Like last week, the quarterback position is in question for Georgia Tech. Jeff Sims did not play against Florida State on Saturday and it was true freshman Zach Pyron that got the majority of the snaps against the Seminoles.
Interim head coach Brent Key held his weekly press conference today and when asked about the status of Sims and if Pyron would be the guy if Sims can't go, here is what he said:
"All of them practiced today. Jeff was out there practicing, full go. Every team period, 7-on-7's, good to go. Same with Zach, good to go. We are preparing all of those guys to be able to go and play in the game, really no different than any week and if something is to occur between now and then, one of the two, the other one would have to play. But right now, we are full board with Jeff being the quarterback."
Having Sims back would seemingly help Georgia Tech's ground game and Key spoke on that as well when asked about how not having Sims has affected the running game:
"Any time that you have the element of option, whether it is designed quarterback run or the element of option, it takes one person out of the equation. There is one person to read and that is as old school as football is. An option is the great equalizer and the beauty of having... of having Jeff in there is that he is the eliminator of one play, when you run the read option or the types of bluff options that we have in the plan. So you take one guy totally out of the equation, now you start talking about perimeter and whether it is him or the running back affecting the perimeter, you know, sideline to sideline and not playing in the phone booth. Well, now you start doing that and the edge blitzers and those run blitzes start to become wider, well now you have eliminated someone out of the play, the blitzes become wider and more spread out. Well what does that open up inside? Now it opens up the inside run lanes and the holes in there and that is what I was talking about, you either have to move people horizontally or you have to move them vertically off the football. So, creating those lanes and creating those spaces with Jeff is obviously a huge advantage for us."
If Sims is indeed able to play on Saturday, the offense will need a much better showing than they had against Florida State.
Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech will kick off at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
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