By Kaila Burns-Heffner.

Georgia Tech had a great 2014 season where it went 10-2, competed against Florida State for the ACC championship, and defeated Mississippi State, 49-34, in the Orange Bowl.

The Yellow Jackets also defeated Clemson, 28-6, after Deshaun Watson was injured in the first quarter and Clemson’s offense was unable to recover.

“We’re excited the way we finished up the 2014 season and we wanted to try to carry some of that momentum into spring, and I felt like we did. We got a lot of things accomplished,” said Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson.

Although Georgia Tech will return many starters from their successful 2014 season, a few key playmakers from the offense will now be playing on Sundays.

The Patriots selected Shaquille Mason, a first-team All-American offensive lineman, in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft, and Georgia Tech’s best two wide receivers were also drafted. DeAndre Smelter was selected in the fourth round by the 49ers, and the Ravens picked up Darren Waller in the sixth round.

Mason is the only starting offensive lineman that will not be returning in 2015, but he was the leader of a unit that only allowed .79 sacks per game — first in the ACC and second nationally.

However, more questions surround the running back and wide receiver positions. Georgia Tech’s triple-option run game ended the 2014 season ranked second in rushing, but 5 of the 6 best backs will not be returning in 2015 in combination with the two receivers who are now in the NFL.

The running back position also took a hit in the spring when two potentially starting B-backs suffered severe injuries. Redshirt freshman C.J. Leggett tore his ACL and will miss the 2015 season, while freshman Quaide Weimerskirch had to receive foot surgery. Luckily for the Yellow Jackets, redshirt junior Marcus Allen has moved back from playing linebacker to playing B-Back to take over the position in the fall.

Georgia Tech will also receive help from Stanford graduate Patrick Skov, who is expected to play B-Back for the Yellow Jackets as a graduate student.

“He (Skov) gives us a little older, more mature guy at that position. We feel like that we have a couple of young guys coming in that can be dynamic players, but it’s always good to have a guy with that type of experience to come in and compete, and having said that, I was really proud of Marcus Allen,” said Johnson

Johnson has more available talent to work with in the A-Back position and likes the competition he has seen between them in the spring.

“I thought our A-backs did some good things. We had a couple of guys that we red-shirted, Qua Searcy and Clinton Lynch, who I think both are going to be good players.”

Georgia Tech will start the same quarterback that led it to the ACC championship game last season in junior Justin Thomas. He passed and rushed for over 1,000 yards in 2014, making him the team’s leading rusher. Redshirt senior Tim Bryerly will back up Thomas.

“He’s (Thomas) got great quickness, he’s got a strong arm. He can throw the ball. Doesn’t hurt that he’s pretty fast. He’s just a really good athlete. I think that he’s the definition of what you would call a dual-threat quarterback,” said Johnson.

The only question surrounding this position is if Thomas can replicate the chemistry he had with receivers Smelter and Waller, who made up 13 of Georgia Tech’s 18 receiving touchdowns in 2014, with the new starting receivers.

Redshirt junior Micheal Summers is expected to step up as a starting receiver. He has appeared in every game of the last two seasons and has started in 19 games. In 2013, he totaled 211 yards on 10 receptions but only had 7 receptions for 45 yards in 2014.

On the defensive side of the ball, Georgia Tech returns eight starters. The Yellow Jackets have great depth on the line, but the strength of last season’s team was the offense not the defense. However, redshirt senior defensive lineman Jabari Hunt-Days should return to add productivity after a year of ineligibility alongside sophomore defensive end KeShun Freeman who totaled 54 tackles and 9.5 tackles for loss in his freshman debut.

Georgia Tech does not have as much depth at the linebacker position, but returning is sophomore P.J. Davis, who led the team with 119 total tackles in 2014. Redshirt senior Tyler Marcordes has also had significant playing time the last three seasons, racking up 31 tackles and 5.5 tackles for loss last season.

Redshirt seniors Demond Smith, Chris Milton and Jamal Golden, and senior D.J. White will all return to the secondary and there should not be too much of a drop off there going into 2015.

“We do have eight starters coming back there, and they’re going to have to play better. We’re going to need our defense to play much better this year because the offense is going to be younger, especially early in the year and starting out. We’re excited about what they were able to accomplish in the spring,“ said Johnson.

The Yellow Jackets have a tough early schedule after opening up with Alcorn State and Tulane. They take on Notre Dame and Duke on the road, North Carolina at home, and then visit Clemson in Death Valley right after that on Oct. 10th.