By Will Vandervort.
DeShawn Williams says No. 22 Georgia Tech is known as the Ramblin’ Wreck and when they get started they are hard to stop.
No one has stopped the Yellow Jackets’ triple-option offense this season. They rank second in the nation in running the football at 335.6 yards per game. The Jackets are rolling behind quarterback Justin Thomas, running back Synjyn Days and wide receiver DeAndre Smelter.
But as productive as all those guys have been, there success starts right after the snap. The dive play is the most important part of the triple option. If you shut it down, generally you shut the Yellow Jackets down or at the very least slow them down.
“Everyone has a key. Tackle the dive, pitch and quarterback. You can’t overplay somebody else’s position or they will hit you with a big play. They lead the nation in big plays,” defensive tackle DeShawn Williams said.
Last year, especially early in the game, the Tigers did not just take away the dive play, but they eliminated it. Williams and fellow defensive tackle Grady Jarrett tackled the dive player on every play it seemed like. Clemson also shot the linebackers and safeties into the A-gap on occasions and forced the Jackets to get outside of their comfort zone.
It allowed the 17th-ranked Tigers to build an early 20-point lead and forced Georgia Tech to play catch up all night.
“Our job up front is to tackle the dive, it does not matter if they have the ball or not,” Williams said. “You don’t want to give the big A-gap like that. Let the linebackers, safeties and cornerbacks take care of the quarterback and pitch.”
Clemson (7-2, 6-1 ACC) held the B-Back (dive player) to 28 yards on 10 carries – 2.8 yards per carry.
“This is something you have to do,” Jarrett said. “The one time you do not tackle the dive (guy) and you try to do something extra that dive is going for 30 yards right up the middle. We just have to do our job.”
The Yellow Jackets, who will host Clemson at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday, were held to a season-low 248 rushing yards in the Tigers’ 55-31 victory. It was 63 yards below their season average coming into the game.
“We know that we are not going to get too many opportunities because they do so much misdirection and stuff. Just hit the dive no matter what,” Williams said. “Just make them not want the football.”
Tech (8-2, 5-2 ACC) wants their B-Backs to have the football. Before being injured four weeks ago, Zach Laskey rushed for 597 yards and scored five touchdowns. His replacement has done even better, Days has rushed for 503 yards and scored three touchdowns, but 418 of those yards have come in the last three games.
In wins over Virginia and NC State, Days has rushed for at least 150 yards in both games.
“They have done a great job establishing the dive guy,” Clemson head Dabo Swinney said.
With Day doing his thing on the ground, the Yellow Jackets rushed for 479 yards in last week’s win over NC State.
“You have to adjust to certain things in your technique when you are going against a team like that,” Jarrett said. “But we have experience playing against them. We kind of have an idea of what needs to be done.”
And it starts by taking away the dive play.