Prior to the start of the season, the Georgia Tech defense flew under the radar. After all, it was the Yellow Jackets’ new offense that was in the spotlight, and with eight new starters on defense, many thought Tech was in for some high-scoring shootouts in 2008. Coordinator Dave Wommack’s defense, however, has been a big story the first half of the season. Wommack has integrated those new starters with an entirely different defensive scheme than his predecessor while dealing with numerous injuries to key players.
Georgia Tech lost seven starters from last season, including All-ACC performers Philip Wheeler, Darrell Robertson, and Jamal Lewis as well as blitz master coordinator Jon Tenuta. Then starting linebackers Anthony Barnes and Brad Jefferson went down with injuries in the season opener.
Over the previous four seasons under Tenuta, Georgia Tech had been among the national leaders in run defense, finishing no lower than 20th in the rankings and never allowing more than 115 yards per game. During that same span, the Jackets finished in the top 27 in scoring defense and pass defense three of four years. All Wommack has done is field a defense that ranks fifth nationally in scoring defense (11.6 PPG), fifth in the nation in total defense (254.6 YPG), and eighth nationally in pass defense (153.3 YPG). Tech hasn’t allowed fewer passing yards per game since 1993.
With that in mind, let’s take a closer look:
Statistics
- Georgia Tech leads the nation in tackles-for-loss and the Yellow Jackets rank in the top 10 nationally in seven different defensive statistical categories.
- Tech has held opponents scoreless in 17 of 28 quarters. Last season, the Jackets held opponents scoreless in 16 quarters for the entire season.
- Georgia Tech has recorded 12 interceptions this season. Last season, the Yellow Jackets had five INTs for the entire year.
- Tech has allowed less than 100 yards rushing in three straight games, holding those three opponents to a combined 160 yards rushing.
Personnel & Strategy
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GT’s talented defensive line will challenge Jack Shields and the UVa offensive front. |
Personnel. As is the case with most outstanding defenses, what makes the Jackets hard to handle is their personnel, especially up front. Despite some major losses from 2007, Wommack can rest a little easier with one of the nation’s most disruptive tackle tandems of Vance Walker (#99) and Darryl Richard (#95). Things are pretty good on the ends as well with Michael Johnson (#93) and Derrick Morgan (#91). Johnson is remarkably athletic and one of the nation’s premiere pass-rushers. Morgan is the youngster of the group, but may have the most potential. Richard is a big time run-stuffer as is Walker who gets rave reviews from pro scouts. The four have combined for 152 games played, 77 starts, 311 tackles, 84.5 tackles-for-loss, 41.0 sacks, 12 forced fumbles, nine fumble recoveries, and four blocked kicks.
The linebackers and defensive backfield appear to be the weaker part of the Tech defense. If weak may not apply to the linebackers, certainly inexperienced would. OLBs Tony Clark (#7) and Sedric Griffin (#54) are career special teams players thrust into starting roles with the injuries to Barnes and Jefferson. ILB Kyle Jackson is a redshirt freshman.
Despite starting three sophomores in the secondary, the Jackets rank sixth nationally in pass efficiency defense (94.45). Of course one of those is rover Morgan Burnett (#1) a stud defender capable of playing all four positions. He’s a ball-hawking playmaker who in addition to leading the Jackets with 44 stops is also tied for first nationally with five picks. Joining Burnett at safety is Dominique Reese (#26), a sophomore who has the cover skills and speed to also play cornerback. Reese has recorded an interception in each of the last two games, returning one for a touchdown against Clemson.
The final member of the sophomore trio is cornerback Mario Butler (#2), who has 4.55 speed. Butler is improving as a corner but still makes a lot of mistakes and that could be problematic this week. The Jackets’ top cornerback senior Jahi Word-Daniels, a third-year starter and an All-ACC candidate who has the cover skills to occupy one side of the field is out with a hamstring injury. He will be replaced by a true freshman Rashaad Reid (#28). While Reid has seen action in every game this season primarily on the sub defenses as a fifth DB, it will be interesting to see how he responds to having full-time man-to-man coverage responsibilities without a lot of help.
