Latest news with #BusterFaulkner
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Could Georgia Tech wreck the ACC?
Josh Pate explains why the Yellow Jackets may be one of his favorite sleeper teams for the 2025 season. Subscribe to 'Josh Pate's College Football Show' on YouTube. View more Video Transcript Georgia Tech. Yep, anyone want to talk about Georgia Tech? The ACC is open. You, Clemson, and what? Clemson and hoops, if you will. Well, Georgia Tech, they're not a mystery to me. I already took the over. It's my favorite bet of all the ones that we, I'm not gonna say cashed, but I already feel good about this thing cashing. Buster Faulkner is the offensive coordinator here. Speaking of cashing in, he just cashed in. It's the first time I think a coordinator has been a seven-figure earner there, and he has earned it. He was at Georgia. He could have stayed at Georgia. He could have waited for a quote-unquote bigger job. He took a chance professionally and he went with Brent Key at Georgia Tech and now he's being rewarded for it and they're being rewarded for it and they got Clemson at home in week three and I'm really looking forward to it because I think that could be one of those sleeper games of the year. Elsewhere, they get Georgia in Atlanta later in the year. There's a disgusting corporate name on the game. They're playing it at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It's worth like $12 or $13 million more dollars for them. I get it. I don't like it. I get it. But outside of that, if you look up and down the schedule here, question, where else are they a point spread underdog? At Colorado? No. Temple, no; Wake, no; Duke, no; Syracuse, no; NC State, uh, Georgia Tech could be favored in 10 of 12, and the two that they're not favored in are both in Atlanta. I like them a lot. Close
New York Times
31-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
How Georgia Tech, Buster Faulkner aim to rewrite the narrative of the Yellow Jackets offense
ATLANTA — It is a few minutes past 6:30 a.m. Buster Faulkner has had his coffee. His voice is rising. 'We go fast here at Georgia Tech, OK? We're not like the NFL where they just go real slow. We go fast. Everybody got that?' Faulkner is telling, not asking. This is a meeting of the Georgia Tech offense, before an early-morning summer workout. They're talking about pre-snap motions, Faulkner with a video screen behind him for visuals, his booming voice serving as caffeine for the players. Advertisement 'This room right here,' Faulkner says, looking around, 'we recruit intentionally here at Georgia Tech. What does this staff recruit? We want smart guys that are versatile that can do a bunch of different things. Right? So we want to make sure that we're giving the defense several pictures with what we do. Everybody got that?' Again, not really a question. Faulkner begins to wrap up, reminding everyone that every team in the country is doing what they're doing right now. The amount of work will not set them apart. Faulkner's voice remains high. 'We've recruited a damn good football team in this room right here. I believe that, OK? There's competition in every (expletive) position, all right? If you want to be the best, you prove it every single (expletive) day, I don't care where you play. All right? It's our job, right, to play the best players and hold the best players to a high standard. And if you don't want to be held to that standard, this ain't the (expletive) place for you, all right? Everybody got that? 'We want to be a damn good team, and we're going to be a damn good team, and that's how you do it. It starts with good players that want to be held to a higher standard. Let's have a good day and get to the field.' Meeting over. On to the practice field, on to another day of trying to rewrite the narrative on the Georgia Tech offense. This is the grand experiment: Can Georgia Tech succeed in college football by doing essentially what everyone else is doing? Known for half of this century as a triple-option team, the Yellow Jackets are in the middle of a rebrand. They attempted more passes last season than they had in 19 years, with a former quarterback calling plays. When Faulkner was a boy growing up in the Atlanta suburbs, he knew a Georgia Tech brand of football where the quarterback — especially Joe Hamilton — threw the ball around. In 1999, with Hamilton leading the nation in passing efficiency, the Yellow Jackets were the nation's highest-scoring team. When Faulkner was playing college football at Valdosta State, then coming up as a young coach, he knew Georgia Tech as the place where Reggie Ball completed passes to future Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson. Advertisement Then came the days of another Johnson — Paul — who, as head coach in 2008, brought the triple option to North Avenue, and for 12 years, it mostly worked. But it also ran its course. When Johnson retired, his successor, Geoff Collins, tried modernizing it, but that process was slow, and the result was many, many losses over three-plus seasons. Then Brent Key became coach after the 2022 season. Key is an old-school guy, an offensive lineman who likes hard-nosed, physical football. He's also a realist. 