ATLANTA- Georgia Tech football celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in style with the annual spring football game and an end zone tailgate party in the South End Zone of Bobby Dodd Stadium on Thursday night. An intimate crowd watched the Jackets practice for 45 minutes and then scrimmage for over an hour.

The Jackets entered the spring game with several key players sidelined for the spring game and others limited so it was not surprising to see the hybrid format used once again with even some 7-on-7 work and team run periods prior to the live scrimmage.

Head coach Geoff Collins was pleased with what he saw in the 13 practices including Thursday night so far this spring. The Jackets go on spring break for the next week and will return to the practice fields the last week of March for two additional days of work.

“We had a really good 13 days of spring practice and I’m really proud of the guys and the way they worked and the way they took in a lot of new information and embraced the new faces that we have on the coaching staff,” he said. “We’ve been putting in new schemes both offensively and defensively and we’ve come together as a team and have gotten better every single practice and that is what we’ve got to do all the way up until September 5th in Mercedes-Benz Stadium versus a really good Clemson team. We’ve got two more practices in the bank when we come back from spring break.”

Tech was down a scholarship quarterback with true freshman Zach Pyron sidelined with a thumb injury, so returning starter Jeff Sims and Akron transfer Zach Gibson got the majority of the snaps except for the last drive when walk-on Brody Rhodes got a series.

Sims generally went against the first-team defense while Gibson went against the second-string unit with some subs and variations throughout the live scrimmage segments.

Sims threw for 66 yards hitting on eight of 16 pass attempts and ran for 26 net yards thanks to a fumble and a sack on eight carries. Sims said he feels a lot more comfortable with new offensive coordinator Chip Long’s offense after 13 practices and an entire winter working with him and quarterbacks coach Chris Weinke.

“I feel like I got more comfortable with the offense and there are still a lot of things to learn,” Sims said. “I would say it was a little bit up and down today. I had some good things and I did have some pretty bad things that I did. I just have to go harder at the playbook and learn it more and get more comfortable with it every day.”

Gibson had a little more luck working against the second defense with some third and fourth string players mixed in. He threw for 177 yards and two touchdowns completing 12 of his 20 attempts. Gibson also ran for 35 yards on five carries.

Rhodes completed one pass and threw an interception to Kenyatta Watson II to end the spring game.

Jamal Haynes hauled in a 37-yard touchdown for the first touchdown of the scrimmage from Gibson and later DJ Moore hauled in an 11-yard score as one of his three catches on the day.

Tight end Dylan Leonard had three catches for 33 yards, flex tight end Peje Harris had three for 14 yards and Kalani Norris had three catches for 25 yards in the scrimmage.

On the ground, Dontae Smith had just three carries in limited action for 14 yards, Hassan Hall had 15 yards on six carries and one catch for five yards and Antonio Martin had 15 yards on three carries.

“There were some standouts,” Collins said of Thursday. “I thought that Peje Harris had a lot of oohs and ahs out there today. It was good to see Dontae have some really nice runs and Hassan Hall who has come in and joined us, I thought he did some really good things. Everyone talks about Malachi Carter, but a young guy like Nate McCollum or Malik Rutherford have been really stepped up and done great things throughout the spring and played the right way.”

Kickers Jude Kelley and Gavin Stewart were both perfect with Kelley hitting from 30, 23, and 24 yards out and Stewart hitting from 29 and 44.

Defensively, Demetrius Knight led all defenders with 11 tackles and Charlie Thomas had five tackles and a TFL. Keion White, Jason Moore, Makius Scott, TK Chimedza and D’Quan Douse each had a sack, and Douse had a fumble recovery as well. Tech's corners also performed well including Watson's interception and pass break up earlier in the scrimmage and a PBU by Kenan Johnson.

“Defensively, I thought the secondary has had a marked improvement, and just seeing Derrik Allen, Jaylon King, and Kaleb Edwards the core middle of our secondary helping out and doing a great job in communication was key,” Collins said. “We’ve got some very talented corners and just the communication piece has been markedly improved and I’m just excited to see them continue that throughout the offseason and throughout summer workouts and then in the preseason camp.”

Safety Derrik Allen echoed Collins’ thoughts on the revamped secondary under new defensive backs coach Travares Tillman.

“I think the two biggest things were communication and actually on the field accountability too. We are not going to let each other slack on a play and we are forced to communicate and there will not be a player where you see us not talking to each other,” Allen said.

In the non-live period, both Sims and Gibson also threw 31-yard touchdowns one to Nate McCollum for Sims and one to Peje Harris from Gibson.

Like any spring, Georgia Tech had numerous players out for the spring game. Looking at just scholarship players on offense, Avery Body, Zach Pyron, Leon Blackburn, Paul Tchio, and Dylan Deveney were all sidelined for the spring game. Defensively, LaMiles Brooks, Tyson Meiguez, Khatavian Franks, Zeek Biggers, and Akelo Stone all missed the spring game as well with injuries or recovering from injuries from last season and were not cleared yet.

Jeff Sims' first drive went three and out.

Gibson led the second offense against a mix of twos and threes on defense and drove down to the 20 thanks to a big pass to Malik Rutherford for 26-yards. Kenyatta Watson had a PBU on third down to force a Jude Kelley 30-yd field goal.

Sims led his group to a field goal on the next drive thanks to three first-down passes to Kalani Norris, Luke Benson, and Dylan Leonard.

Gibson led his group to a score on two plays, hitting BlackStrain for 18 yards on first down and then a 37-yard touchdown to Jamal Haynes.

Sims and the Tech ground attack moved the ball on the next series picking up 25 yards on the ground, but Sims got sacked on fourth down by Makius Scott to end the drive.

Jude Kelley hit another field goal on a drive from the 50 keyed by two first-down conversions by Malachi Carter and James BlackStrain from Gibson.

Two miscues by centers Weston Franklin and then Will Lay led to a three and out for Sims on the next drive so they reset and brought the one offense back out. Sims drove the team across the 40 with key passes to Dylan Leonard and Hassan Hall leading to a Gavin Stewart 44-yard field goal.

Gibson hit a long pass to Jamal Haynes for 19 yards and another to DJ Moore but they had to settle for a 25-yard field goal.

Sims next drive ended after one first down on a fourth-down drop by Malachi Carter. Gibson’s drive lasted just two plays as he fumbled the second play and D’Quan Douse came up with the ball. Gibson got another shot and Antonio Martin picked up nine yards on the first play. Gibson had two key runs and then hit DJ Moore for an 11-yard touchdown.

Brody Rhodes got the final drive and Daylon Gordon moved the ball for him, but the scrimmage ended with an interception in the end zone by Kenyatta Watson II on a deep shot for James BlackStrain