Miami Hurricanes vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: Players To Watch For

The Georgia Tech are undefeated. They took down Virginia Tech, 27-24 two weeks ago and they got the attention of many people around the country. The Yellow Jackets host the Miami Hurricanes and will be trying to improve to 5-0 for the first time since 2011 where they reeled off six straight wins before losing to Virginia.

Georgia Tech is known for their heavy triple-option offense, and they’ll be no difference this week against Miami. The Canes are undefeated against Georgia Tech in the Al Golden-Mark D’Onofrio era and have held the Yellow Jackets to an average of 24.3 points per game, which is decent. The Yellow Jackets, however, have put up 36 and 30 points respectively the last two meetings.

Georgia Tech won’t do much to surprise you and they’ll just run their offense the only way they know how, and that’s through the ground with the occasional deep ball. Miami is going to have to be ready to play against a talented team on their home field.

Here are three players that the Canes defense will have to contain.

Justin Thomas

In a triple-option system, most of the responsibility falls on the quarterback position. The quarterback this season for the Yellow Jackets is sophomore, Justin Thomas. Thomas came in relief last year and failed to complete all three of his passes, while throwing an interception to Ladarius Gunter, which was taken back for six.

Thomas is having a solid year for Georgia Tech, but mostly due to his feet. Aside from the win against Wofford in week one, Thomas has struggled to complete passes with accuracy this season. If you take away the first game, Thomas has a 42% completion rate the last three games. As poor as he’s been with accuracy, Thomas has seven touchdowns as opposed to just one interception this season.

The triple-option is Thomas’ bread and butter because of his ability to run. Through the first four games, Thomas has rushed 65 times while picking up 443 yards and two touchdowns in the process. That’s a 6.8 yard per carry, which is really good, especially from a quarterback. He’s also eclipsed the 100-yard mark in consecutive games.

We all know Miami’s history with defending the run and this is going to be a challenge for the Miami defense. The key is to force Thomas to throw on third downs and I think Miami will be fine.

Zach Laskey

Aside from Thomas, Zach Laskey is the guy who gets the majority of the work for the Yellow Jackets in the backfield. The senior has carried the ball 61 times for the Yellow Jackets this season and is responsible for 317 yards and two touchdowns through the first four games.

Laskey didn’t get much work last season against the Hurricanes, but he did have some success when he did get the opportunity. He finished with 28 yards on five carries, which put him at 5.6 yards per carry, just a little higher than his 5.2 yards per carry clip that he has so far this season.

Guys like Denzel Perryman and Thurston Armbrister are going to have to be ready to play to get in the face of both Thomas and Laskey this Saturday.

DeAndre Smelter

Georgia Tech always has that one tall and strong receiver on the outside to help them out, mostly in the blocking game. They also use that receiver to take a shot downfield whenever the opposing defense is starting to cheat in on the option.

This season, that player is DeAndre Smelter.

Smelter, who’s about 6’3, is leading the Yellow Jackets in pretty much every receiving statistic this season. The senior receiver has caught 14 passes for 339 yards and four touchdowns. Catching four touchdowns off fourteen throws is a pretty efficient.

To kind of give you an idea of how little Georgia Tech utilizes their wide receivers, nobody other than Smelter has more than four receptions this season. FOUR. For comparisons sake, Miami has eight receivers with more than four catches.

It’s obvious that if Miami holds the run in check, they should be able to control the passing game. But if the defense fails to do that, guys like Artie Burns and Tracy Howard need to be ready to keep up with Smelter on Saturday.

Schedule

Schedule