'The No. 1 thing we had to do was create an exciting brand of football that people wanted to come and watch,' Key said. 'No one was coming to the games. Students weren't coming. I'd love to win 10-3 every week. But it's not going to do what we needed to do. We knew we had to get the offense rolling.' So he looked an hour down the road, where Georgia Tech's archrival was coming off a second straight national championship after modernizing its offense. Key and Faulkner had known each other for a while. They had common friends when Key was a player at Georgia Tech and Faulkner was at Parkview High. Key and his roommates once drove during a bye weekend to watch Faulkner and Valdosta State play at West Georgia. They stayed in touch as they went into coaching, and Faulkner was on Key's short list if he ever got a head-coaching job. So when Key had the interim tag taken off, it was perfect timing. Faulkner is a product of lower-college football, playing at Division II Valdosta State and Texas A&M-Commerce and coaching at places like Central Arkansas, Murray State and Southern Miss, where he was the offensive coordinator in 2019 when Kirby Smart plucked him away to help the struggling Georgia offense. Faulkner would spend the next three years as a quality control analyst at the side of offensive coordinator Todd Monken. Advertisement That was an education: Faulkner had learned the Air Raid at Valdosta State — where Mike Leach honed the then-nascent offense in the 1990s — and had used a version of it as he climbed the ladder. 'It was kind of less is more in that … system. And then you get with Monken, and it's actually more is more,' Faulkner said. 'The volume of offense — like literally the amount of plays or the amount of things you can do in each play, the amount of concepts, the amount of formations, the amount of shifts, the amount of motions — we truly had everything that you could see all across all of football, and really in one.' Those three years also gave Faulkner an appreciation for quarterbacks who can run. Stetson Bennett became the surprise starter in 2020, Faulkner's and Monken's first year there. After initially going back to pocket passer J.T. Daniels, the staff returned to Bennett on the way to back-to-back titles. 'You look across the NFL, and Monken used to say this all the time, quarterbacks that make 'off-schedule' plays are where the game is going,' Faulkner said. As Georgia closed in on its second title, the Georgia Tech offensive coordinator job came open. Monken eventually left for the Baltimore Ravens, but Faulkner said there was no discussion with Smart about what would happen. (Mike Bobo, brought in for another off-field role for the 2022 season, replaced Monken.) Faulkner took the Georgia Tech job in December, attracted to it in part because he could still live in Watkinsville, which is about an hour's commute to Georgia Tech but allowed Faulkner's kids to stay at their schools. Professionally, Faulkner saw Georgia Tech as ripe for a revamped offense. Key saw the same thing. Between the triple-option era and the four years under Collins, Georgia Tech fans had 'never seen the ball fly around,' as Key put it. Advertisement 'So we had to put some change in for people to see but also be a disciplined team,' Key said. 'I know what people here want to see. They want to see discipline, they want to see physical toughness, they want to see the Tech brand of football. So I figured we can do those things and still be an exciting brand.' He also got a good quarterback. Haynes King transferred from Texas A&M and became a version of what Bennett was for Georgia: a good passer who could make those off-schedule runs. King passed for 2,842 yards in 2023 but also had 16 interceptions. He cut down on those last year (only two in 11 games), while being an efficient passer (2,114 yards, 72.6 completion percentage) and a problem for defenses as a rusher (587 yards and 11 touchdowns). King credits, in part, a patient approach the coaches have sold to the players. 'You're never going to make a big jump, that it's not sustainable. Because you'll make a big jump and it'll go back down,' King said. 