Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

dirty · Aug 28, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

GEORGIA TECH REPORT
Gailey won't say if Nesbitt might play

By MATT WINKELJOHN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/29/07 There's not enough evidence to suggest that football teams Georgia Tech and Notre Dame are mirroring one another, but it's a worthwhile thought.
Fighting Irish coach Charlie Weis isn't saying who will start at quarterback Saturday against the Yellow Jackets — sophomore Demetrius Jones, freshman Jimmy Clausen or junior Evan Sharpley. But Tech coach Chan Gailey said again Tuesday he expects to face not only multiple quarterbacks, but multiple offensive styles.
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Michael Conroy / AP

(ENLARGE)

</td></tr><tr><td class="caption">Irish coach Charlie Weis is mum on the identity of his starting QB, but said he wouldn't be surprised if Tech played freshman Josh Nesbitt Saturday.
</td></tr><tr><td><table bgcolor="#cccccc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="170"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="168"><tbody><tr class="railscreen01"><td>Your Turn</td></tr></tbody></table><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="9" cellspacing="0" width="168"><tbody><tr><td> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td colspan="2">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <script language="javascript"> function clickVote() { document.pollForm.buttonClicked.value = "yes"; document.pollForm.PageId.value = "poll_vote_submit"; document.pollForm.submit(); } function alert1(){ document.pollForm.buttonClicked.value = ""; } </script> <form method="post" action="/poll/poll/poll/take_poll/PollRefresh.jsp" name="pollForm"> <input name="PageId" value="poll_vote_submit" type="hidden"> <input name="pollID" value="17843" type="hidden"> <input name="page" value="take" type="hidden"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td width="100%"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Would you like to see Josh Nesbitt get some snaps at QB against Notre Dame? [/SIZE][/FONT] </td> <td align="right" height="15" width="46">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> <input name="choice" value="53675" type="radio"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Yes. Why not see what he can do? [/SIZE][/FONT] </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> <input name="choice" value="53676" type="radio"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] No. It's best to try to redshirt him. [/SIZE][/FONT] </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> <input name="choice" value="53677" type="radio"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] It depends on what happens during the game. [/SIZE][/FONT] </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">
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• More Tech coverage
</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> On the Flats, meanwhile, does Gailey know if freshman quarterback Josh Nesbitt will play in a specially designed offense, and have coaches made a decision on the Nesbitt Nuances? "Yes, we have," Tech's coach said Tuesday evening.
So, will Nesbitt — a dazzling runner with a strong, if somewhat erratic passing arm in summer camp — play in certain situations?
"I'm not telling," he said.
Weis told reporters Tuesday that the appearance of Nesbitt "wouldn't shock me ... in some kind of package where, you know, they spread it out. We've had a practice for that just in case."
Jackets' injured coming around
Tuesday was a good day at Tech inasmuch as "everybody had pads on except Quincy Kelly," Gailey said. That means some players who have been out injured for quite a while, including wide receiver Andrew Smith and linebacker Travis Chambers, were back in action. Some players, though, were limited.
Kelly, a reserve running back from Decatur High, has not practiced since collapsing Aug. 17 during practice. He is expected to return today, as Gailey said tests have revealed no abnormalities. Gailey said Colin Peek (Achilles) will start at tight end.
Mum's the word on who will kick off
The most recent Tech depth chart reveals few changes but still lists freshman walk-on Scott Blair No. 1 in kickoffs. Gailey said coaches have made a decision on who will kick off, but they're not telling reporters.
That depth chart has added freshman Brad Jefferson as No. 3 middle linebacker. That is a strong sign he will play on special teams and not redshirt.
The eligibilities of reserve cornerback Pat Clark and reserve offensive lineman Cord Howard remain unresolved. If the issues, which relate to NCAA guidelines and not grades, are unresolved by the end of the week, they will not play at Notre Dame.

dirty · Aug 28, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

GEORGIA TECH FOOTBALL
Bond won't let offense take back seat any longer

By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/29/07 John Bond didn't come to Georgia Tech to play second fiddle to Jon Tenuta.
Bond doesn't phrase it that bluntly. Not quite. But Georgia Tech's new offensive coordinator set this agenda in his first meeting with his players:
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JOHNNY CRAWFORD/ AP

(ENLARGE)

</td></tr><tr><td class="caption"> New Tech coordinator John Bond is selling his system to quarterback Taylor Bennett and the rest of the offense.
</td></tr><tr><td><table bgcolor="#cccccc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="170"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="9" cellspacing="0" width="168"><tbody><tr><td class="body">RELATED STORIES

