The Georgia Tech Running Back Positions Are Ones Of Establishment And Of Questions
by Winfield Featherston on Aug 3, 2011 9:00 AM EDT
in Georgia Tech Football
Email
PrintToday, we're talking expectations for the Georgia Tech A-back and B-backs. Join us in the discussion as we count down the days until kickoff against Western Carolina (29).What should the fans expect from our running game?
Talk to anyone ranging from the casual sports fan to the talking head and you'll hear something about how the 2010 football season was proof that the defenses "found the blueprint" for Georgia Tech's triple option attack. Briefly take a moment to gather your thoughts, take a deep breath, and laugh.
Here's why the offense didn't fail us like one may initially think back in 2010. Here's why we should continue to expect quality production on offense.
If we go by offensive numbers alone, we see improvement from 2008. If we made predictions on the outcome of the 2010 season would you guess 6-7? Probably not.
You have to hand it to offenses like the Flexbone: even when they're not very good, they know who they are. With Johnson, Georgia Tech is going to run, run, run and run; they're going to play at a high pace (not Oregon-high, but high), they're going to pound away with that option, and occasionally they're going to go deep.
A-backs
We saw a lot of fumbles last year and it was unacceptable seeing so many come from veteran players. GTNate graphed the numbers historically and illustrated that CPJ's teams are all over the place. Springboarding off our conversation about expectations yesterday, we have to expect our A-backs to improve. Expect psychological motivation.
Looking forward, we'll see many of those same A-backs back for redemption. Orwin Smith, Roddy Jones, and Embry Peeples played in all 13 games last year and accounted for 88% of the A-back carries and 86% of the yards accumulated. With younger players expected to pick it up as well, Yellow Jacket fans should be confident in the A-back position.
B-Backs
The last time the Yellow Jackets did not have a running back run for over 1300 yards was back in 2005 when PJ Daniels and Tashard Choice shared the ball due to Daniels getting injured. Since that time we have spanned two coaches and their vastly different systems with productive running backs. So why should we expect anything else?
We knew the order of succession with Jonathan Dwyer and Anthony Allen. Now with Allen gone, we aren't so sure who will get the ball or how it will be distributed. In 2010, Allen touched the ball 26% of the time and in 32% of the running plays. Jon Dwyer had similar numbers (24% overall, 29% of running plays). The one who assumes the B-back position must be ready to load up on carries and responsibility.
Is the winning formula:
Washington + Lyons --> TD?
OR
Days + Perkins --> 2Fumble?
Or some other equation? Question marks hang over the B-back position and only speculation and come out of this debate.
23 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Some other equation
Maybe Days+Perkins=2*Fumble+2*TD
That’s how I see much of the team this season (you’ll see more in my writeup on the DB’s that I’ll finish tonight). I’m not too interested in the B-Backs. They’ve got depth and talent, so someone will get the start and likely play 90% of the time and get 1300 yards. Whether they go with the lest-talented-but-more-experienced Lyons or the more-talented-but-less-experienced Perkins seems irrelevant. A-Backs should improve a little over last year. They’re the same players but with another year of development and maybe a kick in the pants too. Mentally, they should eliminate more of the mistakes, which will make the offense better overall.
If we want to see some real improvement on offense, the passing game needs to be respectable to keep defenses honest and avoid being one dimensional.
I don't think our passing game can get any worse than last year
so I am predicting it will improve in 2011. Both Tevin and Stephen H. will have more experience. Supposedly the two of them tem have been working together on this issue over the summer break.
It’s all about the passing efficiency number. In 2008 112, 2009 149, 2010 102.
and CPJ drawing one up on the sideline
in the mud with a twig.
by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Aug 3, 2011 11:58 AM EDT up reply actions
Also
Looks like a passing eff of between 125 -130 is about the median in college football. Our 112 in 2008 was good enough for 92nd in the country, our 149 in 2009 ranked 12th! and our 102 in 2010 was 113th!
Wow to go from 12th in the country to 113th is quite a fall!
Can't wait for Perkins to be carrying the ball at B-Back.
He looks a lot like Dwyer, he’s going to be an absolute force.
We can only hope our WRs can get better, but that also brings up an interesting point….
In this offense, the A-Backs are supposed to be a significant source of receiving, no? My understanding was that, while also carrying the ball and being lead blockers, a significant part of their responsibility was to be a pass catcher. I’d like to see some production from them this year in our passing game. I know last year Orwin Smith looked like he was a very reliable pass catcher (and was just generally the stud of our offense), hopefully we get some hands this year too with Roddy and Embry and the like.
One more comment on Roddy: He’s definitely the captain of the offense this year if we have one. I remember last year when Nesbitt (the offensive captain, if I had to pick one) went down in the Virginia Tech game, and with him not out there, Roddy just took over as the leader. He was barking at people, keeping everyone’s head in it, and generally just jumped in and mentally and emotionally put everyone on his back. What an impressive young man and football player, hopefully this year is a good send-off for him.
The Church of Paul Johnson - There's not much to it outside of whooping ass and giving haters the finger. To HELL With georgie!
spring game showed some nice little crossing patterns with A-backs
Better to have died a small boy than to drop this football - John Heisman FromTheRumbleSeat
by Winfield Featherston on Aug 3, 2011 11:12 AM EDT up reply actions
I'm Cautiously Optomistic on Perkins...
if only because you’ve been building him up so much!
Paul Johnson: not giving a crap about what you have to say since 1987.
He's my boy, what can I say??
Honestly, to see him not pan out at Tech would leave me incredibly disappointed, knowing what he’s capable of. I’ll leave it at that.
