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Carolina Chaos SSDM Zach Geddes

Zach Geddes: The Devin Hester of transition offense for Carolina Chaos

By Hayden Lewis | Aug 9, 2024

Last Saturday, the greatest return man in NFL history, Devin Hester, was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

Hester’s blazing speed and elite ball-carrier vision helped him score 20 return touchdowns during his NFL career while also playing wide receiver at a high level. How does Hester relate to the Premier Lacrosse League?

It’s simple: Zach Geddes. The All-Star is the PLL’s version of a return man who also plays a regular position – short-stick defensive midfield. 

The return game of lacrosse is the clear game. Geddes thrives in the one-man, punt-return style of clear because he is the fastest player on the field.

Take a look:

Geddes snatched a bouncing ground ball from a shot that ricocheted off the iron and immediately rolled off the first defender who tried to check him. Then, he turned on the jets so quickly that a riding attackman stopped riding because he knew he could not catch Geddes before the midline. 

As Geddes maintained his high pace, he left the defenders chasing him with too much of a gap to cover, creating enough space to let a shot fly. 

The result: a ground ball and transition goal in less than 10 seconds. 

The Winchester, Mass., native is the definition of speed, and the Carolina Chaos utilize it perfectly.

In this clip, Geddes didn’t have the luxury of a full field to work with in transition. It didn’t matter, though, because he can get from zero to 60 in an instant and still create magic when given the ball. 

Ian MacKay recognized that he had Geddes in front of him and saw the open grass that the speedster could use to his advantage. After identifying the situation, MacKay dished the rock and let the Roadrunner say “Meep Meep” before scoring a bouncer against the Maryland Whipsnakes. 

The Chaos follow a simple plan: If No. 13 in red and black has green grass, let him run fast. 

Geddes’s three goals in the last three weeks equal the number he had through his first two seasons in the league, and his elevated play hasn’t gone unnoticed. 

“He's really well respected within our team for how good of a player he is and how hard he works on the field,” said Pat Resch, one of Carolina’s veteran SSDMs. 

The respect he’s earned shows in what the team allows him to do. A lot of SSDMs don’t have this kind of green light:

That may seem like a carbon copy of the first clip -- because it essentially is. 

At 5:44 of the third quarter, Geddes picks up the ground ball from a shot. By 5:38, he’s celebrating his second goal against the New York Atlas. Six seconds is all it took for Geddes to strike.

Every punt return doesn’t end in a touchdown, but the goal is to catch the ball and run it as far away from your end zone as possible to give your team the best field position. Likewise, the transition game in the PLL doesn’t always end in a goal, but the idea is to clear the ball as quickly as possible to give your offense enough time to operate. 

Geddes’s six points (5G, 1A) on the season are tied for third with fellow 2022 first-round SSDM Roman Puglise among players at that position. The Georgetown graduate is also lighting it up on the defensive side of the field with five caused turnovers and 14 ground balls. 

Sooner or later, PLL teams will need to scheme against Geddes's transition ability if he keeps scoring, just like NFL teams tried to scheme special teams units against kicking to Hester. 

“I think he’s the best player in the world in his position,” Chaos head coach and general manager Andy Towers said. “He’s super reliable off the ground, and obviously, he’s dangerous as hell in transition.”

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