Running backs’ development key to Georgia Tech offense’s improvement

After a tough 2019 season, Georgia Tech’s football program is hoping for more out of its offense.

The Yellow Jackets ranked at the bottom of the ACC in total offense last season, but they are hopeful the improvements from a trio of running backs make a big difference. The backs’ development might be good enough to enable an expansion of the team’s playbook and offer additional options for offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude.

The threesome is junior Jordan Mason, the team’s leading rusher last season, sophomore Jamious Griffin, the prize of the 2018 signing class, and freshman Jahmyr Gibbs, the prize recruit from 2019. Mason will likely start, but the other two will get plenty of opportunities.

“That group is really good,” Patenaude said. “I don’t see everybody, but I’m not trading anybody for our top three guys.”

Mason (6-foot-1, 218 pounds) broke in as redshirt freshman and rushed for 659 yards and suffered only one negative run.

Mason started 12 games last season as a sophomore and rushed for 899 yards and seven touchdowns. That included a career-high effort of 141 yards against both Miami and NC State. He was good enough to be named third-team All-ACC.

“He has a great feel for what we’re doing,” Patenaude said. “He runs downhill, he’s gotten better and he’s in great shape. Last year he was able to make people miss; he had one of the highest miss-rates in the country. He’s real good at that.”

Griffin (5-10, 210) played in nine games as a true freshman and rushed for 125 yards. He came out of Rome High School as a four-star player and first-team USA Today All-America who had rushed for 6,400 yards and 104 touchdowns during his career. Griffin was not considering Georgia Tech until coach Geoff Collins came in and changed the offense to a spread attack.

“I’m real excited about what Jamious is doing,” Patenaude said. “His understanding of football is better and he’s in unbelievable shape. He used the opportunity in the off-season to really work hard. He’s gotten so much faster and so much more explosive.”

Gibbs (5-11, 200) was a four-star recruit from Dalton who was ranked as high as the No. 8 running back in the nation. He spurned offers from Alabama, Florida, Ohio State and Alabama to stick with is original verbal commitment to Georgia Tech. Gibbs set a Georgia High School Association record last fall by rushing for 2,554 yards and scored 40 touchdowns.

It took Patenaude almost no time to realize Gibbs was as good as advertised.

“If there are five guys in the country who are freshmen who are better than him, I’d love to be able to watch those guys play, too, because his is really exciting with the ball in his hands and he’s great out of the backfield,” Patenaude said.

Those three, along with Bruce Jordan Swilling, who moved over from linebacker, and Dontae Smith, give the Yellow Jackets plenty of depth. It could even allow them to run some two-back formations.

“We will sub those guys,” Patenaude said. “You’ll see more two-back sets because those guys have earned the playing time. And when you have two tailbacks, it gives the defense a different look to prepare for.”

Georgia Tech opens on Sept. 12 at Florida State.