Inside The Chart: Catching On

Catching On: Inside the pass catching resurgence of the Georgia Tech tight ends

Inside The Chart | By Andy Demetra (The Voice of the Yellow Jackets)

You would have thought he realized it the moment the ball landed with a crisp thwack in his hands. Or when the down judge crisscrossed his arms over his head after his nifty toe drag along the Georgia Tech sideline. Or when he flipped the ball back to the head linesman before rejoining the Yellow Jackets’ huddle.

Forgive J.T. Byrne if the magnitude of the moment escaped him. The tight end was too swept up in helping Georgia Tech drive for a game-tying field goal in the final 30 seconds of a tense fourth quarter against Wake Forest. It wasn’t until the coin toss before overtime, as Byrne huddled with his teammates to go over prospective plays, that tight ends coach Nathan Brock nudged him into awareness.

“Coach Brock looks at me and he’s like, ‘First one?’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, yeah. It was!’ I didn’t even realize,” Byrne recalled.

After four years and 30 games across three schools, the ebullient graduate transfer finally recorded his first-career catch, a four-yard completion that pushed Tech to the Wake Forest 15-yard line. If the milestone got lost amid the suspense of the win, you have company.

The man who made the catch didn’t know either.

J.T. Byrne’s catch that set up Georgia Tech’s game-tying field goal at Wake Forest was the first reception of his career (Keith Lucas photo)

“It was kind of cool that it just happened in the moment. You’ve been practicing all that stuff so much that you just kind of get used to the flow of the game,” Byrne said. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, Byrne hauled in his second-career catch two games later, a 21-yard completion out of a swinging gate formation that gave Tech a first-and-goal in the fourth quarter against Duke.

He hasn’t been alone catching passes lately. Heading into Saturday’s matchup with Syracuse at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (Noon ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network), Georgia Tech’s tight ends find themselves in the midst of a pass catching renaissance. After a quiet start to the year, the Yellow Jackets’ tight ends have gone full Darren Waller, combining for 11 catches for a whopping 20.7 yards per reception over the last three games.

Tight ends are a staple of coordinator Buster Faulkner’s offense – 30 percent of Tech’s plays this year involve multiple tight ends. The group takes pride in its blocking, whether inline or on the perimeter. They revel in the ruggedness of their position.

But they’d be lying if they said they weren’t enjoying this pass-catching spree.

“Those guys have stayed ready all season long. And then, when it has gotten in their hands, they’ve done a great job of making somebody miss. It’s kind of turning those catches into explosive plays,” Brock said.

Josh Beetham has been at the center of that escalating explosiveness. The redshirt senior tied his career high with a 17-yard catch in overtime against Wake Forest. A game later, he topped that with a 31-yard catch against Virginia Tech that almost resulted in a touchdown. He smashed that again with a 49-yard gallop against Duke. Along with Byrne (21 yards) and redshirt freshman Luke Harpring (24 yards), tight ends were responsible for three of the Yellow Jackets’ four longest completions against the Blue Devils.

Josh Beetham rumbles for a career-long 49-yard catch last Saturday at Duke (Keith Lucas photo)

“It’s been awesome. That is a credit to both our offensive play calling and staying true to the process. Owning our role, whether it’s blocking or making a play. I think we’ve done a really good job of that lately, and it’s helped open up the offense,” Beetham said.

But what has led to this spike in receptions? Are the tight ends running better routes? Are they wearing out the JUGS machines until sparks shoot out of them? Did they storm into Faulkner’s office and demand more touches?

The reason is fairly mundane, they say. It’s just how the plays have played out.

“You don’t design passing concepts and passing plays with just one person in the route. You go where the defense dictates it should go – the reads, the progressions. But it just hadn’t gone that way,” said head coach Brent Key.

“It’s not a ton of different stuff from what we’ve been running. It’s just been getting open, making plays, and the quarterbacks have been connecting with us,” Beetham added.

At the beginning of each season, Brock, a member of 247Sports’ “30Under30 List,” likes to establish an identity for his group. This year he chose the concept of Navy SEALs. Like the elite fighting force, he wants his tight ends to train at a high level, execute and be versatile.

“They’re not always seen. A lot of times they’re going to be behind the scenes, which is what we embrace. We’re going to go down and do whatever it takes to help the team,” Beetham said.

That’s why they didn’t take offense to, well, the lack of offense at the beginning of the year. Unselfishness is part of their ethos. But now that they’re becoming a factor in the passing game, no player may appreciate that more than the 6-foot-5, 265-pound Byrne, who arrived at Tech following two seasons at Oregon State (2021-22) and two more at Cal (2023-24).

The native of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., admitted that his lack of catches bothered him earlier in his career. In addition to four years of college, Byrne only had two receptions his senior year of high school – his team played just one game that spring due to COVID restrictions. His career threatened to border on Ricky Bobby “I’m not sure what to do with my hands” territory.

There are plenty of ways a tight end can make an impact. Byrne learned long ago to make peace with pass-catching not being a part of it.

“As I’ve gotten older, it’s a blessing to be one of those 11 guys on the field in any capacity,” he said.

But he also knew that a four-year tight end with zero career catches doesn’t make for an obvious candidate in the transfer portal. Byrne had already decided to enter his name in the portal the Sunday after Cal’s regular-season finale. Two nights earlier, he was at home watching Georgia Tech’s marathon battle with Georgia.

“I’m like, ‘Wow, this is a tough team.’ Never for a second thinking that I could be playing for those guys in a couple months,” he recalled.

To his surprise, Byrne received a direct message on X from Brock after he entered the portal. Brock and Tech’s coaches routinely vet the film of almost every position player who enters the portal – “combing the desert,” as he calls it – and he found plenty to like, even if pass-catching wasn’t part of his highlight reel.

“Watching some of his tape last year, I thought he was a very physical kid. I knew we were losing that aspect a little bit as a room with Jackson [Hawes] transitioning to the NFL. He kind of fit that mold of a kid that wasn’t afraid to put his hand in the dirt to block people and be unselfish,” he recalled.

He also learned that Byrne’s hands were good for more than just blocking.

“As soon as spring ball came around, he started moving around and running routes. He showed that he was able to catch the ball and stretch the field,” Brock said.

It has turned into a well-received addition for Tech, where Key believes Byrne could have a future in WWE with his primal energy and high-wattage personality (“J.T.’s way of saying ‘great job’ is to go up and headbutt you,” Key said). He also praises the impact he’s had on the locker room since his arrival last January.

“He makes every single day count. Just his attitude on the field, and his intensity, and just how all-in he is, he’s a great representative of Georgia Tech,” Key said.

Despite their surge in production, though, Byrne and the tight ends know one catch has still eluded them: a touchdown catch. They joke that Hawes, now a rookie with the Buffalo Bills, cursed the room by regularly getting stopped shy of the goal line last season. Beetham narrowly missed a touchdown against Virginia Tech, getting tackled at the one-yard line. Byrne was wrestled down at the five-yard line after his 21-yard catch against Duke.

J.T. Byrne came up just short of paydirt on his 21-yard reception at Duke (Keith Lucas photo)

“I’ve got to punch that one in. I’ve got to take care of Haynes on that one,” he groaned.

He’ll try to accomplish that on Saturday against Syracuse.

If he reaches the end zone, he’ll likely understand the significance this time.