The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Yellow Jackets start spring with focus on special teams,
New kickers joining returnees to offer plenty of choices.
This is the first installment in a nine-part series that will preview Georgia Tech’s spring football practice, which begins March 3. Today: Special teams.
Georgia Tech’s 2019 season left plenty of areas needing improvement. The Yellow Jackets’ play in special teams can certainly be included.
Tech ranked 85th nationally in special-teams efficiency, according to Football Outsiders, which ranked eighth in the ACC.
Coach Geoff Collins’ attention will be directed to the kicking game as he begins his second spring practice. One area in particular where Tech can get better is placekicking, where the Jackets were 3-for-8 on field-goal tries, putting them at the bottom of FBS in accuracy (37.5%). Kickers Brenton King and Wesley Wells had critical misses against The Citadel and Virginia, respectively, that were among mistakes in both games that led to defeat. For the season, King was 3-for-7 and Wells missed his only attempt.
It was a marked drop from the previous season, when Wells was 9-for-9 on field-goal tries and 38-for-38 on point-after kicks. During the season, Collins said King had earned the placekicking job by outperforming Wells in practice.
On kickoffs, Tech was 11th in the ACC in kickoff net, and the Jackets’ touchback rate (8.1%) was the lowest in FBS. Eight teams in the ACC were at 50% or higher.
Both Wells and King have demonstrated the capacity to perform better. Confidence may have been an obstacle. Given the likelihood that the Jackets won’t be winning games going away next season, helping both regain their form would seem to be a priority this spring.
One way Collins intends to do that is by turning up the competition with the addition of preferred walk-on Steven Verdisco (Tampa, Florida), an early-enrollee freshman who can take part in spring practice. Collins has the commitment of at least one more preferred walk-on, Jude Kelley (Allatoona High, Cobb County). Kelley was ranked the No. 5 kicker in the country (Chris Sailer Kicking), and Verdisco was ranked the No. 51 kicker by Kohl’s kicking camps. Both can also punt.
The expectation is that Tech should have a capable kicker emerge from that group.
After a stellar 2018 season by punter Pressley Harvin, the Jackets took a step back in 2019.
While punt net was virtually unchanged — 38.3 yards in 2019 and 38.5 yards in 2018, which includes a disastrous bowl game performance that dropped the average by 3 yards — the Jackets permitted six returns of 20 yards or more after giving up one such return in 2018.
None of the return or coverage units were strengths. The punt coverage and return and kickoff coverage and return units ranked between 66th (punt return) and 118th (kickoff return) in efficiency (Football Outsiders). The primary returners — Tobias Oliver, Juanyeh Thomas and Dontae Smith on kickoffs and Ahmarean Brown on punts — will be back.
Tech did manage a number of big special teams plays — most notably Harvin’s fakepunt touchdown pass and Antwan Owens’ blocked field-goal attempt against Miami, Jerry Howard’s two blocked punts and a successful onside kick by King against Georgia. But there was room for improvement.
Tech’s kicking game could get better simply with a roster that is older and stronger. The Jackets were a freshmanand sophomore-heavy team last season, which could have limited special teams production in at least a couple of ways. One, players were lacking in experience. Two, they weren’t as physically developed as many of their opponents.
Collins set a goal after the season of having the roster average a per-player weight gain of 10 pounds, and one way that could impact play is on special teams. It’s also not hard to imagine that the freshman class, ranked 26th nationally by 247Sports Composite, will yield a few special teams contributors.
Tech did manage a number of big special teams plays — most notably Pressley Harvin’s fake-punt touchdown pass and Antwan Owens’ blocked field-goal attempt against Miami.