Yellow Jackets looking to avoid third-and-long

There’s an oversimplified answer to the question of how Georgia Tech can improve its third-down efficiency this season: Don’t get in third-and-long situations.

The Yellow Jackets struggled to convert on third down last season, and head coach Paul Johnson said it’s easy to point to his team’s spread option as the culprit.

“I get a kick out of it when they say, ‘In this offense, if you can get them third and long …,’ ” Johnson said. “But what offense can’t they get you in trouble on third-and-long? Go back and break it down. Nobody converted a high rate at third-and-12, so go try to stay out of those situations.”

Last season, the Yellow Jackets were 104th in the nation in third-down percentage. They converted 34.9 percent of those opportunities, making a first down on 52-of-149 third-down chances.

Compare that to the 2014 season, when Georgia Tech led the nation with an incredible 57.9 percent success rate, and you can understand the alarm. It is alarming to have that rate drop 33 percent from one season to another.

“If you go back and look historically, our third-down rate is an enigma,” Johnson said. “You won’t find one close to that (in 2014). We were behind a lot (in 2015), so the end game is a lot of third-and-long. Nobody is going to be good on third-and-long.”

The team struggled in conference games. They were 1-for-12 against Clemson, 3-for-15 against Notre Dame, 5-for-19 against Duke, 5-for-14 against Florida State and 5-for-13 against North Carolina and Virginia. They were 2-for-13 against Georgia.

“I think we have to get back to the level of play that we’ve become accustomed to over the last few years,” Johnson said. “We weren’t near as good offensively a year ago as we had been. We weren’t good enough in other areas to carry the team.”

The abundance of injuries among the running backs and the youth and inexperience of the offensive line were contributing factors. Many of the problems started to crop up about the time the conference schedule began and the Yellow Jackets ended up playing a lot of different players — most of them inexperienced or simply young.

But Johnson understands that none of the opponents are going to feel sorry for the Yellow Jackets — especially those who got mashed by them the year before.

“I think there’s a lot of reasons, but nobody wants to hear the labor pains,” Johnson said. “They just want to see the baby. We’ve just got to do better.”

Of note: Wide receiver prospect Harland Howell made a nice back shoulder pass for a touchdown in practice Monday. … Safety A.J. Gray had an interception and a pass breakup in seven-on-seven drills in Sunday’s workouts. … Georgia Tech great Calvin Johnson dropped by practice and watched his old team go through its drills. … Offensive lineman Chris Griffin will end his attempt to return from a torn ACL. He missed the entire 2015 season and most of spring. Griffin, who started seven games as a redshirt freshman in 2014, told Johnson he was ending his comeback. He is the third player to be placed on medical scholarship, joining offensive lineman Jake Whiteley and defensive end Kendarius Whitehead.

This story was originally published August 9, 2016 at 12:32 PM with the headline "Yellow Jackets looking to avoid third-and-long."