Technical Tidbits 11/22: Smart prepares for option, Jackets top UT Rio Grande Valley

With Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate just a shade over 48 hours away, it appears that Georgia Tech will be without a defensive starter for the game — a player who will remain anonymous, at least for now. As far as Saturday surprises go, this is not a fun one. The defense flatly doesn’t have enough depth to deal with losses at key positions, but hopefully having a week to prepare for the absence will be enough for the Jackets to mitigate any issues that could arise.

Don’t be misled by the headline above — Kirby Smart didn’t actually reveal anything about his team’s preparation. That said, there are still some interesting quotes from the Georgia head coach about everything from the status of ILB Monty Rice (who remains doubtful for the game, a big win for the Tech offense) to Smart’s impression of Tech’s quarterback situation.

They have two QBs that are rushing it. It’s pretty obvious they think of these guys as rushers. They get them on the perimeter.

The first half of this statement is obvious, but the second half is... questionable. Tobias Oliver in particular never, ever goes anywhere close to the perimeter and even Taquon Marshall’s keeps could only be called perimeter runs under an incredibly generous definition of the word.

Georgia Tech cruised past UT Rio Grande Valley by a 28-point margin yesterday night, turning a balanced scoring output from the top nine guys on the depth chart into an easy win. Mike Devoe led the way for Tech with 14 points on 3-8 shooting and 5 assists, while Jose Alvarado contributed 12 points of his own. UT Rio Grande Valley actually outscored the Jackets by 3 in the second half, a testament to just how hot Tech started during the 20 opening minutes in which the team built an insurmountable 42-11 lead.