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Georgia Tech Football: Why the Jackets should look into Tommy Stevens

By Dylan Callaghan-Croley

STATE COLLEGE, PA - OCTOBER 27: Tommy Stevens #2 of the Penn State Nittany Lions celebrates after rushing for a 3 yard touchdown in the first half against the Iowa Hawkeyes on October 27, 2018 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
STATE COLLEGE, PA - OCTOBER 27: Tommy Stevens #2 of the Penn State Nittany Lions celebrates after rushing for a 3 yard touchdown in the first half against the Iowa Hawkeyes on October 27, 2018 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /
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Penn State quarterback Tommy Stevens entered the transfer portal on Wednesday and Georgia Tech seems like an ideal fit for the Indiana native.

On Wednesday, Penn State quarterback Tommy Stevens semi-shockingly entered the transfer portal according to a report by NFL reporter Aaron Wilson. Stevens was expected to to be the starting quarterback for the Nittany Lions but a nagging foot injury kept the redshirt senior out of spring practices and allowed other quarterbacks on the roster to find themselves in a place to possibly win Penn State’s starting quarterback job.

For Stevens, this year was expected to be “his year”. The Indiana native sat behind former Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley for the last three seasons and all indications pointed to him being the starter in 2019. With that up in the air now at Penn State, Stevens has decided to look at the options he has around him. We believe that Georgia Tech would be an ideal fit for the Indiana native.

Chances are, most of our readers will be unfamiliar with Tommy Stevens and that’s alright. As someone who lives in Pennsylvania and also covers Penn State, I’ve been familiar with Tommy Stevens for almost five years at this point. To be honest, there’s still not a ton known about Stevens. During his time at Penn State, he was used in a versatile role called the “LION” that saw him line up at quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and even tight end. A strong and tough runner, Stevens was never afraid to lower the shoulder. As a passer, Stevens has a small track record with 41 career passing attempts. Out of those 41 passing attempts, he has 24 completions for 304-yards, four touchdowns, and one interception.

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His arm can be described as a pretty strong arm and he’s shown to be quite accurate. That being said, a lot of his time at quarterback has come in mop-up roles but he did have to play extended time this past season when Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley went down with injuries. It would safe to say though that Stevens if he were to join Georgia Tech, would be the best quarterback on the roster immediately.

But here are a few reasons of why Stevens would be an ideal fit for the Yellow Jackets entering this season and why the coaching staff should give him at least a look.

1) One-and-done

This may sound a bit weird to some but with Stevens being a redshirt senior, grad transfer, he would have one year to play for his next program. That, however, could pay off for a program like the Jackets. It would like the Jackets to have a strong option at quarterback for 2019 while the coaching staff is able to work with the other quarterbacks on the roster, getting them ready to play in a pro-style system at a quality level in 2020 and beyond. He would simply be a strong stop-gap option for the Jackets and one who could help make it a smooth transition from Paul Johnson’s triple-option offense to Geoff Collin’s pro-style.

2) Polished Passer

For Georgia Tech to be competent on offense in 2019, they’ll need their quarterback to be strong in the passing game. They don’t need to complete 60% or 75% of their passes but completing at least 55% or more should be the goal. Stevens would be the best pure passer on the roster for the Yellow Jackets and probably would have the strongest arm as well. With Stevens at quarterback, the Jackets would be able to have confidence that their quarterback can complete a quality percentage of their passes and also have the chance to complete a strong amount of their down the field passes where arm strength is a necessity. We’re not saying he’s a Trevor Lawrence style quarterback, but Stevens would arguably become the second best quarterback in the ACC next season.

3) Dual-Threat Capabilities

Even though it’s a pro-style system that Georgia Tech will be running, there will still be a good amount of read-options and chances for the Jackets quarterback to keep the ball himself. Stevens, as mentioned before, is a pretty strong runner over his career with 76 career rushing attempts for 506-yards and eight touchdowns. While the Jackets quarterback room is already one of the most athletic in the country, having a poised and experienced quarterback such as Stevens back there could make a ton of difference especially when being pressured by the opposing defense.

Overall, we believe Stevens would be the starter without a doubt for the Yellow Jackets. While Lucas Johnson seems to be the favorite heading into the fall, we’ll find out more next week. It’s hard to say where the Jackets quarterbacks sit as passers heading into this season. That being said, it seems like Stevens wants to go somewhere he can be “guaranteed” the starting job. That probably wouldn’t happen at Georgia Tech but a new quarterback battle between Johnson (most likely) and Stevens would definitely develop.

Don’t get us wrong, Tommy Stevens isn’t a perfect quarterback and a lot of what we know about him is done in limited snaps. But what he has shown in his limited amount of snaps is promising and seems like a quarterback that a program like Georgia Tech could use. Obviously, he wants to be a starting quarterback somewhere and that’s not necessarily a guarantee in 2019 but either way, the Georgia Tech coaching staff should at least look into Stevens as a potential transfer option this season.