Q and A with Jonathan Leifheit from GoJackets.com about the upcoming season.
Can you give us some information on starting quarterback Josh Nesbitt? Given he did not play much last year, only attempting 13 passes, the scouting report on him is pretty thin. Were the coaches impressed with him during spring ball?
Actually, Josh did play a good bit last year—enough that he was the third-leading rusher on the team. He racked up 355 yards on 53 carries. He didn't pass a lot—five for 13 for 93 yards—but he was on the field nearly every game. Largely, Josh was used in spot duty and generally was put in for one (maybe two) series in every game.
Josh is an excellent runner and proved to be very hard to bring down. What is unknown is how good a passer he will become. He is known, however, to have a very strong arm and played in an offense in high school that featured his arm frequently.
Josh emerged from spring practice as the clear No. 1, and thus far he has grasped the offense better than any of the other QBs. However, he did have some injury problems and didn't get in as many reps as the coaches would have liked.
Many people perceive Paul Johnson’s option attack as a ball-control offense that methodically moves down the field. Can this offense be effective when trailing in a game, and can fans expect this system to produce big plays?
Last year, Navy's offense was third in the country with regard to scoring drives of under a minute and eighth in the country in plays of 25 yards or more. That sounds to me like an offense that CAN and DOES pick up big hunks of yardage in a hurry.
Navy was the second-least penalized team in the nation last season, allowing the offense to become the nation's finest rushing attack. Georgia Tech was heavily penalized last year in terms of yardage. Do you think offensive discipline is something Paul Johnson can change, and how important is this statistic for the Georgia Tech offense this year?
I think you can expect that Coach Johnson will get the number of penalties down in the long term. However, I'm not sure how well that will be demonstrated in year one.
Largely, offensive penalties happen because a player isn't in position to carry out his assignment and has to do something outside of the rules to do his job. Typically, that results in a holding call on offense.
I expect that as this team learns their roles, those penalties will still occur. I do think we should see fewer of the five-yard penalties (delay of game, illegal procedure, and illegal motion).
Penalties and turnovers are an important statistic in any offense, and how well they keep them down will still play an important role in how well the offense performs.
Paul Johnson led the Navy program to five straight bowl appearances and did an amazing job since his first year in 2002, when he only achieved two wins. The Navy football program seemed to hit the ceiling in terms of its program potential.
6 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
BabyTate about 1 year ago
Ga Tech has a shot at doing very well this season. Eventually Johnson will control so much time with offensive possesion that there will be little opportunity for the offenses of the ACC to defeat him. The Yellow Jackets made the best hire possible and it will pay dividends sooner rather than later.
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Marcus Eagle about 1 year ago
If Johnson brings some surprises and some new additions to the team and Josh Nesbitt becomes the starting quarterback, GT will have a fighting chance at putting a run at the ACC championship. Im not saying that they will win, im just saying that they will be near the top at the end and I see them going to a bowl game, not a good one, but they will be there.
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Bryan Grantham about 1 year ago
I think the honest answer is no one really knows how good or bad Tech will be until we see it on the field. Will Johnson's option work? I think they will kill the Dukes and UNCs of the world, but struggle with FSU, Va Tech, and UGA.
I believe if you look at the last three years of the Navy regime, Johnson only beat 2 BCS teams: Pitt and ND in 2007 (both had losing years). I think he's 0 for his last 8 against BCS teams that had a plus .500 record. So, it may work, but I am not betting on it.
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Thomas Brown about 1 year ago
Tech will never be as disiplined as Navy was simply because of the kinds of kids they bring in. In the ACC, quite frankly, you need athletes that might not necessarily have the disipline. However, when you are at Navy you know every kids going to be disiplined...they are in the Navy and respect their coaches all the time.
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Jonathan Rowe about 1 year ago
Johnson had monster success at Georgia Southern as well before Navy. His GSU teams went to the NC game 3 straight years winning the last two - the last one against Jim Tressel's Youngstown State team. Point being: he can have monster success at a program without the extremely disciplined student athletes of the Naval Academy.
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Tommy Powell about 1 year ago
Bryan... In response to what you wrote about Navy not being able to beat the other BCS teams, if you go back and look, it was almost always because the Navy defense could not stop the opponent. GT is going to have much better defensive players than Navy ever dreamed of. The best athletes at Navy played on offense but that won't be the case at Tech because there will be enough talent to spread around. Also, I believe Navy's ppg avg against BCS opponents was somewhere in the low 30's. If Johnson can get his offense to avg 30+ ppg in the ACC, GT will win the conference.
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