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</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> It's time to make this team known for its offense, not just Tenuta's defense.
That's a bit like saying it's time to make Atlanta known for clean air, not just heat and humidity.
The Yellow Jackets haven't ranked among the nation's top 50 in offense or scoring any of the past five seasons. Their defense ranks in the top 30 year after year. When Bond arrived this offseason from Northern Illinois, he inherited an offense that had been, in his words, "kind of the redheaded stepchild."
And Gary and Sara Bond's son wasn't about to start dyeing his hair at age 44.
He doesn't plan on being Tech's "other" coordinator. He doesn't intend to settle for scoring a touchdown or two and forcing the defense to win the game. He expects more, and he expects his players to expect more, beginning with Saturday's opener at Notre Dame and continuing throughout the season.
They say they buy in.
"Coach Tenuta's team, they have shutouts, they have games where they shut teams down, no third-down conversions," running back Tashard Choice said. "We have to go out there and put up major points. When we score 40 or 50 points a game, then you'll get that credit."
"We sort of relied on the defense to win some games for us," tight end Colin Peek said. "The team that we have now on the offensive side, we really feel this is our turn to win games for the team and not make the defense save us in the last seconds."
Bond says Tech has the talent level to make that happen. The rest is about pride, work ethic and competitiveness. If that sounds like the philosophy of a high school coach, there's a reason. He learned it from his father, who coached for 34 years and was inducted into Arkansas' high school federation hall of fame.
Bond went to practices as a 5-year-old in helmet, shoulder pads and uniform. He ran wind sprints with the players, ate the salt pills, threaded the game film in the projector.
He also saw how hard his father worked, on the field, in the office and even at home.
"Everybody would be watching TV, and he'd be over there doodling," Bond said. "He'd doodle from the time supper was over until he went to bed at night. He was drawing X's and O's, offensively and defensively.
"We really didn't have the talent of some of the people we played, but we were always very well-prepared and tough, and we won a lot of football games."
One of the most important came Bond's senior season. He threw three touchdown passes as Rogers beat rival Springdale, which went on to reach the state finals. Bond went on to Arkansas.
"I had every intention in the world of playing," he said.
But he was slow and small, and after one season defensive backs coach Rich Olson saw him as someone who could be more useful with notepads than shoulder pads.
"Why don't you come help me coach?" Olson asked.
"At first, I was resistant to it," Bond said. "The more I thought about it, the more I thought it was best for what I wanted to do."
"He already had a good football knowledge," said Olson, now the offensive coordinator at Arizona State. "It was just a matter of learning new syntax and learning how to deal with players. It was a pretty easy transition for him. He was like a sponge. He was trying to learn everything he could."
That learning continued, through stops in Springfield, Mo., El Paso, Texas, Cleveland, Miss., Normal, Ill., West Point, N.Y., and DeKalb, Ill.
He learned about the passing game from Todd Berry, a childhood pal who hired him at Illinois State and Army. He learned about toughness and pride from Northern Illinois coach Joe Novak, who played for Michigan legend Bo Schembechler when Schembechler was a rookie coach at Miami of Ohio.
But even now, after 24 years of college coaching experience, Bond calls his father his biggest coaching influence. Bond still sends him game film a few times a year for critiques, and Bond makes two phone calls after every victory, one to his wife and one to his parents.
"I have to have every detail," Gary Bond said, "as long as I can keep him on the phone."
Sara Bond recognizes her husband's drive and competitiveness in her son.
Berry has seen it, too. He and Bond used to work out together on recruiting trips, and every workout turned into a competition to see who could run faster or lift more.
For Bond, football isn't about designing the perfect system and squeezing his players into it, whether it fits them or not. Berry, now the offensive coordinator at UNLV, talks about how Bond created a passing game tailored to the wishbone players they inherited at Army.
"He loves being creative," Berry said, "not just running things that you like but running things your players can run."
That's how the same guy who coached Zac Dahman, the leading passer in Army history, also coached Garrett Wolfe, who led the nation in rushing last season.
Bond loves the challenge of getting the job done, whether it's scoring points or hunting quail, pheasant or duck. (He wishes he had more time to hunt, but with a coach's hours and three children younger than 6, he said he's lucky to get in a few hunts a year.)
There's plenty of challenge for him at Tech. The Jackets haven't averaged 25 points a game since 2001. They haven't earned much attention, either, despite having ACC rushing leaders in Choice and P.J. Daniels and college football's best receiver in Calvin Johnson.
Bond intends to change that, as he told his players from Day 1.
"I said, 'Hey, let's go get some,'?" Bond said. "It's time people started paying attention to this offense."

dirty · Aug 28, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

N.D. suspends DL Hand for three games
Player was arrested for propositioning a prostitute

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published on: 08/28/07 South Bend, Ind. — Notre Dame defensive lineman Derrell Hand, arrested last month on a misdemeanor charge of propositioning a prostitute, will be allowed to play for the Fighting Irish after serving a three-game suspension imposed by coach Charlie Weis.
Hand appeared before the school's disciplinary committee on Monday, was reinstated to the team and began practicing that day, Weis said Tuesday.
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</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> Hand entered into a pretrial diversion program on Aug. 16 that would allow him to have the charge against him dismissed in a year if he meets certain requirements, like staying out of trouble, undergoing testing for HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases and paying $316 in court costs.
Hand had not played for the Irish in his first two seasons but was expected to contribute this year. He was arrested during a prostitution sting by South Bend police on Aug. 2, four days before the start of practice. He was suspended from the team indefinitely the next day.

dirty · Aug 28, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

GEORGIA TECH REPORT
Peek says Jackets can think really big

By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/28/07 Georgia Tech players went into last season with the goal of winning the ACC and reaching a Bowl Championship Series game.
They came within one victory of reaching that goal.
<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="175"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#cccccc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="170"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="9" cellspacing="0" width="168"><tbody><tr><td class="body">RELATED STORIES

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</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> At least one Yellow Jackets starter heads into this season daring to think even bigger.
"I believe we can do some incredible things for Georgia Tech," tight end Colin Peek said. "I believe that, skill-wise, we have all the necessary players. It's just about can we stay focused and will we stay healthy, and hopefully we can run the table."
That feat has been accomplished three times at Tech, most recently in 1952.
Peek sat out most of preseason practice with an Achilles' tendon injury but returned to action last week and says he'll be ready for Saturday's opener at Notre Dame.
"I'm excited to be back out there playing again," he said. "It was tough sitting out. Now that I'm back out there it just feels good to be part of the team and getting prepared for Notre Dame."
Choice can't wait for opening kickoff
Game week arrived none too soon for the Yellow Jackets, who are eager to get started.
"Finally," running back Tashard Choice said. "It seems like it came really fast. We just played in January. We're right around the corner from playing a great Notre Dame team. I think everybody's excited. It's what we work for."
Time will tell on new cornerbacks
Tech spent much of last season trying to find the right cornerback to play opposite Kenny Scott. Now, Scott is gone, and Jahi Word-Daniels and Avery Roberson, two of the three who rotated through the lineup last season, will start.
Have they improved enough to get the job done full-time?
"I don't think you can ever tell until we play," Tech coach Chan Gailey said. "I think they've made themselves better. The proof is found on Saturdays. I'll let you know in a few Saturdays."
Jackets wouldn't have it any other way
Other teams dip their toes in the water. Alabama takes a step down in division at home against Western Carolina. Maryland does the same thing against Villanova, and Kentucky does the same thing against Western Kentucky. Tech is traveling a very different road by playing at Notre Dame. Players like that.
"The great thing about playing somebody well-known in your first game is that you get a chance to see where you are," center Kevin Tuminello said.
Etc.
You can bet Tech coaches and players are aware of Notre Dame senior Maurice Crum Jr., who will be at inside linebacker in a new 3-4 alignment this season. He made 100 combined tackles and assists last season. Plus, he had six tackles, two for lost yardage and a sack, in a 14-10 victory at Tech. ... Travis Thomas, who played reserve running back last year when Notre Dame visited Tech, is most likely to start at running back for the Irish this season. He's noted for his speed. ... Several Georgia natives will wear enemy colors. Junior offensive tackle Paul Duncan of East Paulding High is expected to start, and sophomore linebackers Toryan Smith of Rome and Morrice Richardson of Westlake will play, and perhaps start.
— Matt Winkeljohn contributed to this report.

