By BJ Bennett
SouthernPigskin.com

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Georgia Tech is building a contender and conviction alike. The focus is on what it takes to do just that.

Over the last few weeks, Georgia Tech, as a still-young team, has had a gritty performance at powerhouse Clemson, a statement triumph over nationally-ranked North Carolina in Mercedes-Benz Stadium and, most recently and, in some ways, most importantly, a late comeback win at Duke. This is a program making progress. This is a team, entering a bye week ahead of a showcase second-half, with meaningful momentum. With two victories in three games, the Yellow Jackets aren’t just winning, they are now expecting to as well.

Georgia Tech is building a contender and conviction alike. The focus is on what it takes to do just that.

Last Saturday, Duke kicked a go-ahead field goal with 5:06 remaining. The Yellow Jackets were down three, in a venue where they hadn’t won since 2013, at their own 12-yard line. From there, with a potential losing record looming ahead of the halfway point of the season, Georgia Tech rallied. The Yellow Jackets went on a six-play, 88-yard drive, with Jeff Sims throwing a dramatic 36-yard touchdown pass to Adonicas Sanders with less than a minute to play. Juanyeh Thomas then got a game-winning interception mere moments later.

The response, for Georgia Tech, was one that resonated. It was affirming. A talented team that had just lost close contests to Clemson and Northern Illinois, the Yellow Jackets stayed the course through the almosts and the adversity they come with. That direction, ultimately crossing the goaline late in Durham, proved to be forward.

“The guys, we told them before the game, just stay dialed-in the whole time, one play at a time, all of the way to the end. They did it, they trusted it, they believed in it,” shared head coach Geoff Collins.

Sims, who started his first-ever college game as a true freshman last season, winning at Florida State, has been a key leader for Georgia Tech, even in just his second year. On the game-winning drive in Durham, he was 4-of-5 passing for 79 yards and the highlight touchdown to Sanders, also adding a first down run. With the game on the line, Sims stepped right up to it. He has been one of the catalysts as the Yellow Jackets continue to improve. Sims is emerging as a national name.

The finish was simply another example of proficiency and production from Sims, who was one of the national players of the week after completing 10-13 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown and running for 128 yards and three more scores in the win over North Carolina. He is the only ACC player this millennium with 75% passing and a touchdown and 100 rushing yards and three more scores in a single outing.

“He is awesome. He is a great player, obviously a tremendous athlete, but he is an even better kid. He is universally loved in this program. He works really, really hard, he studies film, he takes coaching, he wants to get better, he loves his teammates and he is a tremendous player,” Collins exclaimed. “I know the league is loaded with elite quarterbacks. I think Jeff is going to be in that conversion sooner than later as one of the top quarterbacks in all of college football.”

Football is a game of ebbs and flows. How you react is a measure of your resolve; against Duke, Georgia Tech opened and closed the contest with touchdown gains of 77 and 36 yards. After a 20-7 run from the Blue Devils, the Yellow Jackets were promptly at their best when it mattered most, a sign of maturity and poise. Young teams have to find themselves before they find their way. Georgia Tech didn’t lose the game, but almost as importantly, the Yellow Jackets didn’t lose their way.

Georgia Tech made it a point to make every moment a priority. The Yellow Jackets then made it a point to make plays.

“Just having expectant belief and knowing good things are going to happen and going and fighting to make those things happen. I don’t know if we have always had that mentality, but every single week our guys are growing and having that belief in each other and the style of play that we have and just trusting to play one play at a time,” Collins explained. “Too many times in the past, we have looked too big picture and then don’t execute in the moment. I think we’re finally getting that piece, one play at a time, every single play matters.”

Georgia Tech’s growth is on clear display. The Yellow Jackets are learning how to win consistently, settling into their new identity and embracing the high expectations that have long made Georgia Tech one of the game’s most storied names. Not only are the Yellow Jackets making moves, they are making an impression as they do it. There is a lot of excitement around Georgia Tech’s past, present and future. The spotlight is quickly growing brighter.

Atlanta, after all, is the big stage.

“I think recruits see it, I think college football sees it,” Collins nodded. “Everyone knows about the transition that we had to go through here inheriting a triple-option program for eleven years and then bringing it to the modern day of college football. Everybody understands that. It’s a process. Our guys believe in that process. They have stayed with it. We’re just so close to being a really, really good football team.”

Looking ahead, major challenges await for Georgia Tech. Major opportunities do, too. After the bye week, the Yellow Jackets will play at Virginia, Virginia Tech, at Miami, Boston College, at 14th-ranked Notre Dame and number one Georgia in consecutive weeks. Georgia Tech has a chance to help shape the national narrative. Under the bright lights is where this program wants and expects to play. It’s there, this year, where the Yellow Jackets, taking Clemson to the brink and routing North Carolina, have been at their best.

“When the season started, we had the second toughest schedule in all of college football. We take that as a source of pride in this program,” Collins detailed. “When you look at the six teams we have coming, they combine with a total of nine losses. We’ve got to play some really good, clean football, go out there and play together, whoever it is, and show what we can do. If we fire on all cylinders, there is not a team that we can’t compete with. I think our guys are finally to that belief point. We just got to go out every Saturday and execute.”

Georgia Tech is building a brand. Wins to Waffle House, the Yellow Jackets, right off I-85, are well on their way. This current team, mind you, is seven points away from being 5-1 overall. Future recruiting efforts are going well. There is an energy around so much that Georgia Tech is doing. Fulfillment, for Collins, is all about the people within the program. Success is a concept that is truly comprehensive. Personal connections are where it all starts.

How you win is important. Why you win is impactful.

“I’m excited every single day I get to come to work with these guys,” Collins shared. “I just had a zoom call with all of our players’ parents, just got on there and thanked them for letting me coach their sons. How blessed we are. How close we are to being really, really good. Thanking them for entrusting us with the care and development of their sons. And, if anything we learned in covid, was that you can get together with a group of people, have communication, have an open door policy. We’ve tried to continue that, lessons learned from last year, and just keep close bonds with our players’ families as well.”

A metro Atlanta-native and an assistant for the Yellow Jackets from 1999-2001 and in 2006, Collins has consistently called Georgia Tech his dream job. Seeing, for this program, its coach and its players, is believing.

“We’re just trying to position our program every single day to be one of the elite teams in our league,” he concluded.

Collins and Georgia Tech still have more work to do. That said, progress has been made and been made with a purpose.