'It's just hey, small improvements each and every day will get you there.' Change has been gradual. The 412 pass attempts by Georgia Tech last year were the program's most since 2005 but still only ninth in the ACC and tied for 54th in the nation. The offense still isn't in rarified territory: Georgia Tech ranked 40th nationally in yards per play last year and 61st in scoring. Faulkner has been rewarded for the early progress; he agreed to a new two-year, $3 million contract that puts him among the 10 highest-paid offensive coordinators in the country, according to ESPN. Key is adamant that he doesn't want a 'gimmicky' offense or defense. He worked at Alabama from 2016 to 2018 and saw how Nick Saban joined the passing revolution in college football. Georgia Tech's approach hasn't been exactly that but a combination of Faulkner's background — from Valdosta State to Georgia — and Key's creative impulses. Faulkner describes his system as a 'pro-style hybrid.' These days, everything is a combination of plays and concepts, which leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Which is kind of the idea. Advertisement 'We run more run schemes than probably anybody in the country, right?' he said. 'We have six or seven of them. We're good at all of them.' This is Faulkner back in the offensive team meeting. The players are looking at a picture of formations as they listen to their coach tell them about the different pictures they're giving defenses. Plus one jolt of cold water: 'Before we break, I remind you this: Everybody in the country is — everyone's doing what you're doing today. Are we doing it better than them? It's that simple, all right? It's going to come time here in about two months. It's game on. Are we doing it better than them?' For Georgia Tech, that remains the key question. (Top photo courtesy of Danny Karnik / Georgia Tech Athletics)
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Why Georgia Tech Could Be the ACC's Dark Horse in 2025
Why Georgia Tech Could Be the ACC's Dark Horse in 2025 originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Georgia Tech fans have been waiting for a season like this. One full of hope, momentum, and belief. But it's not just Yellow Jackets faithful who are sensing a shift on The Flats. Advertisement According to Athlon Sports' College Football 2025 Previewed, several anonymous ACC coaches have singled out Georgia Tech as a team to watch this fall. And one coach, in particular, pulled no punches: 'They've got two really bright, really promising coordinators who will be head coaches one day,' the coach said. 'Faulkner really worked some magic with [Haynes] King, and later in the season they really figured it out in the run game.' It's high praise for a program that only recently clawed out of a five-year bowl drought. Under third-year head coach Brent Key, Georgia Tech finished the 2024 season 7-6, their first winning record since 2018. But the buzz this offseason is about more than wins and losses. It's about culture and coaching. OC Buster Faulkner enters Year 2 after transforming Texas A&M transfer Haynes King into one of the ACC's most dangerous dual-threat quarterbacks. King threw for 2,114 yards and 14 touchdowns while adding 587 yards and 11 scores on the ground, a total of 2,701 yards and 25 TDs. Advertisement His development down the stretch was noticeable. Georgia Tech averaged 33.5 points over its final four games, a far cry from the offensive struggles of past seasons. Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key looks on against Florida State at Aviva Stadium.© Tom Maher/INPHO via USA TODAY Sports Faulkner's ability to tailor schemes around King's strengths, and lean into a physical ground game drew specific praise from ACC insiders. While Faulkner's rise is no secret, new DC Blake Gideon might be the more intriguing addition. After four years coaching safeties at Texas and earning a promotion to associate head coach in 2024, Gideon joins Georgia Tech with big expectations, despite never calling a defense at the collegiate level. Advertisement 'Gideon is a really big hire for them,' said another ACC coach. 'They're decent, probably best on the defensive line, so how they adjust to a new system will be the thing to watch.' Key tapped into his Alabama coaching tree to lure Gideon from Steve Sarkisian's staff, a move that speaks volumes about the program's rising clout and Key's growing influence. More than anything, the 2025 Yellow Jackets reflect their head coach's no-nonsense, offensive line-driven personality. 'This is an O-lineman's culture, and they really embrace contact and physicality,' another anonymous coach told Athlon. Added a fourth coach: 'This is Key's team now, and they're hard-nosed and mean.' Advertisement For Georgia Tech fans, that's music to their ears. With a potent offense, a revamped defense, and a head coach who's reshaping the culture, Georgia Tech isn't just trying to compete, they're aiming to contend. The ACC better be ready. Related: Georgia Tech Lands Twin OL Commits in 2026 Recruiting Win Related: Georgia Tech Football's CFP Odds Leaves Fans in Disbelief This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
