ways, whether they pitch it to him in that speed-option stuff they do. He’s a dynamic guy. But I think the guy who also brings so much to the table – which we saw last year, and this year probably has 58-60 more carries – is the quarterback. He’s a beast. Nesbitt is just a player, man. He’s physical. He’s hard to tackle. He’s always falling forward. He’s the guy to me, as well as the fullback. Dwyer gets in the open field, he runs like a tailback, he’s 225 pounds and he’s dynamic. But you can take the fullback away, like we did a year ago, by trying to beat him up and take the dive, take the dive, take the dive. But Nesbitt is the guy. People are taking the fullback away and they’re putting it in his hands, and he’s very, very capable and tough. He’s a good player, man. He is.”

ON GEORGIA TECH’S BLOCKING SCHEME: “It’s tough. They’re so low. It’s not as much chopping. We see chop stuff from normal teams. But they crab you almost. You’ll be on a guy and there’s another guy down at your legs. Technically, all that stuff is illegal. But it’s like, ‘Who’s engaging who?’ That’s their point of view. Is it the defensive lineman engaging the center, for instance. He’s trying to get up to the next level and the defensive lineman’s engaging him and the guard’s on your legs. So they’re saying, ‘We’re not engaging him. We’re trying to slip to get to the next level and you’re engaging us, so that’s your problem.’ That’s their point of view, which if I’m coaching those guys, I understand that point of view. If you’re on the other side of the ball, you’re like, ‘That’s a high-low.’ But I know they’ve been around and around with that with the officiating. You’re just going to have to battle. It’s going to be one of those deals where you’re going to have people around your legs. It’s hard to practice that. How do you practice that without getting one of your guys nicked?”

ON THE APPROACH TO THAT BATTLING THAT BLOCKING SCHEME: “You’re attacking the man you’re on and hopefully, if you do have another guy that you’re not on, on your legs, that gets called. I mean, how do you defend it? You’ve just got to engage the guy that you’re on with good hand placement, good knee bend, good fundamentals, and keep your feet hot and hopefully come off some blocks.”

ON THE THEORY BEING THAT PLAYING THESE GUYS A SECOND TIME WOULD HELP, BUT SO FAR TEAMS STRUGGLING EVEN MORE WITH THE OFFENSE: “Well, they’re better. That’s the thing. The speed of the game, we know what that’s going to be like. That took two series last year to get caught up to it. It was saw fast, and how big the splits really were and the reality of the whole thing, it took us a couple series, really, to get caught up. So that’s obviously a nice advantage. We’ve seen it. We know that. But they’re in their second year and they’ve added some new wrinkles, so they’re better. No doubt about it. Their quarterback’s better. Everybody’s just a little bit better, because they’ve been able to rep it.”

ON WHETHER THEY DO ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY THIS YEAR, THEN, WITH THE SCOUT TEAM TO PREPARE: “Well, we’ve tried to get a faster quarterback in there. We’ve taken the ball out of the deal. We just have a towel and let the quarterback already have the ball. We’ve got Antone Exum, who was a quarterback in high school, just to give another guy with some more speed. And the kids (on defense) did a great job today. They really did. I think we’ll end up spending more time in team (periods). You’re not going to do your normal week of preparation, in terms of your fundamentals, your group work and then your team work. We’ve got to have more team work to just keep repping it. Show them, show them, show them. The tempo today was great. If we can maintain that tempo, then we’ll improve and be ready. If we don’t, then we’re not going to be ready. We’ve got to have that tempo. We’ve got to be going fast or it’s just not going to work.”

ON WHY THEY’RE USING A TOWEL INSTEAD OF THE BALL WITH THE QB ON SCOUT TEAM: “Just to make it faster. He’s got a ball. (So I assume Wiles means they wave a towel to signify the snap, but it’s in Exum’s hands already). That way we’re not doing a snap. Who knows if Antone can do that? We bobble snaps and we’re wasting time. The towel moves and we’re going. We don’t have to worry about an exchange and it’s just faster. Then rep the heck out of it.”

LB CODY GRIMM

ON THE KEY TO STOPPING GEORGIA TECH’S TRIPLE-OPTION OFFENSE: “There are a lot of keys. The key is just to really get our assignments down. They run a lot of different stuff and it’s hard to stop, but we know what we’re doing. If we just do our job, if we just do the right thing, I think we can stop them.”

ON HOW MISSED TACKLES AND BLOWN ASSIGNMENTS – A PROBLEM AT TIMES THIS YEAR FOR THE DEFENSE – WILL BE VERY COSTLY AGAINST THE JACKETS: “Oh, yeah, exactly. That’s kind of what the offense does. They spread out so much and have so many options that it comes down to one person who’s got to stop that running back, and if they miss a tackle, it can go for a long play. Someone’s got to take the dive. Someone’s got to take the pitch, the quarterback. You’ve got to play disciplined, play what you see and make tackles.”

