Georgia Tech’s Geoff Collins

Georgia Tech’s Geoff Collins made his first trip to the ACC Kickoff as a head coach Thursday. He’s most notable for his stints as a defensive coordinator at Mississippi State and Florida and a head coach at Temple for the last two seasons.

Collins will have his hands full early as his Yellow Jackets open the season with a visit to Clemson. The good news for Collins is he’s inheriting a program that had a winning record last season. The bad news is that team was built to operate Paul Johnson’s option attack. If Collins is going to lean on his defense, he’ll have to do it with inexperienced players as his stop unit returns only four starters.

Coach Collins sat down with us to discuss what he plans to do with his offense, opening with Clemson and why he’s carrying a Waffle House coffee.

GEOFF COLLINS INTERVIEW:

Collins also spent time in front of the podium to field questions about taking over for Coach Johnson. There is little doubt it is always a big adjustment transitioning away from the triple option, but Collins stressed his team will not be built on scheme, but on players.

GEOFF COLLINS PRESS CONFERENCE:

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets       7-6                     5-3             Lost Quick Bowl to Minnesota

Geoff Collins 1st season               0-0                     0-0

  2018 ACC Rank NCAA Rank
Points Per game 33.6 4 33
Rushing Yards per game 325.1 1 1
Passing yards per game 83.8 14 127
Total yards per game 408.8 7 64
Defense
Points allowed per game 29.3 9 79
Rushing yards allowed per game 158.3 7 56
Passing yards allowed per game 211.3 7 49
Total yards allowed per game 369.6 4 46

The Yellow Jackets return 10 starters; 4 on offense, 4 on defense, and the Kicker and Punter.

 Statistical Leaders Returning

RB Games Yards TD AVG
Tobias Oliver 12 876 12 5.8
Defense
  Tackles TFL INT Sacks
Charlie Thomas 48 3.0 0 1.0
David Curry 47 0.5 1 0.5
Tre Swilling 24 1.5 1 1.0
Tariq Carpenter 55 1.5 2 0

Returning Starters Offense                                      

QB/RB Tobias Oliver

LT Zach Quinney

C Kenny Cooper

RG Conner Hansen

Returning Starters Defense

LB Charlie Thomas

LB David Curry

CB Tre Swilling

S Tariq Carpenter

Special Teams

K Wesley Wells

P Pressley Harvin 3rd

Key Losses

QB TaQuon Marshall

WR Brad Stewart

LG Parker Braun

DE Desmond Branch

DE Anree Saint-Amour

LB Brant Mithcell

LB Jalen Johnson

S Malik Rivera