Defensive Coordinator Andrew Thacker's Press Conference 8/24

Here's everything that defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker had to say Wednesday

Jackson Caudell | Aug 24, 2022

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Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Georgia Tech held media availability after practice on Wednesday and defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker spoke to the media afterward.

Here is everything that he had to say.

1. His evaluation of the scrimmage on Saturday...

"The first thing that I can give to you is scrimmage #2 was a little bit different. The first scrimmage was a little more situational and we went a little more vanilla with our packages. Our goal in scrimmage #1 was to evaluate who could best do their assignments and who could tackle the best. I think one of the biggest observations from scrimmage #1 was the tackling, it was the first time that we had done that and we needed to improve that."

"So we went into that second scrimmage and coach let us play a little more and put the ball down and open up the playbook a little bit, so we were able to call more and have more complexity with the defense, so that was a little more fun for the guys, certainly more fun for me. Still, we focused on techniques, and fundamentals, we focused on tackling, and saw a big improvement there, but I would say the biggest thing from scrimmage #1 to scrimmage #2 was the way that we handled adversity. Chip (Long) did an unbelievable job on the first drive, a three-play drive and they scored on us and then after that moment I think we handled it well and put together a string of stops and third-down stops and stayed composed in that situation."

"A couple of other things that I was pleased with, I was pleased with the tackling from scrimmage #1 to scrimmage #2 and I was pleased with the situational football, particularly third downs, we were at a high percentage that day. The guys energy was very good. There was good motivation, good energy, the responses on the sideline with the defensive leadership. We got better that day."

2. On the number of defensive guys he feels comfortable with putting in a game...

"There is not a definitive answer to that, coach has kind of addressed the team this way and he is very specific about the ATL and having guys ready and giving us the green light as coaches to go play the players in the green light. I think he has given a very realistic idea of the way we want to manage the depth chart this year, that it is gonna be more competitive. We want guys that we truly want on the field longer. In the past where we have played, where we have come in after the game and played 25 guys, 25-30 defensive players. I don't know if that will be the case this year. We feel like we have enough older, mature guys that can handle the workload."

"I'll give you an example. Jaylon King, Charlie Thomas, and Ace Eley, we really want those guys to carry a bigger load as opposed to subbing just for the purpose of subbing. As always, if tempo, if the play count gets high, we have to rely on depth. The defensive line always has more rotations than anybody else, so I don't have a hard number for you and we have not had that conversation yet. We have had conversations after scrimmage #1 and scrimmage #2. We have had more of a travel list conversation, ok these guys are going to be on the travel list, so let's start to build the special team's depth chart after that."

"We are still allowing guys to be in camp mode and fight for position battles and what a 1-2-3 ATL depth chart will look like, if that is a fair answer."

3. On if anyone has stood out to him in the preseason...

"I respect the question, I hate those questions, because the ones that I speak positively about, it does a disservice to so many guys that are doing a great job. I will take an easy route to start, the older guys that we have, I just mentioned some, Jaylon King, Charlie Thomas, Ace Eley, I think the consistency that they come with every single day and the leadership that they provide off the field, we hold those guys to a high standard, they make coaching easier."

"I'll give you some guys that I think are most improved in a camp setting. I am afraid to give him a compliment, but I think David Turner is doing a great job with Akelo Stone. He is kind of a rotational defensive tackle that has strung together a couple of really good practices and I am proud of him. I don't want to do him a disservice and him to hear this, but I am proud of him. I will give you one guy of the freshmen class that is ahead of the curve in his maturity and that is Clayton Powell-Lee. There is plenty, plenty more that I don't want to be remiss with, I hope that was a fair answer to your question."

4. On what he has seen from LaMiles Brooks...

"LaMiles is coming off of a shoulder surgery, so we did not have LaMiles in spring practice. We always knew that he had a serious approach and the high-end intangibles that we truly trust. So we were not sure if we were going to play him at any of the three spots in the back of the secondary, the strong safety, the free safety, the nickel. We explored a little bit in the summer and we felt he was best at the strong safety position right now. So, him and Derrik Allen have been in a great battle and it has been a very competitive battle between those two, and to Derrik Allen's credit and to LaMiles Brooks' credit, it has not been a contentious battle."

"I think they are falling into the trap of not comparing themselves to each other and they are going out there trying to make each other better. Coach Tillman for example, every single time that we went to a situational period and those guys just rotated with ones and twos. If we would go into a game right now, those guys will still battle it out, who gets the first snap, but those guys would have even snaps right now, whoever is the hot hand, we would play those guys. I am very pleased with LaMiles, especially not having the sample size of having spring with him."

