I brought my 5 year old to Disney this past weekend and he had a blast. We went on all of the roller coasters, and it felt like…well, the Clemson football season. What a roller coaster of emotions this season has been. And what a win for the Tigers against Notre Dame last Saturday.
Fast forward a week, and another tough opponent comes into Death Valley to face the Tigers. A whole different animal, or insect in this case.
Here is a look at everything you will need to know about the Tiger’s Week 11 Opponent:
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
School Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Time: 12PM ABC
2023 Record – 5-4; (4-2 ACC) Last Game: Win vs. Virginia 45-17
5 Wins against: Virginia, North Carolina, Miami, Wake Forest, South Carolina State
4 Losses against: Bowling Green, Louisville, Ole Miss, Boston College
Head Coach: Brent Key – 1st Full Season – 9-8 Overall
Coach Key, a Georgia Tech alumnus, won the job after a 4-4 end to the 2022 season as the interim Head Coach. The team, players, administration and community all rallied around Coach Key in order for him to remove that interim tag. He has brought a toughness to the team and program that it lacked under his predecessor(s). The Jackets were a laughing stock in college football under Geoff Collins, and now are a tough out under Key.
Offense
Offensive Coordinator: Buster Faulkner – 1st year as OC; (Previous: Georgia Analyst; Southern Miss OC)
Coach Faulkner came over from Georgia where he spent the last three seasons as an offensive analyst for the two-time National Champions. Immediately upon entering Atlanta, he lost his signal caller (Jeff Sims) to Nebraska, but nearly equally as quickly gained Texas A&M transfer quarterback Haynes King. Faulkner has OC experience from Southern Miss, Arkansas State among others, and has honed his offense from working with Georgia as well. Coach Faulkner loves to utilize the QB run, and Tech is one of very few schools in the country that averages 200 yards both on the ground and through the air. A testament to the turn-around this program has had in year 1 under Faulkner.
Georgia Tech is averaging 33.2 points per game (28th nationally) with 204.1 yards per game rushing (13th nationally) and 261.2 through the air (42nd nationally) for an average of 465.3 yards of offense through 9 games, good enough for 14th nationally in total offense.
Here is a look at the projected starters for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets as well as their 2023 statistics:
| Quarterback | Haynes King (Texas A&M) | RS Sophomore | #10 | 76 rush, 545 yds. 5 TDs | 179-283 2330 yds, 22 TDs, 10 Ints. |
| Running Back | Dontae Smith | RS Senior | #4 | 50 rush, 353 yds. 3 TDs | 5 catches, 51 yds. |
| Running Back | Jamal Haynes | RS Sophomore | #11 | 115 rush, 664 yds. 6 TDs | 17 catches, 132 yds. |
| Wide Receiver | Malik Rutherford | RS Sophomore | #8 | 37 catches, 432 yds, 3 TDs | |
| Wide Receiver | Dominick Blaylock (Georgia) | RS Junior | #12 | 19 catches, 269 yds, TD | |
| Wide Receiver | Eric Singleton Jr. | Freshman | #13 | 33 catches, 552 yds, 6 TDs | |
| Tight End | Dylan Leonard | Senior | #2 | 10 catches, 100 yds. | |
| Left Tackle | Ethan MacKenny | Freshman | #78 | ||
| Left Guard | Joe Fusile | RS Sophomore | #67 | ||
| Center | Weston Franklin | Junior | #72 | ||
| Right Guard | Connor Scaglione (Princeton) | RS Senior | #65 | ||
| Right Tackle | Jordan Williams | Junior | #54 |
Defense
Defensive Coordinator: Kevin Sherrer – 1st Year – (Previous: NY Giants Linebackers)
Coach Sherrer has been thrust into the role of Defensive Coordinator as of October 1st replacing current Safeties coach Andrew Thacker. Sherrer, the Alabama alumni and friend of Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has not fared well during his first four games as coordinator as he is seemingly trying to pick up the pieces of a putrid defensive team. Georgia Tech runs a 4-2-5 base defense. Not much else positive can be said about that side of the ball.
The Georgia Tech defense has given up an average of 30.1 points through their first nine games (101st nationally). They have given up 220.0 yards per game on the ground (129th nationally) and 235.2 yards through the air (77th nationally). Opponents are averaging a total of 455.2 yards per game (126th nationally). Yikes!
Turnovers
The Jackets are +4 in turnover margin through nine games (T-32nd nationally), having thrown 11 interceptions and picking off 10 opposing passes, as well as having caused 8 fumbles and have lost 3 fumbles in the nine games so far.
Here is a look at the projected starters for the Yellow Jackets on defense along with some stats from the season:
| Defensive End | Makius Scott | Junior | #8 | 32 tackles, TFL |
| Nose Tackle | Zeek Biggers | Junior | #88 | 24 tackles, 3.5 TFLs, sack, FR |
| Defensive Tackle | D’Quan Douse | Junior | #99 | 25 tackles, 3 TFLs, 2 sacks |
| Defensive End | Kyle Kennard | Junior | #9 | 41 tackles, 7.5 TFLs, 6 sacks, Int, 2 FRs |
| Linebacker | Paul Moala (Notre Dame) | RS Senior | #13 | 38 tackles, 6.5 TFLs, 2 sacks |
| Linebacker | Trenilyas Tatum | Junior | #7 | 31 tackles, 2 TFLs |
| Nickelback | KJ Wallace | RS Junior | #16 | 36 tackles, 1.5 TFLs, sack, FR |
| Cornerback | Myles Sims | RS Senior | #0 | 31 tackles, 1.5 TFLs, Int, FR |
| Free Safety | Clayton Powell-Lee | Sophomore | #5 | 49 tackles, Int |
| Strong Safety | LaMiles Brooks | Junior | #1 | 45 tackles, 0.5 TFL, Int |
| Cornerback | Ahmari Harvey | RS Sophomore | #18 | 20 tackles, 2 Ints |
| Safety | Jaylon King | RS Senior | #14 | 48 tackles, 1 TFL, 3 Ints |
Special Teams
Here is a list of the specialists for the Yellow Jackets along with statistics from the season so far:
| Kicker | Aidan Birr | RS Freshman | #93 | 10-11, long of 48 yds. |
| Punter | David Shanahan | Junior | #43 | 30 punts, 44.0 yd avg. long of 61 yds. |
| Punt Returner | Dominick Blaylock | RS Junior | #12 | 7 returns, 12.7 yd avg. long of 23 yds. |
| Kick Returner | Christian Leary (Alabama) | Junior | #6 | 16 returns, 21.8 yd. Avg. long of 43 yds. |
Summary
This Georgia Tech team is an enigma. They average over 200 yards of offense from both rushing and passing, however, they also average that on the defensive side of the ball and that’s not good. This team has some really good wins against Miami and North Carolina, and then a mind-bending loss to Bowling Green.
Haynes King is the leader in the ACC in passing touchdowns, and the Georgia Tech offense can go. The Clemson defense needs to be who they are as GT will likely be able to move the ball somewhat.
Let us hope that Clemson will continue to run the ball successfully against an extremely poorly rated Georgia Tech defense.
