Georgia Tech Football

Georgia Tech has done it again, producing a potentially game-breaking freak of nature at the wide receiver position. First it was Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions, then Demaryius Thomas of the Denver Broncos and now Stephen Hill.

Like Johnson and Thomas, Hill is physical specimen checking in at 6'3 6/8" and 215 pounds while also running a blazing 4.36 40-yard dash but do these physical skills alone make him a quality receiver?  

The answer is no because there are several other skills that wide receivers need to have to win matchups at the next level. These skills include but are not limited to route running, body control and most importantly, catching the ball. Join me as I delve into the tape of Georgia Tech's Stephen Hill.

Scheme

Scheme is always important, even when grading wide receivers, and the one that Hill comes out of is a bit unusual for a potential top pass-catching prospect. The University of Georgia Tech runs an option-based offense that primarily asks the receiver to block for the ball carrier because they run a significant amount of the time.

Although this is the case, Hill has still caught passes and has run several routes, some of which had him reading the leverage of the defender and running his pattern based off of it. He caught 28 passes last season at an eye-popping 29 yards per catch and although some of these were caught downfield because of blown coverage, he still did run several pass patterns that enabled him to get open.  

Route Running

Hill's route running has proven to be raw mainly because of the scheme he's operating out of. He's simply not running the amount of routes that others are and that's why some are knocking him.

However, he has run routes such as Dig, Post, Hook, Out, Arrow (flat) and Corner patterns that he'll be asked to also run at the next level. He still has a lot of learning to do in this aspect of his game because he doesn't have the details of it down yet. 

Despite this, he's going to the NFL where professional coaches will have more time to teach him and it will be his main focus.

Separation

The ability to separate from defenders when running routes is key at every level of football, but perhaps none more than at the NFL level because defenders are just as fast and quick. Although the scheme and route running that Hill has had to do in college is limited, there are instances in which his ability to break down is showcased as well as his ability to separate from defenders vertically. 

He shows that he can get vertical on defensive backs and create enough separation to catch the ball. On short and intermediate routes, he shows that he can break down his route within two or three steps, sink his hips and get open. Examples of this can be seen on Hook routes. 

Tracking the Ball

Other than his hands, which we'll cover later, Hill's body control may be his greatest strength as he does an excellent job of tracking the football when it is in the air. He has shown on multiple occasions that he has quality body control.

Release

Due to Georgia Tech's option football scheme, the defense was often sitting back and reading the backfield action prior to attacking downhill or in a defensive backs case, dropping in reverse and running with their assignment.

Furthermore, because of the scheme and the way defenses play it, Thomas did not get tested much at the line of scrimmage, thus often having a free release. This is an area in which he'll clearly need to improve at the next level. 

Yards After Catch

The lack of a quality passer and previously mentioned scheme have somewhat prevented Hill from showcasing his yards after the catch ability; however, there have been instances in which he has shown it off and done well. 

He has long arms, quick feet, overall speed and good strength that enables him to pick up yards after the catch as seen on deep passes as well as short ones such as screens.

Hands

If a receiver can't catch, what good is he? 

Fortunately for Stephen Hill of Georgia Tech, he won't be moved to defensive back any time soon because he actually can catch the ball. Hill shows good concentration and focus when a pass is coming in his direction and this shows in two areas: hands and body catching.

In the former area, Hill shows the ability to catch the ball away from his body and purely with his hands. This is something that is desired in all pass-catchers but they do not always possess it. In the latter area, there are certain situations in which a pass-catcher will have to run under a pass and catch it into his body by letting it hit him and then trapping it, which Hill also does well. 

Overall

In conclusion, Georgia Tech wide receiver Stephen Hill is one of the fastest rising prospects because of his playmaking ability and outstanding performance at the NFL Combine.

While he has weaknesses in his game, it's important to find his strengths and what he can do for a team. What Hill brings to a team is an athlete with great stature, physicality and playmaking ability. These three characteristics of his game are going to be the ones that raise his stock in the eyes of NFL personnel men and ultimately convince them to take him high in the draft, such as in late Round 1 or early Round 2. 

