Scouting Report: Georgia Tech

Florida State will take on Georgia Tech on Saturday at noon eastern time and 5pm local time in Ireland in both team's 2024 season opener. FSU enters the game ranked 10th in the nation while the Yellow Jackets are unranked. The game will be televised on ESPN. The forecast for Saturday calls for sunny Irish skies with temperatures around 60 degrees at kickoff and dropping to 50 degrees by the end of the game. Winds are expected to be around 10 to 15 mph with gust up to 30 mph.

FSU enters the game as a 10.5-point favorite. The Seminoles hold a 15-13-1 advantage in the series with Georgia Tech.

There is a lot of optimism surrounding the Georgia Tech football program heading into the 2024 season and their season opener vs. Florida State. It will be Key's second full season in Atlanta after taking over for Geoff Collins in the middle of the 2022 season. All Key did in his first full year was lead the Yellow Jackets to a winning record and a Gasparilla Bowl victory over UCF. It was the Jackets' first winning season since 2018.

Head Coach: Brent Key

Head Coach Record: 11-10 (One-plus seasons at GT)

2023 Record: 7-6

Over/Under for 2024 per Vegas Insider: 5 wins

Preseason Prediction/Rankings: Athlon's-ACC 9th/Nationally 47th, Lindy's-ACC 9th, Nationally 42nd

Kickoff in Dublin is set for 5pm local time and 12 noon eastern time in the United States

Georgia Tech Depth Chart

Georgia Tech on Offense

Most of the buzz around the Yellow Jackets program is because of its offense which returns QB Haynes King and RB Jamal Haynes.

King, a Texas A&M transfer, is a dynamic dual-threat playmaker. Last season he threw for 2,842 yards, 27 touchdowns and 16 interceptions while completing 62 percent of his passes. He was also the team's second leading rusher. King ran for 737 yards and 10 touchdowns on 120 carries. According to PFF his adjusted completion percentage is 69-percent.

Pass Distribution and Direction by King in 2023 according to PFF:

Behind or at the Line of Scrimmage

Between the Numbers: 51 of 57, 481 yds, 5 TD, 131.1 NFL passer rating

Outside Left: 11 of 21, 71 yards, 91.3 passer rating

Outside Right: 14 of 17, 78 yards, one TD, 105.4 passer rating

Zero to 10 yards downfield

Between the Numbers: 53 of 78, 508 yards, 3 TDs, 4 Int's, 77.3 passer rating

Outside Left: 7 of 10, 33 yards, 1 Int, 34.6 passer rating

Outside Right: 24 of 33, 211 yards, 1 TD, 99.4 passer rating

10 to 20 yards downfield:

Between the numbers: 13 of 24, 273 yards, 1 TD 1 Int, 91.1 passer rating

Outside Left: 8 of 16, 101 yards, 2 TDs, 1 Int, 83.6 passer rating

Outside Right: 22 of 37, 302, 3 TDs, 1 Int, 101.4 passer rating

20 or more yards downfield

Between the numbers: 6 of 19, 259 yards, 3 TD, 3 Ints, 80.5 passer rating

Outside Left: 7 of 23, 236 yards, 4 TDs, 2 Ints, 73.6 passer rating

Outside Right: 9 of 28, 281 yards, 4 TDs, 3 Ints, 70.7 passer rating

Haynes ran for 1,059 yards and seven touchdowns on 174 opportunities. Georgia Tech hadn't had a player rush for 1,000 yards since 2017 until last season. Haynes is also a capable receiver out of the backfield. Last season he hauled in 20 passes for 151 yards. Senior Trey Cooley will back Haynes. He ran for 270 yards on 64 carries last year.

Last season Georgia Tech slightly preferred to run Haynes, King or any other ball carrier to the left side of the offensive line according to PFF.

