Georgia Tech 2010 Offensive Preview: Quarterbacks

I will be doing a position by position preview of the 2010 Georgia Tech football team and today, we'll start with the quarterback. 

For the third season in a row, Georgia Tech will have Joshua Nesbitt under center to open up the season. The 6'1", 218 pound senior is considered a dark horse candidate for the Heisman trophy. In his third year of Paul Johnson's spread option attack, Nesbitt will be even more comfortable with the system. That could be scary for ACC foes as the Yellow Jackets signal caller rushed for over 1,000 yards and threw for another 1,700 along with a gaudy 28 touchdowns. 

Many worry about Nesbitt's accuracy as he completed only 46 percent of his passes a year ago, a slight increase from 2008. Pundits also believe that number could drop now that big play receiver Demaryius Thomas is now playing on Sundays.

Nesbitt will have to spread the ball around to different guys if one of the receivers fails to step up as a go to target. He missed the entire spring with an ankle injury which could have been an opportunity to work with his receivers and A-backs to improve his accuracy. 

For two years, Jaybo Shaw was the unquestioned number two quarterback on the depth chart behind Joshua Nesbitt. After his departure, the number two spot was up for grabs.

With Nesbitt sitting out in the spring, fans were able to see what could be life after Nesbitt. It was a three man race for the number two job in the spring with Tevin Washington, Jordan Luallen, and David Sims battling for the spot. Once the buzzer sounded in the spring game, it was clear that one man stood out above the others. 

Tevin Washington emerged as the backup to Nesbitt this season as he ran the offense to perfection in the spring game. The 6'1", 203 pound sophomore showed that he could not only run the ball well, but also had the ability to be accurate with intermediate routes along with a nice deep ball.

Washington connected with fellow sophomore Stephen Hill for a 70 yard touchdown pass that Hill caught in stride. He accounted for all four touchdowns (three rushing) in the first half of the rain-shortened spring game. He completed six of seven passes for 122 yards along with 35 yards on the ground.

While Nesbitt is a tough, physical runner, Washington is more of a quicker, shiftier type runner. The only issue is he has basically zero game experience. But as Georgia Tech fans have seen in the past two seasons, that could change in a heartbeat. 

It was basically a tie for the number three spot with redshirt freshmen Jordan Luallen and David Sims. Both talented and athletic, the two will be competing with each other again next spring along with Tevin Washington for the starting quarterback job.

Luallen was a four-star recruit out of high school and was ranked as one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the country. Breaking the mold a bit with Paul Johnson quarterbacks, the Indiana native is 6'4", 217 lbs, and is very solid as a pocket passer. But he has the speed and quickness to be a very good option (no pun intended) for the future of this offense.

David Sims is very athletic, but struggled in the spring which kept him from moving up the depth chart. The 5'1"1, 219 pound redshirt freshman is hard to bring down and has the ability to be a solid runner in this offense. Sims had a tough time throwing the ball and making reads in the spring, but should get better with time. If he doesn't make it as a quarterback, Sims is a good enough athlete to switch positions. 

Overall, the offense is in good hands in 2010 and beyond. Joshua Nesbitt is the leader of this offense and is arguably the most important piece to this team. The Yellow Jackets are a better team when he is on the field. But if he goes down at some point in the season, Paul Johnson feels comfortable with the talent he has on the bench at the quarterback position.