According to RamblinWreck.com, the 2012 Georgia Tech football schedule is finally complete. 

With conference expansion shuffling, the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule has been delayed several times already, but was finally released at 2 p.m. Monday.

The Jackets will travel to Blacksburg to take on Virginia Tech on Labor Day to kick off the season, in a move that caused South East Louisiana to be dropped from the schedule and replaced by Presbyterian the following Saturday, Sept. 15, in what will be a five-day turnaround for Tech.

The second game of Tech's four-game homestand brings Virginia to Bobby Dodd on Sept. 15, in a game the Jackets weren't able to pull off last season.  

The Yellow Jackets then host Miami (Sept. 22) and Middle Tennessee State (Sept. 29) in consecutive weeks.  Tech split these games last season, losing in Miami and routing MTSU in Murfreesboro.  

The next weekend (Oct. 6), the Tigers will be looking for some revenge for last season's Top Five loss in Atlanta, as the Jackets go on the road to face Clemson, followed by an open date the next weekend. 

Oct. 20th kicks off a two-game homestand for Tech when Atlantic Division foe Boston College travels to Bobby Dodd, followed by newly independent Brigham Young the following Saturday (Oct. 27). 

A two-game road slate features Maryland (Nov. 3), and North Carolina (Nov. 10).  The Yellow Jackets won both of these games last season during their initial six-game win streak to start the season.  

A Nov. 17th home game versus Duke wraps up Georgia Tech's conference schedule, and then the next installment of "Clean Old Fashioned Hate" finishes off the 2012 season as the Yellow Jackets travel to Athens to take on the Bulldogs the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  

The AJC is reporting that Georgia Tech has offered a scholarship to junior quarterback Juwaan Williams of Tucker, who led his team to the class-AAAA Georgia State Championship this past season.  

Besides his offer on Wednesday from the Yellow Jackets, Williams already has several offers from Division I such as Wake Forest, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, East Carolina and Central Florida.

Williams is currently rated a 3-star by Yahoo! Sports and put up a solid individual performance at the 2011 Under Armour Combines.  

“It was a great offer,” Williams said. “The system they run at Georgia Tech fits me to a ‘T.’ It’s just a little more reading that I have to do at the line of scrimmage. If I went to Georgia Tech to play quarterback, I’d have a chance to be the king of Atlanta. Georgia Tech is in the heart of Atlanta, and they have great fans that support the team.”

The Jackets are apparently recruiting Juwaan as a quarterback, while most of the other schools he's visited are interested in applying his skills as a wide receiver. 

Along with his athletic skill, Williams brings to the table strong academics and a 3.5 GPA, which also makes him a strong candidate for Georgia Tech.  

“Coach Johnson sat down with me and my parents in his office, and explained to us how highly he thought of me as a student and an athlete," Williams explained. "He said they really liked me and they wanted me. We had a great conversation about Georgia Tech, and he shared a little bit about himself and his family.”

Juwaan wants to make his ultimate choice prior to the start of next school year and says his current top-three choices are Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt and Georgia.  He currently does not have an offer from the Bulldogs, however.  

Williams has a chance to add to an already-strong Georgia Tech quarterback depth chart.  

On Monday, BYU released its finalized schedule for the 2012 season, which includes a trip to Atlanta to take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Bobby Dodd Stadium.  

Since the ACC has yet to release a conference schedule, its member institutions haven't been able to finalize their schedules either, but the Cougars' release gives fans another piece to Georgia Tech's scheduling puzzle, which already had two games set: at Virginia Tech on Labor Day, and at Georgia on November 24th.  

The Jackets are under a three-game agreement with BYU, which gives them two of the three games in Atlanta, and sets next year's contest on the road in Utah.  

It is still unclear if the second or third installment of this series will survive the new ACC nine-game conference scheduling with Pitt and Syracuse possibly arriving in the conference as early as the 2013 season in their departure from the Big East.  

The rest of the Atlantic Coast Conference football schedule should be out any day now, as teams like Florida State scramble to find replacement non-conference opponents, while having to be mindful of the new hitch of conference realignment that continues to loom overhead. 

Stay tuned for the final version of the Jackets' 2012 schedule.