5. On the role he sees for Noah Collins...

"I am really proud of Coach Knight and all the work that he has done with Noah. Noah is one of those guys coming into fall camp where we would have those conversations and think that Noah might be the most talented guy that we have. That is no disservice to anybody else, just as far as true twitch, true flexibility, true pass rushing ability, just natural power. If this kid comes on, he is the most talented one long-term and I feel like the light has come on. CoachKnight has done a great job of giving all the details and giving him confidence and kind of in the same way where Kyle Kennard, Kevin Harris, Noah Collins are all in a competition battle and they all have done a great job of building each other up and being competitive about it."

"I think if we were to go out tomorrow, Kyle and Noah would be very competitive with those reps right now, we would trust both of the guys in the game right now. I am really really pleased with Noah Collins, who is ultimately in his redshirt freshmen year right now."

6. On developing depth at cornerback...

"I would say that we have consistently kept Myles Sims and Zamari Walton with that first group. Another one that I want to bring to light is Kenan Johnson, we very much trust Kenan Johnson and feel like he is playing at a high level. He took some reps rotationally with the ones today and there is really good battle for that next corner spot. Kenyatta (Watson) has done a great job with 50-50 balls, so specifically with fades to back shoulders that we get a lot of. He has played in quite a bit of press technique in competitive situations and I think he has won a lot of those battles, so we are very proud of that one."

"There are some other guys that we have brought into the program, Ahmari Harvey and Eric Reed, that we have brought in for competition. Those guys have improved and are fighting for that spot as well. That would be one of those spots. We are trying to figure out who we want to rotate as the fourth and the fifth guy at cornerback right now and that still has to see itself out."

7. On his first game where he coached against Chip Long...

"That was a long time ago. I was the linebackers coach at the time, not the defensive coordinator, calling plays or anything. They had, I remember the offensive line is my memory of it. Quenton Nelson, that is what I remember from that game. That is what I remember from that game. That was our very first game at Temple as the linebackers coach, they got after us. Chip is an unbelievable play caller. It has been fun competing against him every day. I think the complexity to his offense, I think he is not able to give any lip service to his personnel, how he uses personnel. I think it is as NFL style as it gets. He gets the best personnel on the field, he does not worry about tight ends, he does not worry about wide receivers, and he does not worry about running backs. Whoever he feels like he can create a play for, he creates for."

"For us defensively, we feel like going into the Clemson game, we have faced almost every personnel, almost every formation, almost every shift and motion, and almost every adjustment. So the way that he has made us better in that way, I can't compliment enough. I think there's been a lot of comments about how they feel that Jeff (Sims) has a good idea of the offense."

8. On how to get the defense to play more consistently...

"I think number one is you enter the season with confidence. I think optimism is a real thing, but it does not guarantee a thing. Optimism guarantees absolutely nothing. I think our guys will go in with optimism, they will go in with positive energy. We will start from that standpoint. We talk about circumstances and how we respond to circumstances. Not only do we talk about ,we talk about the hard times, which we have had some hard times here, and how we respond to those things, and now in fall camp we've got some maturity with guys handling success, even within a framework of a scrimmage, where we felt like we had momentum on defense. "

"It is great to ride the wave of momentum and have shared the joy with your teammates, but really how to respond to both adversity and how to both respond to a little positivity too and to ride those waves and a little bit to your point, we had a little arc of the season above minimum defense, you mentioned the Clemson game and the North Carolina Game, that I was very proud of the product that we were putting out there, but we did not sustain and, so we've asked a lot of questions of me personally, of us as a staff and then for us as a unit you know why is that? How do we teach them? How do we not just react to those moments? How do we teach them ahead of time to be prepared for those things? So, we talk a lot of intangible things as we go to our unit meetings and it is not something that we are waiting to happen for. We know that circumstances good or bad are going to come up, so we are trying to train those guys how to respond ahead of time."

9. On if the transfers they have from Clemson (Paul Tchio and Taisun Phommachanh) offer them any intel...

"I think more so than anything, it is just stylistically and broad things. It happened last year with Kennesaw State, we had a guy that was a former quarterback walk on in the system and came up, just little operational things. When you throw on the tape, what do you see operational wise, with the snap count and the cadence type of things. We are not out here trying to do some espionage or those type of things and it is just more operational things, like how they are going to use personnel and some pre-snap things, which is helpful."

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