Georgia Tech QB Marshall to start at North Carolina
ATLANTA — TaQuon Marshall is keeping his starting job as Georgia Tech’s quarterback after Tobias Oliver posted huge numbers as a runner in last week’s upset win at Virginia Tech.
Marshall won’t have the position to himself.
Coach Paul Johnson said Tuesday he plans to play both quarterbacks in Saturday’s game at North Carolina. He said he won’t take the starting job from Marshall, a senior captain, just because Oliver ran for three touchdowns in his first start last week.
“They’re both going to play, but I’m not going to take a senior captain on the team and sit him down because Tobias played really great against Virginia Tech,” Johnson said.
Oliver’s performance helped provide hope for Georgia Tech (4-4, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) entering the game at North Carolina (1-6, 1-4).
Oliver, a freshman, was dominant in the 49-28 win over Virginia Tech. His 40 carries for 215 yards were the second-highest totals for a quarterback in school history. His only pass attempt was incomplete, making the Yellow Jackets’ spread-option offense even more one-dimensional than with Marshall.
Johnson said Oliver “has gotten much better” at identifying defenses and making checks since preseason practice, when he was only third on the team’s depth chart.
“He’s also really tough,” Johnson said. “He’s slippery, he’s elusive, he’s hard to tackle and he gets north and south. He’s got a lot of good things going for him, too. It’s like I said, it’s not denigrating one over the other. They both can do some things that are positive.”
Johnson said Marshall is healthy after missing practice last week with what Georgia Tech said was an upper body injury.
Marshall was cleared to play before the Virginia Tech game but was held out due to his limited availability in practice last week. That cleared the path for Oliver (6-2, 182).
The results were dramatic. With Oliver leading the offense, Georgia Tech ran for 465 yards. The Yellow Jackets took their first win in a game they did not complete a pass since a 16-7 victory over Georgia in 1977.