Georgia Tech Football: Jeff Sims and Dontae Smith Know That Offense Must Cut Down on Penalties This Week

Georgia Tech's Jeff Sims and Dontae Smith talked about a key in making sure this offense reaches its potential

One of the things that was clear on Monday night against Clemson was that Georgia Tech was hurting itself on offense with penalties, particularly pre-snap penalties. Some drives were set back and made more difficult by false starts and that is always a killer for an offense, especially when going up against an elite defense like Clemson. 

Jeff Sims and Dontae Smith both expect to cut down the penalties this week / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

So naturally one of the focuses this week for the offense was going to be cutting down the penalties. If they can do that, the players feel this offense has another level that they can reach. When speaking to the media this week, running back Dontae Smith talked about this and what their potential is when they can cut down the self-inflicting mistakes: 

"There were a few things where we killed ourselves before the ball was even snapped, so I think once we fix those pre-snap penalties, those penalties that we shouldn't have, this offense has a chance to be very explosive and be very good and we saw a glimpse of that Monday night."

Smith was right. When the offense was not committing penalties and Clemson was blocked, this offense was moving against one of the best in the country. Sims was in rhythm and hitting his targets on time and if he can do that against a team like Clemson, think about what he can do against Western Carolina this week. 

When he was asked how they are working to clean up those mistakes, Smith said they are holding each other accountable and keeping in mind that these are easy mistakes to correct:

"Accountability. We know those mistakes that we made are easy mistakes that we can fix. Our coaches have put in things for us to not let that happen, those things where we are jumping offsides, we practice that a lot now, people stemming, we practice that a lot, and then, of course, we have to fix up where we messed up on special teams and the coaches do a good job on that and I'm pretty sure that it will be changed."

Jeff Sims is wanting a cleaner game from the offense vs Western Carolina / John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Quarterback Jeff Sims echoed some of those same sentiments as Smith. 

"When we don't hurt ourselves, we are a pretty good offense and we move the ball really good and I feel like when we don't hurt ourselves, that is when we are rolling and I think the biggest thing for us is to just not hurt ourselves."

Sims was asked about what he thought was the reason behind the penalties and he gave a pretty honest answer about that:

"I think the guys were pretty anxious, you know everybody has not played in a year, so I think they were just anxious and ready to go."

Hopefully, for the Georgia Tech offense, the line will be less anxious and more focused on their opponent this week. If they are, the Yellow Jackets can show off the playmakers they think they have on offense. 

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