dirty · Aug 28, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

Jackets prepare for 3 possible QBs
Notre Dame coach won't reveal starter

By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/27/07 Kyle Manley hasn't been himself lately.
Sometimes, he's a pro-style quarterback so highly hyped he held a news conference at the College Football Hall of Fame last year to announce his commitment to Notre Dame.
<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="175"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#cccccc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="170"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="168"><tbody><tr class="railscreen01"><td>Your Turn</td></tr></tbody></table><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="9" cellspacing="0" width="168"><tbody><tr><td> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td colspan="2">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <script language="javascript"> function clickVote() { document.pollForm.buttonClicked.value = "yes"; document.pollForm.PageId.value = "poll_vote_submit"; document.pollForm.submit(); } function alert1(){ document.pollForm.buttonClicked.value = ""; } </script> <form method="post" action="/poll/poll/poll/take_poll/PollRefresh.jsp" name="pollForm"> <input name="PageId" value="poll_vote_submit" type="hidden"> <input name="pollID" value="17792" type="hidden"> <input name="page" value="take" type="hidden"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td width="100%"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Who do you think will start for Notre Dame at quarterback in the opener against Georgia Tech? [/SIZE][/FONT] </td> <td align="right" height="15" width="46">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> <input name="choice" value="53567" type="radio"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Jimmy Clausen, the hotshot freshman. [/SIZE][/FONT] </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> <input name="choice" value="53568" type="radio"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Evan Sharpley, Brady Quinn's former backup. [/SIZE][/FONT] </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> <input name="choice" value="53569" type="radio"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Demetrius Jones, the athletic sophomore. [/SIZE][/FONT] </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">
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</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> Sometimes, he's a junior who threw only two passes in eight games as Brady Quinn's backup.
Sometimes, he's a sophomore who has yet to play a down for the Fighting Irish but is so athletic he has been compared with Vince Young.
Manley plays all those roles on the scout team for Georgia Tech, which doesn't know which of the three quarterbacks it will face in Saturday's season opener against Notre Dame. On the subject of quarterbacks, Irish coach Charlie Weis has declared only that he won't declare. Even candidates Jimmy Clausen, the hotshot freshman, Evan Sharpley, Quinn's former backup, and Demetrius Jones, the athletic sophomore, don't know who won the job, Weis told reporters last week.
That leaves Tech guessing. Or, more accurately, not guessing and covering all three bases.
"We've got to be prepared for anything," linebacker Shane Bowen said. "There's not much we can say or do about it. They're going to come out that day with a quarterback, one of the three of them, so we've just got to be prepared for anything."
"It's not as easy as if you knew who the quarterback was," Tech coach Chan Gailey said. "It would be a lot easier if you knew."
The secrecy goes beyond the starter's identity. Unlike Tech, which kept practices open until classes began Aug. 20, Notre Dame held a single open practice, at which Clausen, the hotshot freshman coming off arthroscopic elbow surgery, never threw the ball downfield. Did that mean anything? Was it a ruse to throw off onlookers, and by extension the Yellow Jackets? Who knows?
Gamesmanship can extend beyond what coaches do when practices are open to what coaches and players say when talking to reporters.
Are people at Notre Dame really reading newspaper coverage to mine for insight into Tech?
"Every day," Gailey said.
And does Tech read newspaper coverage of its opponents?
"Every day," he said.
Does it ever yield anything useful?
"A little. Not a lot," Gailey said. "Not that's going to make a vast difference, but injuries always help. Little things here and there we learned."
In the end, though, the big things aren't really secret. Weis has a long, very public history of designing offenses and calling plays. Whoever he puts at quarterback will still be running a Charlie Weis offense, which is likely to be similar in most key respects to what the Irish ran against the Yellow Jackets last season.
"There will be a wrinkle here and there for us, but it's Notre Dame. You've got to prepare for Notre Dame," Tech defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta said. "We have film on all their games. You prepare for Notre Dame. I know probably more than they want me to know."
The secrets will be revealed Saturday.
Meanwhile, Manley plays three roles.
Imitating Clausen and Sharpley isn't much different; they're both expected to pass first and run only if necessary. But when Manley imitates Jones, he has to try to use his legs to get past Tech's defense. Manley's legs weren't really designed for that.
"We say move around the best you can," scout team coach Nathan Burton said, "and watch out for [linebacker] Philip Wheeler."

dirty · Aug 28, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

GEORGIA TECH REPORT
Guyton stronger now at weakside

By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/26/07 Gary Guyton has literally been crossing the days off his calendar in a countdown to this week, the opening week of his senior season at Georgia Tech.
Guyton can't wait to take the field Saturday in a nationally televised game at Notre Dame and to line up at his new position of weakside linebacker.
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? More Tech coverage
</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> He started on the strong side last year, lining up opposite the tight end.
"I should be able to get some more tackles if I can see the play better and faster," said Guyton, adding that his reads are now in front of him instead of diagonal. "You get a chance to run left and right. You get the chance to be ranging on the field.
"It's a good position for me right now."
Tech defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta makes a habit of moving his linebackers, often very successfully. Keyaron Fox, KaMichael Hall and Philip Wheeler all changed linebacker positions. Tenutasaid Guyton's move is a natural progression.
"I'm excited about the way he's taken everything on," Tenuta said. "It was easy for him as a [former] defensive end to play the 'Sam' [strongside] 'backer first, but then as you train your eyes and understand and you move back to the second level, now he just runs to the ball, and he's done an excellent job in that."
Bowen adjusting to strongside
Strongside linebacker Shane Bowen says he's finally moving full speed. Bowen wasn't hurt, just uncertain. It's hard to get a jump on the play and go all out if you're anything less than sure you're headed in the right direction.
Now, Bowen said, he doesn't have to think about where he's supposed to go and what he's supposed to do.
"I feel ready to go," Bowen said after Saturday's practice. "I'm getting to know the defense. I feel comfortable out there, and I'm ready to contribute.
"I don't have to think about it on the field. It's just a react type of thing. It gives me that extra step that I didn't have because I was doubting myself before."
Bowen is the only first-teamer on Tech's defense who hasn't started at least four games. So while the players around him knew their jobs, he was learning his.
"The one thing that Shane Bowen has is he's a very smart guy," Tenuta said. "He's a cerebral guy that understands football. He understands alignments.
"It's getting where you need to get. He sees it and understands it; it just has to happen a lot faster.

