Recapping the defensive performance and giving defensive grades for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets against the Boston College Eagles.
A lot of issues on offense led to this loss. However, on defense we saw some major mistakes too. Getting off to a slow start and allowing Boston College’s tight end Hunter Long to be completely open was detrimental. Their run game threw our defense for a loop. We couldn’t stop their run game hardly at all. The worst part about it is, going into this game, the defense probably felt like they were ready because they had multiple practices before this game to prepare to face whatever BC was going to throw at them.
Defensive Line: C+
Antonneous Clayton only had one solo tackle on Saturday. Jordan Dominick had four tackles. Two of them were solo and two were assists. Mike Lockhart saw five tackles, one solo and four assists. Curtis Ryans had two tackles, only one solo and one assist. The line looked like they needed more energy. It was dull and unexciting watching them.
Linebacker: C+
Boston College had a lot of different formations and shifts-they have a lot of different moving parts. It was hard for our defense to read that. Quez Jackson was doing almost everything he could in this game. He had 9 tackles-five solo and four assists. Linebacker David Curry also looked pretty good with eight tackles. He had five solo and three assists. Sadly, it was nearly impossible for Tech to nail their run game.
Secondary: C
Juanye Thomas had an average of five tackles this game. He had four solo tackles and one assist. I’d like to see higher numbers out of him because we know what he’s capable of. Wesley Walker had five total tackles, three solo and two assists. Charlie Thomas had one tackle the whole game. These guys need to know when to turn it on during games. Notice the weak points within the D and learn them like the back of your hand. We need to be more aware of them during game time.
Punting: B
Pressley Harvin tried a lot of new things this game. They didn’t all work, but it was good practice for the future. He had four punts for 204 yards. They averaged for 51 yards.
Overall:
A ton of penalties not in our favor really set us back. We didn’t cause any turnovers and that’s something that just has to be done to get ahead against the Eagles. It’s still a very young team and they need discipline badly. Take these penalties as a lesson and learn from them and use them to improve. We can’t afford to give up 48 points each game and after these last two games, there’s a lot more questions than answers after this week.