The Church of Paul Johnson - There's not much to it outside of whooping ass and giving haters the finger. To HELL With georgie!
would leave a lot of people disappointed
Better to have died a small boy than to drop this football - John Heisman FromTheRumbleSeat
by Winfield Featherston on Aug 4, 2011 10:37 AM EDT up reply actions
My equation is highly theoretical but is goes like this.
First, the background.
Last year’s offense, without a passing threat, eventually came down to making Allen the threat. That is probably not what you want to have happen with this system. With the secondary cheating up, any play that took time to develop was not going to be very successful. I think as a result even the A backs fumbled as a result of psychologically trying to make things happen on the corners when there were fewer opportunities and fewer openings.
If that scenario repeats itself this year then I expect Lyons to play the role of Allen with most of the positive yards occurring because of blocking schemes.
If the offense can be more diversified then I see the defense getting spread out and someone like Perkins taking it to the house because the defense guessed wrong. Likewise the A backs will scamper like jackrabbits all up and down the field. Defenses will be left dizzy and breathless.
Preseason speculation is heady stuff.
by Atlanta's original team on Aug 3, 2011 2:24 PM EDT reply actions
Here is the difference between 2009 and both seasons in 2008 and 2010.
36/20, 34/12, and 37/20.
We fumbled the ball almost as much in 2009 as in either of CPJ’s other two seasons. In 2009 we fell on the fumbles ourselves instead of letting the opponents get them. Remember the FSU game? Otherwise the offense is pretty much the same all three years.
The data are for fumbles/lost for 2008, 2009, and 2010 respectively. It is my expectation that we we average about 400 yards per game again this season.
Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?
That being said...
Even though the raw stats on that are the same, I would love to see how many times between 08 and 10 that we had fumbles in the first couple of plays, compared to how many fumbles we had after 5+ plays and inside the opponent’s 30 yd line. It just seemed like every fumble last year was absolutely devastating to any drive we were on, which could then affect mental state, etc.
The Church of Paul Johnson - There's not much to it outside of whooping ass and giving haters the finger. To HELL With georgie!
We're going to generate big rushing numbers either way
but I think that the absolute KEYS to winning are going to be a reliable passing game (ie no drops, as I expect Tevin to be more accurate this year if he’s put in all the work he says he has) and no injuries on the O-line (I think they can be MUCH better than expected, just a hunch on that one). We’re always going to have fumbles, that’s the devil of the system, we just need to keep them!
Paul Johnson: not giving a crap about what you have to say since 1987.
Need the dive.
When teams have to respect the run up the gut, it opens up space for the QB and AB outside, as well as the passing game. Teams that beat Tech start with taking away the dive. It’s the Iowa model of defense. You need that BB to step up not only to grind out the tough yards, but to make a team pay for cheating to the outside.
Strong BB play is all the more important with questions at QB.
The dive is the base play of the whole offense. The threat of the dive dictates what defenses must do and opens up what the rest of the offense can do.
All great points
A strong passing game will pull the defense away from the dive, as will a dangerous QB and AB combo to a lesser extent. The beauty of the triple option is that the defense must pick what they want to defend on each play. If all four options (BB, QB, AB, pass) are equally effective, you’ll have a great chance of picking the right option. That’s what happened in 2009, and that’s what we need to be more effective in 2011.
I don't know
I think the passing game is more important the dive. Without a passing game, DBs cheat up and no matter where you go with the ball you’re still not going anywhere.
Paul Johnson: not giving a crap about what you have to say since 1987.
I don't know either but
one thing I can say for sure. If the dive isn’t working this offense isn’t working. Last year without a passing threat we still racked up huge rushing numbers. This offense without a dive is like a tap dancer without taps.
by Atlanta's original team on Aug 4, 2011 8:42 AM EDT up reply actions
The numbers aren't as important
as points and wins. Without a passing game, we had a much harder time getting into the endzone last season. I agree that without the dive play, the whole offense gets screwed up, but I don’t see that happening this season (at least in most games).
Here's why I still think the dive is more important:
Tech is built to run: stocked with BBs, running QBs, and blocking WRs. Of course, those QBs can throw and the WRs can catch, but Tech simply isn’t going to approach the run/pass balance of most teams. Doing so would expose the area of least talent on the roster.
A strong inside game makes everyone cheat in. That buys crucial time and space to Tech to find success in the passing game without having to have an NFL arm at QB and five-stars out wide.
by first and thom on Aug 4, 2011 12:31 PM EDT up reply actions
Looking at it from two directions
Is the success of the dive going to help the pass or vice versa? I’m saying the latter is the case because we have talent at B-Back. It is the most important play in the offense, and we’ve got the players to be successful at it. If the offense as a whole wants to succeed though, we need someone outside to pull defenders out of the box. Having to drive down the field in 20 plays leads to more potential for mistakes per drive.
Also, I wouldn’t be so sure that the “QBs can throw and the WRs can catch.” That certainly wasn’t the case last season.
I think we're talking about the same thing in different ways.
The dive makes the defense defend the inside, close to the LOS. That’s one extreme. On the other extreme, down field passing makes a defense defend the sidelines deep. Success at one will breed success in the other. Variations of option runs and short passes attack different parts of the field.
But Tech is better suited to run the dive than to attack the deep sidelines. Thus, it will run to set up the pass. If a team has to cheat in against the run, it will increase its exposure to passing attacks.
Just stopping the dive isn’t sufficient: if a team has to bring too many players in tight, it gets easier to run outside and throw the ball deep. The real danger is teams that can stop the dive without cheating in.
by first and thom on Aug 4, 2011 5:03 PM EDT up reply actions
alright you got me
I just hope we have the chance to do both.
Paul Johnson: not giving a crap about what you have to say since 1987.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on From The Rumble Seat
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
SHOP THE FROM THE RUMBLE SEAT STORE