dirty · Aug 28, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

Chan Gailey Press Conference Quotes Tech's head coach speaks to the media about opening at Notre Dame    Aug. 28, 2007
 

Georgia Tech Football<o></o>
Weekly Press Conference Quotes
August 28, 2007<o></o>
<o></o>
Player Quotes
Head Coach Chan Gailey<o></o>
<o></o>
Are you ever truly ready/ready to get tested?<o></o>
"As a coach, you are always wishing that you had a little more time to work on something. Whatever that is, I'm not sure that we'd even know, but you'd find something. Even if you had another day, you'd find something. That's just part of coaching. At the same time, you can only talk about a game so much. You can only prepare so much. When the routine is one week, for the most part, your whole life, when you have two-plus weeks that you're thinking about somebody it gets tiresome at some point. You're just ready to play."<o></o>

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</td> <td width="5">

</td> </tr> </tbody></table>
 <o></o>
Is there a different mindset of the team going against Notre Dame this year?<o></o>
"Yes, I think so. But I think it has as much to do with our team and its seniors, guys that have been places and been in tough venues before, more than it does who we are playing and what they are doing."<o></o>
<o></o>
On this game this year feeling like you belong vs. last year's being a measuring stick:<o></o>
"I don't think we looked at last year's (game vs. Notre Dame) as a measuring stick. They had a lot of really good football players last year. Quinn may have even been on the cover of one of those magazines. This year, there just isn't as much hype surrounding their personnel as there was last year. I think it has more to do with us than them."<o></o>
On it being about just two teams now:<o></o>
"There are always some sidebars about who is playing quarterback for them, on how Taylor (Bennett) is going to play, and on what their defense is going to look like. All of those things are going to come into play, but it's more about teams rather than individuals (now)."<o></o>
<o></o>
How much did the Gator Bowl help <st1:city w:st="on"><st1>Taylor</st1></st1:city> headed into this year?<o></o>
"It helped him tremendously. I think it helped everybody tremendously. The more experience you have, and the more positive experiences you have, it helps you."<o></o>
<o></o>
How did the defense prepare for Notre Dame's offense?<o></o>
"It looks like, from everything that we can tell, there are going to be two different types of offenses - not only different quarterbacks, but different types of offenses. When Jones is in there, you may end up with the option/quarterback run sprint-out game, whereas when the other two are in there you will end up with the traditional Charlie Weiss offense."<o></o>
<o></o>
On the fact that there are upperclassmen on the defense to deal with the multiple offenses of Notre Dame:<o></o>
"Anytime you have guys on the field that have gotten that kind of experience and that have adapted on the field previously, you have the feeling that they can adapt during the course of this ballgame."<o></o>
<o></o>
Does it give you an upper hand that you feel good about the experience?<o></o>
"Yes, and I think that our guys can make the adjustments that are necessary. The experience factor really plays a big part into that."<o></o>
<o></o>
On the relationship to playing in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1>South Bend</st1></st1:city>
"I've been there one time. We played there when I was coaching at the Air Force Academy."<o></o>
<o></o>
Thoughts on the environment in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1>South Bend</st1></st1:city>
"It holds a great deal of history, and it's obviously a great place to play. But it's a place that you have to go try to win. I don't get chills when I walk into the stadium. You can't let the situation get to you."<o></o>
<o></o>
Have you conveyed that to your team?<o></o>
"No. I might say it one time, and I might not. Our guys have been in some pretty tough places to play in and have been successful, so I don't think I have to go make a long speech about the four horsemen or anything."<o></o>
<o></o>
How does a 3-4 defense affect the game?<o></o>
"It changes a lot of the thought process. It changes protection schemes, running game thoughts, secondary disguise, etc. You wouldn't think it would have that big of a variable, but it does. Because of the spacing on the line, who can rush and who can drop, there are a lot of the positives that come out of the 3-4."<o></o>
<o></o>
Have the receivers been able to replace Calvin Johnson?<o></o>
"Any team that was to lose a Calvin Johnson would worry about replacing that type of player. But if you don't have confidence in your own players and what they bring to the table, then you are wrong as well. We have a great deal of confidence in our guys. They have shown in spring practice and in the preseason that we have the chance to be a very good receiving corps this year. I think it's hard to put them any higher than that because of the lack of experience. If we start to add people and get experience, we might be able to take it to the next level."<o></o>
<o></o>
What does James Johnson bring?<o></o>
"He is extremely quick. He's got better speed than I think people give him credit for. He's able to make the tough catch. I know that he dropped a couple late in the season (in 2006), but most every great receiver has dropped some at some point. He's worked very hard in the spring and fall to become a good receiver and I'm anxious to see what he can do."<o></o>
<o></o>
Is it more guesswork than normal?<o></o>
"A lot more than normal. Unless you have a totally new head coach, this is about as much guesswork as you can have going into a season."<o></o>
<o></o>

<o>></o>>
Chan Gailey Press Conference Quotes :: Tech's head coach speaks to the media about opening at Notre Dame

dirty · Aug 28, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

Georgia Tech Football Game Notes Yellow Jackets open 2007 season Sept. 1 at Notre Dame  Aug. 24, 2007
 

