Special teams play can be attributed to Georgia Tech's success in 2023
Special teams, special players, special plays. Georgia Tech got this right in 2023
Special teams matters. Just ask Georgia Tech fans, as they watched their team fall short many times over the past few years due in large part to the failure of this unit.
However, this past season things changed. While the offensive changes has dominated the conversation, the job that Ricky Brumfield did with this special teams unit deserves recognition too.
After multiple years of just downright bad special teams play, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were able to completely turn around a unit that was among the nations’ worst last season.
Here’s some numbers that compare the past to the present:
2021-2022 gave up 9 blocked kicks.
2023- only gave up 1 FG block
2022 Punt coverage was 18.5 yd avg and 3 TDs (37 for 686 yds)
2023 - 9 yd avg (No TDs) (12 for 108yds)
2022 KOR (13 for 273yds - 21.0avg)
2023 KOR (23 for 510yds - 22.2avg)
2022 Punt Return (9 for 84yd - 9.3 avg)
2023 (12 for 122yds - 10.1 avg)
Need some more? Here’s a graphic that shows the increase in rankings in year over year.
Digging further the Jackets found a guy that not only became more reliable, but developed into a weapon in Aidan Birr. Fresh off a season-ending injury in 2022, Birr competed and ultimately claimed the placekicking job. Birr figures to be a big piece of this team and offense as 2024 rolls around. It’s also a big reason that Brumfield’s name was mentioned in around the coaching carousel this past cycle too.
In the punting game, the Jackets saw massive improvement on both return adn coverage. Having a veteran like David Shanahan is always going to help, as they hope to keep the consistency moving along. With the return game, the Jackets seem to have more options as they head into 2024. Keep an eye on Rodney Shelley, who showcased his planking ability with the ball in his hands in the bowl game and could be poised for more touches this upcoming season.
Bottom-line, this was better and that’s a good thing. It’s units like these that can make up the ground that the Jackets need to make up as they look to keep rebuilding the program.