ON WHETHER, IN SOME WAY, IT’S BORING TO PLAY AGAINST, BECAUSE PLAY AFTER PLAY YOU’VE GOT TO GO AFTER THE SAME GUY – WHETHER HE HAS THE BALL OR NOT: “Yeah, yeah, it’s tough. And you can’t let yourself get blocked. That’s a big thing. They chop down field and if they get a guy down, all the sudden it’s a quarterback and running back on one person. We’ve just got to stay disciplined and have a great week of practice. This something you’re not used to playing against.”

ON THE QB, JOSH NESBITT, HAVING A BIG YEAR RUNNING THE BALL: “He’s a big dude. He’s strong, too. I remember tackling him a couple times last year. He’s a big guy and he’s strong and athletic. That’s what they try doing ... wearing you down.”

ON WHETHER THIS GAME, WHERE INDIVIDUALS HAVE SPECIFIC ASSIGNMENTS, MIGHT BE A GOOD ONE FOR A YOUNG LINEBACKER LIKE JAKE JOHNSON: “I think Jake will be fine. I think this is Jake’s kind of game, just running into a cloud of linemen and just trying to blow people up. That’s kind of how it works out. Jake’s got to get downhill and just fill gaps and hit people. That’s where he excels, and I think him and Barquell (Rivers) both will excel. Both of those guys are big, strong guys. I think they’ll be fine.”

ON WHETHER HIS ROLE IS FLUID, AS A HYBRID-TYPE PLAYER, IN A GAME LIKE THIS: “It’s different for me. A lot of times, if their wings try hooking me, I’ve got to get outside. A lot of times, they’ll just run past me and get on Chancellor. That’s when I’ll take quarterback. Depending on how they block it.”

ON THE JACKETS HAVING SOME OF THEIR BIGGEST PLAYS WHEN THE GET OUTSIDE AND THE PERIMETER DEFENDERS BEING CRITICAL: “With their wide splits, all the sudden if they don’t give the dive, two (defenders) are eliminated and they get outside. That’s when they get the big plays, because once you get outside, you’ve only got a corner and a safety. A lot of times with them, you’ll see a guy miss a tackle or they’ll chop a guy, and all the sudden they spring a big play.”

ON HOW KEY GT’S BLOCKING SCHEME IS TO THEIR SUCCESS, THE FACT THAT THEY MAKE DEFENDERS THINK AND WORRY ABOUT IT: “I’d say that could be a definite strength. Overall, most teams, they snap the ball and you see the guard pull, you know it’s power-iso. You know what’s coming. When you play them ... they can do three or four different things, and they all look pretty much the same. So you’ve got to stay disciplined, let people take care of their jobs, and tackle well.”

ON THE CHOP-BLOCK DRILLS THIS WEEK AND WHAT A DEFENDER IS TAUGHT TO DO AGAINST IT: “You want to stay low and try to get one hand on their head and neck, to control their body. You’ve got to give a little ground sometimes. The real way to beat the chop is just to not go down. You might have to give up some ground or widen out, which makes the hole a little bigger, but you’ve just got to stay on your feet to prevent the big play. If you tried running straight at them, rather than giving two yards to let the guy fall down (it can be a big play). You’ve got to know what to expect. If you use your leverage and keep the guy inside, it makes it harder for them to chop. You’ll see most of the times they chop is when you’re running sideways. If you get a good read on the play and get up to the line of scrimmage and get your gap, it makes it a lot easier to handle the chop block.”

ON WHY SOME TEAMS ARE STRUGGLING EVEN MORE THE SECOND TIME THEY’RE SEEING GT’S OFFENSE: “I think it definitely helps having a quarterback and running back who were both through the whole system last year. Now they understand what to do.”

ON WHETHER THERE’S A BIGGEST DIFFERENCE: “They’ve got some wrinkles in there, but any offense will do that week to week. They run the majority of the same stuff. They run it more effectively just because they’ve been in the system longer. But we’ll be ready to go. Coach Foster is a good game-planner and we’ve just got to keep practicing.”

ON GT RUNNING SO MUCH, SOMETIMES SEVERAL PLAYS IN A ROW, THAT THEY REALLY CAN LULL A DEFENSE TO SLEEP ON THE PASS, THEN BURN THEM: “That’s kind of what it is. Another thing is they do such a good job of getting 2 or 3 yards (at least) on every play. So they put themselves in situations where you think they’ll run. They’ll be in third-and-3, then all the sudden they’ll fake it and hit you with a play-action pass. You’ve just got to stay on your rules and play every play your hardest and hopefully that won’t happen.”

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