Notes in PDF Format

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Georgia Tech
Yellow Jackets (0-0)
at
Notre Dame
Fighting Irish (0-0)
September 1, 2007 / 3:30 p.m. (ET) / NBC
Notre Dame Stadium (80,795) / South Bend, Ind.
Georgia Tech ramblinwreck.com
Record: 0-0 overall, 0-0 in the ACC
National Ranking: Receiving votes for the AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll
Head Coach: Chan Gailey
Alma Mater: Florida (1974)
Gailey's Record at Georgia Tech: 37-27 (5 seasons)
Gailey's Career Record: 61-38 (8 seasons)
Media Contact: Dean Buchan
Office: (404) 894-6283 / Cell: (404) 295-8703
E-Mail: dbuchan@athletics.gatech.edu
Notre Dame und.com
Record: 0-0
National Ranking: Receiving votes for the AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll
Head Coach: Charlie Weis
Alma Mater: Notre Dame (1978)
Weis' Record at ND: 19-6 (2 seasons)
Weis' Record Overall: 19-6 (2 seasons)
Media Contact: Brian Hardin
Office: (574) 631-9471 / Cell: (574) 532-4134
E-Mail: bhardin2@nd.edu
Television: NBC. Bob Papa (play-by-play), Pat Haden (color) and Alex Flanagan (sidelines) call the action. David Gibson is the producer and John Gonzalez is the director.
Television: Tape delay on Comcast Sports South. Joe Block (play-by-play) and Dorsey Levens (color) call the action.
Radio: Georgia Tech ISP Network, including Atlanta flagship WQXI-AM 790 The Zone. Wes Durham is in his 13th season as play-by-play voice. Former Atlanta Falcons great Jeff Van Note is the color analyst, while former Tech and NFL quarterback Rick Strom reports from the sideline. XM Channels 191-194.
Live Statistics: Gametracker on RamblinWreck.com.
Series History: Notre Dame leads 27-5-1
Officials: Announced on game day.
Tickets: Sold out.
Experienced Yellow Jackets Open Season At Notre Dame
Georgia Tech, which returns 17 starters from a team that won the ACC Coastal Division last fall, kicks off the 2007 season Sept. 1 at Notre Dame (3:30 p.m. ET/NBC).
Both teams played -- and lost -- in January bowl games and both the Yellow Jackets and Irish lost NFL first-round draft picks.
The Yellow Jackets, who finished 9-5 in 2006 and appeared in their 10th consecutive bowl game, lost 38-35 to West Virginia in the Gator Bowl on New Year's Day.
Notre Dame returns 10 starters from a team that finished 10-3 and lost to LSU Jan. 3 in the Sugar Bowl.
The two teams met in the 2006 season opener in Atlanta with Notre Dame coming away with a 14-10 victory. The Irish lead the all-time series, 27-5-1. (More on the series history on page 3)
Georgia Tech, beginning its 115th season of football, is 78-32-4 all-time in season openers and has won six out of its last eight openers.
Tech, Notre Dame Share Some Similarities
Besides the gold helmets, Georgia Tech and Notre Dame share other similarities:
- Both teams lost high-profile players drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft. Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson was the No. 2 pick by the Detroit Lions. Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn went No. 22 to the Cleveland Browns.
- Both teams have new coordinators. John Bond directs the Yellow Jacket offense and Corwin Brown the Fighting Irish defense.
- Tech and Notre Dame both have head coaches with NFL backgrounds. Georgia Tech's Chan Gailey, in his fifth year with the Yellow Jackets, coached 16 years in the professional ranks including two as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Notre Dame's Charlie Weis, in his third season with the Irish, was an assistant coach, and later coordinator, in the NFL from 1990 to 2004.
What's Back In 2007
Georgia Tech returns 17 starters, including kicker Travis Bell and punter Durant Brooks.
Gone is All-American wide receiver Calvin Johnson, who last year caught 76 passes for 1,202 yards and 15 touchdowns. Also gone is quarterback Reggie Ball, a four-year starter. The Jackets also took hits at tight end and cornerback.
The strength of the Yellow Jackets is its defense, which returns eight starters including All-ACC performers Adamm Oliver (DT), Philip Wheeler (LB) and Jamal Lewis (DB).
The offense is led by senior running back Tashard Choice, who led the ACC in rushing last season with 1,473 yards. Junior Taylor Bennett, who started in the Gator Bowl, is at quarterback.

dirty · Aug 28, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

Wheeler Named to Rotary Lombardi Trophy List The senior linebacker is already on three national award lists heading into regular season.  Aug. 28, 2007
 
ATLANTA - With the 2007 college football season set to begin, 65 players have been added to the Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List, including Georgia Tech linebacker Philip Wheeler. The 38th annual Rotary Lombardi Award, presented by Wachovia, honoring the top lineman in college football and benefiting the American Cancer Society, will be presented in Houston on December 5 at the Hilton Americas Hotel.
Wheeler, a senior from Columbus, Ga., led the Yellow Jackets with 9.0 sacks and 14.5 trackles for loss. He and the Jackets will open the season this Saturday at Notre Dame at 3:30 p.m. ET.
The new players have been added to the preliminary watch list announced in March based on various pre-season honors. Although the 108 players now on the Watch List are representative of the nation's top football players, the list is not intended to serve as the actual ballot when first round voting begins in late September.
As recently as 2005, Elvis Dumervil, one of the final four finalists that year, was not included on the Watch List at the start of the season. Any player meeting the basic award criteria - a down lineman on either side of the ball including tight ends, and linebackers who line up within five yards of the ball - is eligible to receive votes.
Unlike last year when the list was fairly evenly divided, this year's list has more defensive players than offensive players. There are 63 defensive players and 45 offensive players. Following is the complete updated watch list: Click Here
The Rotary Lombardi Award, presented by Wachovia, was founded in the weeks following the death of legendary football coach Vince Lombardi from cancer in 1970. When Marie Lombardi granted the use of her husband's name to the Rotary Club of Houston, her only stipulation was that all net proceeds from the event be donated to the American Cancer Society. Since that time, millions of dollars have been raised for the American Cancer Society. 
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The 38th Rotary Lombardi Award dinner will be held on December 5, 2007 at the Hilton Americas Hotel in Houston. Tickets to the event are available for sale through the Rotary Club of Houston office or from members of the Rotary Lombardi Award committee. For more information, call 713-973-9936 or visit the website at rotarylombardiaward.com.
-30-

dirty · Aug 31, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

GEORGIA TECH REPORT
Visit to Notre Dame left Richard cold
Tech defensive tackle felt chill of October in Indiana