Strategy. The Jackets run out of a base defense that is a 4-3 set with man/-free coverage. Tech plays primarily with eight defenders in the box to shut down the run, usually rolling down a safety to provide the eighth defender. The line aggressively attacks the line of scrimmage, secures their respective gaps and then pursues the ball. The key to the success of the Tech defense is the pressure they exert on the offense from the front four. Pressure is also created by pre-snap line shifts and stunting after the snap. The Jackets will also interchange their interior lineman and the ends to create further confusion.
While alignments and stunts can certainly put pressure on an offense, coach Al Groh says what makes Georgia Tech so disruptive is simply the raw talent of its personnel. “Guys that are hard to block get into the other team’s backfield a lot,” said Groh.
The Jackets play man-free coverage primarily – a deep safety with five defenders covering man-to-man on eligible receivers. They will also play what is essentially a Cover 2, man-under defense with five underneath defenders covering man-to-man and two safeties providing deep coverage. As a change of pace, the defensive line will drop into coverage and Wommack will mix zone and man coverages.
Last season the question was not would the Georgia Tech defense blitz, but where would the blitz come from? The 2008 edition is still aggressive but more selective under Wommack. The reliance on zone blitzes so prevalent with Tenuta is less frequent than in the past because the Jackets have been so effective getting pressure with the four down linemen. Tech rarely blitzed in the first half against Boston College but in the second half brought an additional pass rusher on virtually every passing down.
First down. Against the Terps and Pirates, Virginia averaged 4.18 YPC rushing on first down, a 1.45 YPC improvement over the first four contests of the year. The same improvement was seen in the passing game where the Hoos improved from averaging 4.6 yards per pass in the first four outings to 9.12; they also saw an increase in completion percentage from 53% to 68%. But Saturday the Heels shut down the Virginia first down attack as the Cavaliers averaged 2.3 yards rushing on first down, 6.8 yards per pass, and 2.75 YPP overall. That won’t get it done against Georgia Tech.
Opponents have had surprising success running the football against Georgia Tech, averaging 3.9 YPC overall. But in the last two games, Tech has held opponents to 81 yards on 35 rushes, a 2.31 YPC net. That’s strong. Balance seems to be the norm as teams have a 57/43 run/pass ratio against the Jackets on first down. Tech is allowing 5.1 YPA on first down and opposing quarterbacks complete 56.6% of their passes compared to 57.4% on all situations.
Third down. Despite the lofty numbers of the Tech defense, the Jackets are surprising average on third down. They rank 47th in the nation for third down defense, giving up a 35.9% conversion rate. Virginia has shown some improvement on third downs of late but still ranks among the worst conversion teams in the country at 34.7% (92nd nationally). Opponents are having pretty good passing success on third and less than 10 yards to go against Tech, completing 70% of their passes and converting 44% of the time. But on third and 10+ yards to go, the completion percentage drops to 27% and the conversion rate drops to 5%.
Virginia relies on the pass 75% of the time to convert third downs and early on the offense struggled to move the sticks. But like it has on first down, the Cavalier offense has seen a steady improvement in third down passing over the last three weeks. In the first four games the Hoos completed just 52% of their third down attempts and converted just 29% of those completions into first downs. Against Maryland, ECU, and UNC, the Cavaliers completed 75% of their passes and advanced the chains 38% of the time.
Tech likes to blitz on third down with four to six yards to go.
Red zone. Where things get really sticky against the Yellow jacket defense is in the red zone. Tech ranks ninth nationally in red zone defense with a 65% mark. Seven times this season a Tech opponent has entered the red zone but failed to score a point. The Yellow Jackets are even more stingy when it come to TDs, allowing opponents to reach paydirt just 35% of the time (the fifth best number in the land). Opposing offense have scored just 67 of a possible 140 points (48%).
