Week 6 Kickoff: Sat, Oct. 2, 2021 – 6:00 PM
Yellow Jackets Prepare For Cross-Conference Tilt With Northwestern
THE FLATS –– Coming off a crushing fourth-quarter letdown and loss to Virginia Tech, the Yellow Jackets look to right the ship once more.
This week, they prepare to take on the Northwestern Wildcats before traveling to Miami next week for their first away game of the season.
The Wildcats are headed by redshirt senior Andrew Marty at quarterback, but heavily rely on the playmaking abilities of their speedy senior wideout, Stephon Robinson, to gain huge chunks of yards at a time. However, freshman Jacob Gill can also turn on the burners, and while he probably won't catch a lot of passes, he's just as dangerous after the catch.
Defensively, this Northwestern team is very athletic and talented – but super young. That inexperience could pose problems for them with the roaring ATL crowd – if they decide to show up – which would give a boost to Jeff Sims and the rest of the Yellow Jackets offense.
Through three-and-a-half games (missed a half due to injury), Sims has tossed just two touchdowns as his team has really relied on the defense to do much of its dirty work in the first four games.
On the ground, the committee approach has been working wonders statistically. Jahmyr Gibbs leads the way with 50 carries, 243 yards and two scores with a 4.8 average. While Jordan Mason has carried the ball 20 times for 107 yards, good for a 5.3 average, with two touchdowns as well. Redshirted junior Dontae Smith also has a touchdown run, though he's been effective as well with 63 yards on just 14 attempts.
Northwestern will have to rely on the passing game because their ground attack has been severely hampered with the loss of starter Evan Hull.
Scouting Report: Northwestern (2-2, 1-1 Big Ten)
Offense
QB Andrew Marty, 6'3", 224 lbs, Sr.(RS) – 1041 Yds, 8 TD, 2 Int, 71% Comp, 174.6 Rating
HB Andrew Clair, 5'11", 202 lbs, Sr.(RS) – 208 Yds, 2.9 Avg, 3 TD
WR Stephon Robinson, 5'10", 180 lbs, Sr.(RS) – 33 Rec, 373 Yds, 4 TD
WR Jacob Gill, 6'0", 183 lbs, Fr. – 21 Rec, 313 Yds, 2 TD
WR Bryce Kirtz, 6'0", 180 lbs, So.(RS) – 8 Rec, 62 Yds, 2 TD
TE Charlie Mangieri, 6'4", 250 lbs, Sr. – 5 Rec, 122 Yds, 0 TD
Defense
DT Jeremy Meiser, 6'3", 290 lbs, Sr.(RS) – 9 Tkl, 2 Sacks, FF
DT Te-Rah Edwards, 6'2", 294 lbs, Fr.(RS) – 12 Tkl, 2 Sacks, FF
DE Najee Story, 6'4", 250 lbs, Fr. – 13 Tkl
DE Adetomiwa Adebawore, 6'2", 265 lbs, Jr. – 23 Tkl, 1 Sack
LB Chris Bergin, 5'11", 223 lbs, Sr.(RS) – 38 Tkl, 1 Sack, 1 Pass Defl
LB Bryce Gallagher, 6'2", 223 lbs, So.(RS) – 16 Tkl, 1 Sack, FF, 5 Pass Defl
LB Peter McIntyre, 6'2", 231 lbs, Sr.(RS) – 29 Tkl, 2 Sacks, 2 Pass Defl
DB Ore Adeyi, 5'10", 175 lbs, Fr. – 8 Tkl, 2 Pass Defl
DB Theran Johnson, 6'0", 170 lbs, Fr. – 12 Tkl, 1 FR
FS Brandon Joseph, 6'1", 192 lbs, So.(RS) – 16 Tkl, 2 Pass Defl
SS Garner Wallace, 6'4", 190 lbs, Fr. – 10 Tkl, 1 FR
Injury Report
HB Evan Hull, 5'11", 210 lbs, So.(RS) – 16 Rush, 60 Yds (6 Weeks)