By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/31/07 Defensive tackle Darryl Richard could easily have been preparing to suit up for Notre Dame instead of Georgia Tech in Saturday's season opener.
Richard seriously considered a scholarship offer from the Irish, so seriously, he said, that Notre Dame was in contention until the final couple of weeks.
<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="175"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#cccccc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="170"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="9" cellspacing="0" width="168"><tbody><tr><td class="body">RELATED STORIES

• More Tech coverage
</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> "It was a comparable school in terms of what it had to offer on the football field as well as in life," Richard said.
He took a recruiting visit to South Bend, Ind., for the Southern California game in October of his senior year. That visit eventually helped him pick the Yellow Jackets.
"It helped [Tech] that it didn't get under 10 degrees too often down here in Atlanta," said Richard, who is from Destrehan, La., just west of New Orleans. "It was pretty cold up there [in South Bend] in October for me. I thought about what January and February could feel like.
"Plus, I really felt at home at Georgia Tech. When you go to a place that feels like home, that's where you need to be."
Calvin Johnson stays in touch with team
When Calvin Johnson left a year early to go to the NFL, he didn't leave entirely. A big picture of Johnson stares down at his former teammates from the wall of their team lounge. And though he's in Detroit playing for the Lions, he stays in touch by phone.
Quarterback Taylor Bennett spoke with him Monday night.
"Supposedly he's going to drive down for the game," Bennett said.
Someone asked him how Johnson is doing.
"I think he's doing better than everybody in this room," Bennett said of the man who signed a $64 million contract this summer.
Johnson also spoke recently with the offense's other Johnson, James, who played opposite him the last two seasons and now as a junior is the old man of the Tech receiving corps.
"He just wants me to be a leader for those guys," James Johnson said.
Tuminello grew up watching the Irish
Center Kevin Tuminello grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, as a Notre Dame fan who watched the Irish on television every week with his father, James.
"Me being Catholic, too, that was the place I really wanted to go to. It's a special place," Tuminello said. (He fell in love with Georgia Tech during recruiting and said Tech has been the best place for him.)
Tuminello's favorite Notre Dame player? Joe Montana, who already had moved on to the San Francisco 49ers by the time Tuminello was born. Tuminello has visited Notre Dame, but never on a game day.
"I heard a lot of stories," he said. "A couple of my buddies played there. They said it's a great atmosphere. I'm really looking forward to it."
It's a five-hour drive from Youngstown, which is about as close as the Yellow Jackets get, so friends and family plan to come. It's even closer for Tuminello's brother, Chris, a former All-Mid-American Conference lineman at Toledo who lives in Chicago.
Linebacker Shane Bowen's family has about a five-hour drive from Pickerington, Ohio, close enough that he grew up hearing about the Irish, too.
"It's as tradition-rich a school as it gets," Bowen said.

dirty · Aug 31, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

SPOTLIGHT: GEORGIA TECH AT NOTRE DAME
Golden place for a Tech road win?
Jackets set to cope with Irish mystique, fans

By MATT WINKELJOHN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/31/07 Having been there and done that from all angles, Ara Parseghian is qualified to comment on what Georgia Tech will attempt Saturday when the Yellow Jackets try to win at Notre Dame.
This is not a standard road trip as much as it it is a journey into history's lap, into a mystique born even before the 1920s when Knute Rockne coached the Fighting Irish and the Four Horsemen rode.
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MATT CASHORE / US Presswire

(ENLARGE)

</td></tr><tr><td class="caption">The Yellow Jackets haven't won in South Bend since 1959.
</td></tr><tr><td><table bgcolor="#cccccc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="170"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="168"><tbody><tr class="railscreen01"><td>Your Turn</td></tr></tbody></table><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="9" cellspacing="0" width="168"><tbody><tr><td> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td colspan="2">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <script language="javascript"> function clickVote() { document.pollForm.buttonClicked.value = "yes"; document.pollForm.PageId.value = "poll_vote_submit"; document.pollForm.submit(); } function alert1(){ document.pollForm.buttonClicked.value = ""; } </script> <form method="post" action="/poll/poll/poll/take_poll/PollRefresh.jsp" name="pollForm"> <input name="PageId" value="poll_vote_submit" type="hidden"> <input name="pollID" value="17894" type="hidden"> <input name="page" value="take" type="hidden"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td width="100%"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Can the Jackets withstand the atmosphere in South Bend on Saturday? [/SIZE][/FONT] </td> <td align="right" height="15" width="46">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> <input name="choice" value="53811" type="radio"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Yes. I think they'll learn from last year's Notre Dame game. [/SIZE][/FONT] </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> <input name="choice" value="53812" type="radio"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] No. Touchdown Jesus will have the last say. [/SIZE][/FONT] </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> <input name="choice" value="53813" type="radio"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Don't know. I just want a win on opening day. [/SIZE][/FONT] </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">
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• More Tech coverage
</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> "The way I've observed it being on both sidelines is very few stadiums have the crowd almost right up to the sideline," said Parseghian, who won big in South Bend both as the coach of the home team and the opposing one (2-0 there while at Northwestern).
"You feel like everybody is on top of you. I tried to get our team to use it as an advantage."
Tech players aren't exactly saying "Phooey!" but they're not kneeling in reverence, either.
"I know it's 100 yards in length and about 53 yards in width and they've got two goalposts," quarterback Taylor Bennett said. "You know about the tradition: 'Rudy,' Touchdown Jesus and the 'Play Like A Champion' sign. But when it comes down to it, it's another football game, plain and simple."
Irish fans may sit close to the field, but they are generally considered less bellicose than many college faithful. Perhaps then crowd noise will be less a factor than the specter of tradition, which Jackets coach Chan Gailey began addressing long ago.
Soon after Tech lost the Gator Bowl in January, "Spring started and we started practicing again, and Coach Gailey reminded us we've got to play Notre Dame," wide receiver James Johnson said. "He showed us Notre Dame highlights, showed how big they are, and how they've been portrayed as a great, historic team."
Gailey acknowledges a difference between this trip and, say, a game at Duke. But it's not because ghosts will tackle, block passes or twist field goal tries in Notre Dame Stadium.
"It doesn't matter where you play; it's the intensity and passion of the crowd," Gailey said. "Playing at Virginia Tech is just as hard as playing at Notre Dame. And playing at Notre Dame is just as hard as playing at Virginia Tech."
So the sold-out crowd will be passionate, but who says that energy transfers only to the home team?
"It's going to be a great environment," Tech running back Tashard Choice said. "I'm a little more excited when I play on the road. I guess because you know the fans are going to tell you how terrible you are, and how terrible your team is. That brings your competitiveness out."
Tech players have more experience at most starting positions than Notre Dame, and feel that will help against adversity, but ultimately analysis won't matter.
"I was kind of excited [last spring], but now I just want to get to the game and play," linebacker Philip Wheeler said. "It's not that big a deal about the environment."
Tech is 2-16 in Notre Dame Stadium, but opportunity seems ripe for the Jackets. Coach Charlie Weis is not exactly Parseghian-esque, going 10-3 at home, all of those with a proven star at quarterback. Saturday the Irish will begin life after first-round NFL draft pick Brady Quinn.
So what about mystique? Parseghian has an idea that because Gailey has a veteran team, the Tech coach is playing up — not down — that part of Saturday's showdown.
"I used it when I coached the Northwestern teams, and said, 'You have an opportunity to walk into a stadium against a team with great tradition and put a huge notch in your belt,' " Parseghian said. "Psychologically, you set it up."

