Will Georgia Tech football improve in year two of Geoff Collins?

There’s nowhere to go but up on offense that returns young talent

The first thing that the Yellow Jackets are going to have to find out on offense is if there’s a quarterback who’s capable of leading the program.

For the final eight games of the 2019 season, the Jackets turned to redshirt freshman James Graham to run the offense and he had some serious ups and downs, throwing for just over 1,100 yards with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing just 45 percent of his passes. That’s not going to cut it if the Jackets are going to improve this season and while Graham might be the favorite heading into camp, there is going to be some serious competition for him to beat out.

Redshirt freshman Jordan Yates and a couple of true freshmen in Jeff Sims and Tucker Gleason will be there to battle Graham in hopes of improving an offense that ranked 124th in scoring with just 16 points per game.

One player that shined on offense last season was running back Jordan Mason, who had to battle a shoulder injury for most of the year, but ended up running for nearly 900 yards and had seven touchdowns while averaging over five yards per carry as a sophomore.

There is some depth at the position with Jamious Griffin and Dontae Smith back for their sophomore seasons. All of these backs showed their talent last season in spots and ran behind one of the conferences worst offensive lines. The line is improved and if these guys can stay healthy, expect a dangerous ground game from the Jackets this season.

Last year’s receiving corps had to deal with a combination of youth and uneven quarterback play, which is never a winning combination. The good news is that the top wide outs are back this season and hopefully the quarterback position can step up and help the offense grow.

Ahmarean Brown was a solid freshman with 21 catches for 396 yards and averaging over 19 yards per reception and he could be in for a big season. The other top two wide outs that are returning are Adonicas Sanders and Malachi Carter and they both had bright moments last season. The top guy heading into last season was Jalen Camp, but he was injured four games into the season and did not return and with Camp back, that gives the Jackets another threat on the outside.

The offensive line was a huge issue for the team last year and with the addition of a couple of transfers, it should be improved and ready to pave the way for a strong running game. Devin Cochran is transferring in from Vanderbilt to be the starter at left tackle and Ryan Johnson is coming in from Tennessee and should be able to plug and play at right guard. Jack DeFoor and Zach Quinney are experienced as the two returning starters on the line.

Quarterback and offensive line  play is going to be the deciding factor on how much the Jackets improve on offense.