While Georgia Tech was busy preparing for and administering its annihilation of Miami on Thursday night, the Georgia Bulldogs had some extra time to prepare for the Yellow Jackets thanks to an open date. Something they especially wanted to ready themselves for was defending Tech’s triple option, the same triple option that buzzed the Hurricanes. Players that Georgia expect to make an impact next year returned to their roles on the scout team, but this time in hopes of mirroring the Yellow Jackets. Defensive back Bacarri Rambo is playing the role of Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt, Dontavius Jackson is playing the role of Jonathan Dwyer at fullback and Carlton Thomas is playing on the wing. “It’ll be impossible to do it the way they do it,” said Georgia head coach Mark Richt. “They’ll get better at it as they go. [Wednesday] was not real pretty, but it was a start.”
The players are even more confident in their abilities to operate the triple option. “I ran it in high school and still know all of the stuff that we did in high school,” Rambo said. “I know I will probably never lose that.”
Rambo ran the option all four years in high school. Thomas has not been a part of an option attack since early on in his high school career, but feels confident in his ability to pick the system back up and get the defense ready. “I think we’re giving the defense a very good look. You never forget it,” Thomas said of knowing how to run the option.
One thing that Richt loves is Rambo’s skill-set behind center. He believes Rambo is good enough to quarterback the system in big-time college football. “If that was the system that he was [here] to run, I think Bacarri could run it very well,” Richt said. “He’s a very talented ball handler, runner and passer. He’s not a bad quarterback.”
The quarterback that Rambo is emulating is not only a threat to run, he can throw as well. In fact, Georgia recruited Nesbitt before he decided to sign with Tech. “We pictured him within our system,” Richt said. “We thought he could do it. […] He’s a very versatile guy.”
All three players—Rambo, Jackson and Thomas—are being redshirted and Rambo and Thomas commented on the positive side of being a redshirt. “It’s a good thing to be redshirted, because I get to learn the system and get bigger and stronger,” Rambo said.
Thomas, on the other hand, spent time getting used to the speed, skill and maturity of the college game. “At first it was kind of new to me,” he said. “You come from being the top guy and you come out here and you’re going against top athletes. I had to adapt to it.”
Georgia is hoping its players will have adapted to the triple option by the time Tech visits Athens on Nov. 29.
Butler can be reached at jbutler@scoreatl.com.
Loading ...
