Three Questions For Georgia Tech Ahead Of Spring Practice
Spring football in Atlanta is just around the corner.
Georgia Tech begins spring football next week and the Yellow Jackets are entering this spring fresh off of a winning season and the programs first bowl wins since 2016. There is excitement going into spring and into the season, but there are also plenty of questions for this team. While they won't be answered over a month of spring football, the next four weeks should be interesting.
So what are the three biggest questions for Georgia Tech heading into spring football?
1. Defense, Defense, Defense
It is impossible to just nail down one part of the defense for Georgia Tech that has questions coming into the season. The Yellow Jackets have a brand new defensive staff coming in and they are also trying to find guys to step into some spots.
New defensive coordinator Tyler Santucci is going to be implementing a new scheme for a defense that finished as the worst in the ACC last season and that has a lot of questions at certain spots. Defensive end, linebacker, and cornerback are all going to have competitions and Georgia Tech needs to start identifying who could be playmakers on that side of the ball going forward and that begins next week.
2. Injury updates to Leo Blackburn and Sylvain Yondjouen
Blackburn is a physically gifted wide receiver who has flashed his talent at times while at Georgia Tech, but he has been limited due to injuries. He tore his ACL last spring and was out for the 2023 season. Georgia Tech has a talented wide receiver group coming back this season, but Blackburn would give them an extra element that they are missing on the outside in terms of physical ability.
Yondjouen is a veteran pass rusher that suffered a season-ending injury in the opening game against Louisville. He will a favorite to be a starter and play a lot of snaps if he is healthy.
Both of these players have potential to be impact players if they are healthy, but there has not been any updates on their health in sometime.
3. Could the offense hit another gear?
Georgia Tech had one of the ACC's best offenses last year and one of the most improved in the country. Haynes King was a pleasant surprise last year and was one of the most productive quarterbacks in the conference, the Yellow Jackets had the conferences No. 1 rushing attack behind a much improved offensive line, and Eric Singleton Jr was one of the top true freshman wide receivers in the country. Connor Scaglione and Dominick Blaylock are the only key departures for the offense.
There is always another level to hit though. As good as King was last season, he had some turnover prone games (Bowling Green, Miami, Boston College, Clemson) that hurt the offense and you can argue prevented them from winning more games.
If Georgia Tech's offense can take things to an even higher level, this could be a special season.