Less of an opinion and more of a guarantee
Coming out of last year I think all Georgia Tech fans are pretty hyped about the way the offense looked. This is understandable given that our 2023 offense is probably the best offense we’ve seen in the past decade. With a multi-talented QB, a platoon at RB, the most talented receiving core since Demaryius Thomas graduated (yeah, I count Demaryius Thomas on his own as a receiving core); it was surprising we didn’t put up bigger numbers.
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We averaged 220.8 Passing Yards per game and 203.8 Rushing yards per game last season, which seemed low to me considering Haynes King put up the highest amount of passing yards in a season since 2001. Still this put King within 243 yards of passing the single season passing record at GT and within 2 TDs of the single season passing touchdown record. King also found himself within 215 yards of breaking the single season record for total offensive yards. This shows that we have a QB who can run the offense at a high level, but we also have room for improvement this coming season.
Now, I already did a whole article about how good I think Haynes King has the opportunity to be this year. I expect him to actually break at least 2 of those single season records this year if he stays healthy. That said, I’m going to step away from talking about King for a bit and focus on some of our other players that might end up breaking some records this year.
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Let’s start with the wide receivers. We obviously have the speed demon in Eric Singleton Jr. who just blows by defenders for deep passes. Malik Rutherford is our other top returner at the position who was arguably a better route runner than Singleton last year. We also had some impressive performances from Christian Leary (who some may remember from the Miami game) and Avery Boyd who has been performing in well in spring practice. We also have a talented Tight End in Brett Seither, who knows how block, to stay in bounds, and drag a toe.
All of these receivers have the talent to be standouts this year on their own. Unfortunately, when it comes to breaking records, all of these players have a significant hurdle in front of them. What is that hurdle? Well, Georgia Tech has had a surprising amount of receiving talent in their history to overcome. Currently Calvin Johnson has the single season record for receiving yards with 1202, and the single season TD record with 15 on a season. For comparison, Eric Singleton was our leading receiver last year and he ended the season with a total of 714 yards and 6 TDs on the season.
Breaking the season record may be difficult, especially since receiving yards tend to be split pretty evenly across the receiving group as a whole (Calvin Johnson and Demaryius Thomas had an advantage in that department). Still there are some records within reach. The records for receiving TDs in a single game sits at 4 TDs held by Buck Martin from 1951, and the record for single game receiving yds is 243 yds held by Dez White from 1998. It’s hard to say what our offense will look like, since GT got more balanced on offense as the season went on, but if we lean harder on the air raid for certain games I do believe those records are within range for our receivers.
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At running back the clear standout is Jamal Haynes at RB. We tend to run the offense as a platoon between multiple talented RBs, this year Trey Cooley will be taking the backup spot following an impressive exit from Dontae Smith. Haynes King also get plenty of running yards coming off of read options, but my focus here is on the pure runners.
Last year Jamal had 1059 yds on the season and 7 TDs. Those are pretty impressive numbers, and if Jamal is allowed to take more carries next year I think he could easily eclipse those numbers. Unfortunately I don’t know if Jamal can take the top spot for rushing yards or touchdowns. It’s not his fault, GT just has plenty of famous running backs.
Younger readers may remember Tashard Choice, well he’s actually the second place running back in terms of single season yards behind Eddie Lee Ivery who ran for 1562 yards in 1978. Don’t even bother asking about touchdown rushing records. Robert Lavette had 45 in his career, Tevin Washington had 20 on a season, and TaQuon Marshall had 5 in a game for the first place records. While I do think Jamal can get on the top 10 board for yards, I just don’t see him sniffing the number 1 spot for those records.
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While I won’t be talking about the defense here (and I’m pretty sure we all know why), there is one other position to discuss. Aidan Birr came out of nowhere last year and quickly became one of the most important factors for our team. Technically Aidan is already listed in the top spot for career field goal percentage with 89.5 % compared to 73.3% by Brent Cimaglia in second place. That value could of course change since Aidan’s career isn’t over yet, but Aidan has put himself in a good spot for winning a couple of kicking records if he stays on pace.
Aidan is already in second for single season field goal percentage, in 4th for most field goals in a single season, and kicked a 62 yard field goal in the spring game that would beat the regular season distance record at the school. Things can always change, but currently Birr is in a fantastic spot to break multiple records this year if given the chance.
None of this is guaranteed of course, but I think it should excite fans to see that there are multiple positions poised to beat school records this year. I fully expect us to see a few records broken this year, the real question is how many.