There won’t be a change under center for Georgia Tech this weekend, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be change.
An upper-body injury sidelined starting quarterback TaQuon Marshall for last Thursday night’s game against Virginia Tech. In place of Marshall, his backup, Tobias Oliver, ran roughshod over the Hokies, rushing for 215 yards and three touchdowns in the 49-28 blowout.
The yards were the second-most ever for a Yellow Jackets quarterback in a single game, and he was named as the ACC’s Rookie of the Week for Week 9 action. Despite the gaudy numbers, Paul Johnson indicated that Marshall will be the starter when Tech takes the field for Saturday’s game against North Carolina.
Oliver, though, won’t be planted on the sideline throughout the contest.
“They’re both going to play but I’m not going to take a senior captain on the team and sit him down because Tobias played really great against Virginia Tech,” the head coach said Tuesday. “You know, Tobias played a really good game against Virginia Tech.
“Some people have really short memories. TaQuon played a really good game against Louisville. TaQuon was pretty good against Bowling Green. He’s been pretty good in a lot of games.”
Thanks to the huge effort last week, Oliver’s 660 yards rushing now lead the team, followed by Marshall’s 598. Oliver also has 10 touchdowns to Marshall’s nine.
Marshall ran for 183 yards in a Week 2 loss to USF, one of three 100-yard games on the season. Including last Thursday night, Oliver has three such games in 2018 as well.