Georgia Tech run distribution chart by direction:

Outside TE Left (D Gap): 69 attempts, 427 yards

Between the LT and TE (C Gap): 42 for 182

Between the LG and LT (B Gap): 44 for 302

Between the C and LG (A Gap): 59 for 257

Between the C and RG (A Gap): 47 for 278

Between RG and RT (B (Gap: 32 for 236

Between RT and TE (C Gap): 43 for 153

Outside the TE Right (D Gap): 79 for 578

Of the team's 479 rushing attempts in 2023, 240 of those were zone scheme runs while 182 of those runs were gap scheme runs. 37 were scrambles by the quarterback.

Tech also returns both of its leading receivers in catches and yardage in junior Malik Rutherford (46 catches, 714 yards, 6 TDs) and sophomore Eric Singleton (48 catches, 502 yards, 4 TDs).

Rutherford lines up primarily in the slot, while Singleton is usually flanked out wide. Both are surehanded, combining for just five drops between the two of them. Chase Lane is the third starter at WR, and he has just one drop last season but only has six catches for 97 yards. Singleton got the most targets (84) last season while Rutherford was targeted 69 times. No other receiver had more than 36 targets.

Avery Boyd is listed as the starting tight end. He six passes for 81 yards last season.

The Georgia Tech offensive line is very experienced the starters listed on the depth chart have combined to start 119 career games. Right tackle Jordan Williams is the most experienced of the group with 43 games played and 40 starts. Center Weston Franklin and left guard Joe Fusile started every game last year and have 25 and 21 career starts respectively.

Georgia Tech on Defense

The defense is the biggest question mark Georgia Tech has entering the 2024 season. Last year's unit ranked 120th in total defense but they do return seven players with starting experience from a season ago.

Key brought in four new assistant coaches on defense including coordinator Tyler Santucci, who ran Duke's 4-2-5 defense last season.

Georgia Tech does return three starters to its front four: NT Zeke Biggers, DT Makius Scott and DE Kevin Harris. They have also added two DL via the transfer portal who are expected to be play significant reps in the form of DE Romello Height (USC) and DT Jordan van de Berg (Penn State).

Biggers had 40 tackles last season with 4 TFLs and one sack. According to PFF he had 14 total pressures last season (hurries, sacks, QB hits). Scott recorded 34 tackle, one TFL and 12 pressures. Harris had 27 tackles, 2 TFLs, one sack and 16 pressures last season. Height made 13 tackles for USC last year and also had 14 pressures.

Tech also returns their leading tackler from last season, Kyle Efford, who made 81 stops last season. He is a very sure tackler with just six missed tackles last season according to PFF. Trenilyas Tatum will be the other starting linebacker this season after seeing action in 12 games last year. Tatum had 38 tackles, 4 TFLs, 10 pressures and 9 missed tackles in 2023. EJ Lightsey transferred into the program from Georgia and is expected to provide depth to the linebacker corps.

The secondary returns three starters in CB Ahmari Harvey, FS LaMile Brooks and SS Clayton Powell-Lee. They also brought in Tennessee transfer Warren Burrell to start at the other corner spot with Omar Daniels listed as the starter at nickel.

Powell-Lee was second on the team last season with 69 tackles and he had one interception to his credit. Brooks was fourth on the team with 67 tackles and he also had an interception. Harvey finished the year with 31 tackles and was second on the team with 3 interceptions. Daniels played in ten games last year and made four tackles. Burrell played in 40 games while at Tennessee including 22 starts.

Targets vs. Completions according to PFF for the Georgia Tech secondary:

Harvey: 31 targets/21 completions

Brooks: 34/26

Powell-Lee: 23/18

Burrell (Tennessee): 11/4

Daniels: 4/4

Georgia Tech on Special Teams

David Shanahan returns to handle the punting duties. He averaged 42.8 yards per attempt last season with 14 of his punts resulting in the opposing offense starting drives inside their own 20. He also forced 17 fair catches and had 10 punts that traveled over 50 yards.

Aidan Barr is back to handle the field goal and place-kicking duties. He was 17 of 19 last season on field goals with his only two misses coming on attempts from 47 and 49 yards.