Georgia Tech’s Johnson puts more emphasis on O-line

It didn’t take long for coach Paul Johnson to take steps to improve last year’s poor performance on the offensive line. Some of the changes were evident on the first day of spring camp.

The Yellow Jackets now have two offensive line coaches, a tactic that Johnson has used in the past to ensure better comprehension and understanding of the crucial aspect of the game that failed too often a year ago.

In January the Yellow Jackets added Ron West to the coaching staff, where he joins Mike Sewak as co-offensive line coaches. West has 36 years of experience, most recently at North Carolina. Georgia Tech dismissed special teams coach Ray Rychleski to make the move possible.

“I wanted to experiment with a special teams coach, but I think the old model is a better way and I wanted to get back to having two offensive line coaches,” Johnson said. “I think it’s virtually impossible for one guy to try to coach five gusy with what we do. Getting two (coaches) up there will help us.”

The two men will split up the duties of coaching the offensive line.

“They’ll work it out,” Johnson said. “They’ll meet together. One may get the left side, one will get the right, then they may swap later. Team coaching. They bring a lot of years a lot of experience. They won’t have any trouble working together.”

The Georgia Tech running game suffered for many reasons last year, but at the forefront was inconsistent line play. The Yellow Jackets averaged 256.2 yards per game, 5.3 yards per rush, and had 30 touchdowns. But that was down dramatically from the previous year’s average of 342.1 yards per game, 6.1 yards per rush and 47 touchdowns.

The key issue will be guard, where starters Trey Braun and Errin Joe both graduated. The Yellow Jackets had hoped to give junior Andrew Marshall a look there, but he will probably be limited to time at center since incumbent Freddie Burden will miss the spring with a thumb injury.

“I’m not sure we’re set anywhere (on the line) really,” Johnson said. “With Freddie sitting out, that’s where we may be set more than anywhere else.”

The competition at guard is likely to include Chris Griffin, who was moved from tackle, Shamire Devine and some redshirts. Griffin sat out last year with an injury after playing 13 games, starting seven at tackle, in 2014. Devine, an oversized mountain at 6-foot-7, 386 pounds, started nine games in 2015 but continues to have trouble keeping his weight in line.

“There will be competition,” Johnson said.

The tackles who started at the end of the season were both freshmen – Trey Klock and Will Bryan. But Easton Fromayan has starting experience and Jake Stickler played two games. The redshirts include Brad Morgan and Jake Whitley.

Notes: Redshirt freshman Christian Campbell has been moved to safety. … B-back C.J. Leggett and A-back Nate Cottrell will not participate in contact drills this spring. … Senior defensive end Kendarius Whitehead, who had two tackles in two games, will miss the spring with an undisclosed medical condition.

This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 9:03 PM with the headline "Georgia Tech’s Johnson puts more emphasis on O-line."