Running game a focus for Yellow Jackets against Hurricanes

Dedrick Mills had a feeling he was going to get plenty of chances to run this week.

“(Head coach Paul Johnson) didn’t share, but I figured the way we practiced, there would be lots of handoffs to me and Marcus (Marshall, the other B-back)” Mills said. “Whoever was in the game was going to get the ball. We came out on the field and did the same thing.”

Mills, the freshman from Ware County, was absolutely correct. He carried 19 times for 99 yards and two touchdowns. Marshall carried four times for 34 yards, the bulk on a 27-yard burst.

“That was a focus,” Johnson said. “I was determined I was going to get him the ball some.”

Mills was probably one carry away from picking up the school’s first 100-yard game since Marshall went for 159 yards a year ago against Pittsburgh.

No huddle for Yellow Jackets

The Georgia Tech offense went to a no-huddle attack and stayed in it the entire game. Quarterback Justin Thomas would go to the line and look back at Johnson for the play.

“I was going to try to take some of the onus off the quarterback and make sure we got in the right place,” Johnson said. “We’ve done it before.”

The slower-pace allowed the Yellow Jackets to control the tempo and own the time of possession.

“We played the game the right way we need to play the game,” Johnson said. “We had the ball for 40 minutes. That’s what we needed to do, but we need to finish drives and get points. If you do that, it puts the onus on the other side.”

Miami head coach Mark Richt noticed the ploy to control the clock.

“You saw what they were doing on offense, how they controlled the ball and took every second off the clock between plays,” Richt said. “It’s so true that you better maximize your opportunities when you can or you better get a turnover or you better find a way to score on special teams. It just turned out it was on defense.”

Injury report

Several players went off the field at various times, but Johnson said nothing substantial occurred.

“We came out of it pretty clean,” he said.

Lineup changes

Shamire Devine was able to make the start at right guard for Georgia Tech. He left last week’s game against Clemson early with an ankle sprain.

Kyle Cerge-Henderson got the start at defensive tackle ahead of Francis Kallon. Lamont Simmons, who had an interception last week, earned the start at cornerback ahead of Step Durham.

J.J. Green got the start at A-back opposite Qua Searcy. Will Bryan started at left guard ahead of Brad Morgan.

This story was originally published October 1, 2016 at 9:38 PM with the headline "Running game a focus for Yellow Jackets against Hurricanes."