The Cavaliers have been a very efficient red zone team over the last several years but in the first four games of the year managed to score just 60% of the time overall in the red zone and collected just 42% of possible red zone points. But following the Duke effort where Virginia possessed the ball five times inside Duke’s 32-yard line with a first down and settled for three total points, this operation has shown significant improvement. Over the last three weeks, Virginia has scored on nine of 10 red zone possessions, netting 54 of a possible 70 points (77%).
PUNTING AND KICKOFF COVERAGE
Punting. Sophomore Scott Blair has one of the biggest challenges on the Georgia Tech team. Not only is he replacing the first team All-ACC kicker, Travis Bell, but he is also replacing the nation’s top punter, 2007 Ray Guy Award winner Durant Brooks. Blair has also handled 21 of Tech’s 27 punts this season and posts an average of 42.3 yards per boot. He had two punts of more than 50 yards, including a career-long 58-yard punt against Gardner-Webb. Four of Blair’s punts at Clemson were downed inside the 20-yard line. 70% of Tech’s punts are not returned and 33% have been placed inside the 20. Georgia Tech is 36th in the NCAA is net punting with a 36.70 average. The Cavaliers are among the nations worst punt return operations, averaging just 5.55 YPR (104th) and they will face the 35th best team in the country in coverage in Georgia Tech (6 YPR).
Kickoff Coverage. Blair also handles the kickoff duties for the Jackets. GT is 51st nationally in kick return yardage allowed but fourth in the ACC in coverage by holding opponents to an average starting field position of the 21.1. Virginia is 59th in returns, averaging 21.34 per chance. Blair has four touchbacks in 34 kicks this season so 87% of his kicks are returnable.
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Virginia could use receivers like Kevin Ogletree to attack the Jackets’ cornerbacks. |
Plays That Could Hurt Virginia
Alignment shifts. Dealing with Tech’s front four when they line up normally is difficult, but when Wommack decides to switch everything up and shift positions, it can be disconcerting for an offensive line. Remember the havoc Mike London would wreck moving Chris Long inside – imagine Michael Johnson, a future first-round NFL pick playing head up on Jack Shields or QB Marc Verica looking up to see one of the ACC’s sack leaders, Derrick Morgan, three yards away. There are protection changes to manage these personnel shifts so the key is to be ready and not panic.
Coverage changes. We mentioned the Jackets would change coverage and one alteration Verica needs to be aware of is when they go to two deep safety coverage. This is a variation of the typical Cover 2 because the defense assigns the five underneath defenders to play man-to-man coverage with the to safeties playing deep zones. The glitch is that pre-snap it looks exactly like Cover 2 but forces the offense to throw zone routes against man-to-man coverage.
Virginia’s Offensive Keys
- Challenge the corners. The loss of Word-Daniels is a big blow to the Tech defense. He is a superb cover corner and his injury means the Jackets will face an improving Virginia passing attack with sophomore and freshman corners. The 5’10” Reid has played this season but covering on nickel and dime packages is far different than taking on Kevin Ogletree and bigger receivers like Jared Green and Maurice Covington one-on-one. Virginia may opt for some max-protection sets and let the wideouts challenge the corners. The Cavaliers should also be prepared to see more zone coverage from Tech than at any other time this season and that may open up the middle for the tight ends.
- Maximize scoring opportunities. We’ve highlighted the early season problems with Virginia’s offense and noted the outstanding play of Georgia Tech in the red zone. The Jackets give up 11 points per game so scoring opportunities are limited. Virginia must maximize every red zone possession and come away with TDs.
- Interior line must play well. While the entire offensive line must play well against the Tech front four, the interior trio (Shields, Austin Pasztor , and B.J. Cabbell ) must have its best game of the season. Obviously sacks are to be avoided but so are penetration and tackles for loss. Virginia wants to limit the pressure on offense and remaining in manageable down-and-distance situations is key. I suspect we will see Virginia try to move the ball through the air against Tech but the line will need to provide some adequate blocking to make the Jackets respect the running game.
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