Georgia Tech Football: 2015 Yellow Jackets Are The Perfect Coastal Division Favorite

In 2014, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets entered into Spring Practice and the 2014 College Football Season as an afterthought.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets /

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

No one expected much out of Tech last season at all. They were picked to finish fifth in the preseason and were coming off of a 7-6 2013 season that did not give many people in the media much confidence.

The Yellow Jackets used the lack of expectation and the talk of Paul Johnson’s job being in jeopardy to build an 11-3 record including a 30-24 win over Georgia, and a 49-34 Orange Bowl victory over the Mississippi St. Bulldogs.

Now all of a sudden the media has given the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets the proverbial “target on their back” by making Tech the odds on favorites to win the Coastal Division despite losing allof their lead skill position players and a lot of team leadership from 2014.

DeAndre Smelter, Darren Waller, Synjyn Days, Zach Laskey, Shaq Mason, Isaiah Johnson and Quayshawn Nealy, who were all major contributors to Tech’s success in 2K14, are not running on to the field in 2K15.

But with nine players returning on defense and five players on offense, this year’s Yellow Jackets team is still the perfect team to take on the pressure of being the “F” word– favorites!

Given the personality of Paul Johnson and the team, you already know they would prefer being under the radar going into 2015, but that is not how it works after success.

However, even with the target being on the Yellow Jackets back, there are plenty of reasons for this team to not have a swelled head during spring practice or when the 2015 season kicks off.

One reason is that there is still so much for this team to prove this year.

Even though the defense created a bunch of turnovers in 2014, they are going to still have a lot to prove in Ted Roof’s defense.

For P.J. Davis to collect the 119 tackles that he did and not even get a sniff at All-ACC should be motivation for him.

Wanting to improve on a rush defense that yielded 167.6 yards per game and 5.1 yards per carry is motivation.

On the offensive side, Justin Thomas is going to have to prove that he can lead a new cast of young players.

Michael Summers is going to want to prove that there will be no drop off in receiving production next season.

And, most important to the team’s success, the running back corps is going to have something to prove.