dirty · Aug 31, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

GEORGIA TECH
Jackets aim to make fourth quarter theirs

By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/30/07 They will hold four fingers aloft, like so many football players before them, and you could dismiss it as a clich? if not for one thing.
Georgia Tech's Yellow Jackets plan to do it before the game begins.
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CURTIS COMPTON / AJC

(ENLARGE)

</td></tr><tr><td class="caption">Tech's upset hopes against Notre Dame and Darius Walker last season fizzled in the fourth quarter.
</td></tr><tr><td><table bgcolor="#cccccc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="170"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="168"><tbody><tr class="railscreen01"><td>Your Turn</td></tr></tbody></table><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="9" cellspacing="0" width="168"><tbody><tr><td> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td colspan="2">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <script language="javascript"> function clickVote() { document.pollForm.buttonClicked.value = "yes"; document.pollForm.PageId.value = "poll_vote_submit"; document.pollForm.submit(); } function alert1(){ document.pollForm.buttonClicked.value = ""; } </script> <form method="post" action="/poll/poll/poll/take_poll/PollRefresh.jsp" name="pollForm"> <input name="PageId" value="poll_vote_submit" type="hidden"> <input name="pollID" value="17894" type="hidden"> <input name="page" value="take" type="hidden"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td width="100%"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Can the Jackets withstand the atmosphere in South Bend on Saturday? [/SIZE][/FONT] </td> <td align="right" height="15" width="46">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> <input name="choice" value="53811" type="radio"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Yes. I think they'll learn from last year's Notre Dame game. [/SIZE][/FONT] </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> <input name="choice" value="53812" type="radio"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] No. Touchdown Jesus will have the last say. [/SIZE][/FONT] </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> <input name="choice" value="53813" type="radio"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Don't know. I just want a win on opening day. [/SIZE][/FONT] </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">
</td></tr> <tr> <td align="center" width="100%"> <input value="Vote" name="vote" type="submit">
[FONT=arial,helvetica][SIZE=-2]Voter Limit: Once per Hour
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• More Tech coverage
</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> Other teams make the gesture at the end of the third quarter to claim ownership of the fourth. Tech players don't want to settle for just one quarter. They want to own all four.
This season's "4 quarters" theme shows up on the T-shirts players wear and in the words they speak. And the Jackets need look no further than Saturday's opponent to remember the cost of not living up to their new slogan. Tech led No. 2 Notre Dame 10-7 at halftime last season but got shut out in the second half and lost 14-10.
"We just didn't finish the game like we were supposed to," running back Tashard Choice said. "It's a symbol of how we finished the season."
They were 9-2, and they finished 9-5.
They led in the second half of four of their five losses, including their last three.
They got shut out in the second half against Notre Dame, scored three points in the second half against Wake Forest, scored seven points in the second half against West Virginia and scored nine points in the second half against Georgia.
If they had finished strong in any of those games, they'd be coming off a 10-win season. They were one touchdown away from an ACC championship or a win over their rival or a Gator Bowl trophy.
"We didn't play four quarters last year. We played about three," Choice said. "We've just got to be sure we finish for this team and for the future."
The fourth quarter wasn't always a negative for the 2006 Jackets. They rallied to beat Maryland after being down 23-14. They rallied to beat Miami after being down 16-13. They rallied to beat N.C. State after being down 23-21.
"We're just talking about finishing strong," Tech coach Chan Gailey said. "We had some good fourth quarters last year, and we had some not so good ones. Most of those not-so-good ones came at the end.
"We're talking about remembering what we did to get in the position we were in, and to finish strong there."
Even in the games they came back to win, the Yellow Jackets saw bad things in the game film, if not in the fourth quarter then sometime earlier. There were lulls. There were letdowns, possessions when the intensity vanished and listlessness set in.
"It seems like last year there was always a dead spot in our games," receiver James Johnson said. "This year we're trying to minimize that. We're training hard to play all four quarters. If we do that, we feel like we can win every game we play."
The key, Johnson said, is to avoid complacency, not just in the fourth quarter but any time in the game. Too often, he said, the offense started feeling comfortable when it got a lead and expected the defense to do the rest.
"We felt like we wouldn't have to score anymore, and then teams would come back," he said. "We wouldn't really be concentrating or focused on the game the way we're supposed to."
So Tech players won't wait until the clock ticks down the final seconds of the third quarter to remind themselves of their goal.
"This year we're going to raise four quarters at the beginning of the game," Choice said, "and when the fourth quarter comes we're going to put one finger in the air."
Four quarters, this year, is job one.

dirty · Aug 31, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

N.D. suspends DL Hand for three games
Player was arrested for propositioning a prostitute

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published on: 08/28/07 South Bend, Ind. — Notre Dame defensive lineman Derrell Hand, arrested last month on a misdemeanor charge of propositioning a prostitute, will be allowed to play for the Fighting Irish after serving a three-game suspension imposed by coach Charlie Weis.
Hand appeared before the school's disciplinary committee on Monday, was reinstated to the team and began practicing that day, Weis said Tuesday.
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</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> Hand entered into a pretrial diversion program on Aug. 16 that would allow him to have the charge against him dismissed in a year if he meets certain requirements, like staying out of trouble, undergoing testing for HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases and paying $316 in court costs.
Hand had not played for the Irish in his first two seasons but was expected to contribute this year. He was arrested during a prostitution sting by South Bend police on Aug. 2, four days before the start of practice. He was suspended from the team indefinitely the next day.

dirty · Aug 31, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

/sports/college/cs-070829irish,1,2972186.story?coll=cs-college-headlines
'Aggressive' Georgia Tech on horizon
By Brian Hamilton
Tribune staff reporter

August 29, 2007, 9:20 PM CDT

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The Georgia Tech defense is almost unfailingly categorized as "aggressive," but wire-tapping the Notre Dame football office for clues is stretching it a bit. So filling in the outline of an Irish quarterback, with anything of substance, will have to wait until Saturday.

Until then, the game plan is for a specter, a shady figure with vague contours. Still, two can play mind games, so All-America linebacker Philip Wheeler basically described Georgia Tech's defensive preparation this way:

Nyah.

"We just work on what we work on," Wheeler said, without elaboration.

The size of any Irish advantage is debatable, given the extensive lead time going into a season opener. But the secrecy on the quarterback question at least forces Georgia Tech to prepare for two distinct styles rather than one—though the identity of the starter may be less important than the identity of the offense.

That is, prepping for the athletic-but-unknown Demetrius Jones in the standard Charlie Weis offense is perhaps manageable. Prepping for Jones in a version of a West Virginia-esque, spread-option attack could be unwieldy.

"If they run two different offenses, it is [difficult]," Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta said. "If they have something different that they're going to run with one guy compared to another guy, yeah, now you have to prepare for two different types of offenses.

"If somebody's going to line up and give you some crazy stuff, that's a little bit different. Your players have to be aware of different things that can happen based on who's running the offense."

The advantage afforded Notre Dame by the unknown also might be mitigated by Georgia Tech's defense being a known quality.

Eight starters return from a unit that ranked in the top 30 nationally in rush defense, pass efficiency defense, scoring defense and total defense. For that matter, the Yellow Jackets saw Notre Dame in the opener last year and West Virginia in a bowl game, so their frame of reference runs the offensive gamut anyway.

And all the secrecy in the world won't make the Irish's starter any more experienced against a defense that blitzes, according to Weis, 75 percent of the time.

"If they start a young guy, I think it's going to be a little bit overwhelming to see everything coach Tenuta can bring," said Yellow Jackets quarterback Taylor Bennett, who obviously gets a taste of that defense in practice. "It's hard to adjust to it.

"My first game against UConn, they didn't run a lot of schemes and stuff. But it was pretty overwhelming to play against a college defense. I can't imagine what it would be like to go out there and play against coach Tenuta your first start."

Lest the Yellow Jackets defense be considered a puzzle on the level of a Sphinx riddle, it merits mention that the Irish amassed 384 yards in the opener a year ago.

Of course, Notre Dame also managed just 14 points that night, and several key offensive cogs won't be around Saturday. This time, it's not so much the questions the Yellow Jackets will face but how quickly they can answer them.

"You pretty much know what to expect, based on who they have out there, by their personnel and how those guys play," Tenuta said. "It's just, what's the final formation and how are they trying to attack us? That's what it comes down to."

bchamilton@tribune.com Copyright ? 2007, The Chicago Tribune

dirty · Aug 31, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td align="left" valign="top"> Posted Friday, August 31 at 2:48 PM

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Questions surround Georgia Tech-Notre Dame opener
Associated Press

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - One quarterback or two?

Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis isn't sure how many quarterbacks the Fighting Irish will face Saturday against Georgia Tech or how many he will use.

After a three-way competition to replace Brady Quinn, Weis finally settled on a starter two weeks ago. Weis doesn't want his choice to be looking over his shoulder when he makes a mistake while acknowledging that the competition was close.

``Is one guy going to be there forever? Maybe,'' Weis said. ``You're asking could two guys play this week? The answer to that is also maybe. The thing is I don't know the answers to all the questions at this point.''

There are plenty of questions for both teams in the season-opener Saturday: What will the Irish offense look like? How will the Tech offense look under new offensive coordinator John Bond with quarterback Taylor Bennett? Will the Notre Dame defense, which has struggled mightily the past two seasons, play any better after switching from a 4-3 scheme to a 3-4 under new coordinator Corwin Brown?

Weis won't disclose the answer to the biggest question: Is Demetrius Jones, Evan Sharpley or Jimmy Clausen the starter? He wants to keep the Yellow Jackets guessing.

It appears to have worked. Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey says his team prepared to face two different offensive styles.

``When Jones is in there, you may end up with the option/quarterback run sprint-out game, whereas when the other two are in there you will end up with the traditional Charlie Weis offense. So I think that's been difficult for our defense to try to prepare for both of those types of offenses they may face,'' Gailey said. ``I can't tell you the percentage of what it's going to be of each one. Not even sure they know.''

Weis isn't sure either. It all depends on how things go. But keeping Tech guessing wasn't the only reason Weis remained silent. He also was trying to keep the pressure off Quinn's successor.

``Why would you want to anoint someone a few weeks ago and have them be living under a microscope of being the Notre Dame quarterback before they've ever even played a down?'' he said.

Instead all three were swarmed by the media each time they were made available. Jones seemed the most at ease, but acknowledged the pressure the new quarterback will face.

``Everybody knows how prestigious the Notre Dame quarterback is. There's one thing everybody in the country is going to know, they're going to know who the president of the United States is and they're going to know who the quarterback of Notre Dame is,'' he said.

Weis also is hoping to take some pressure off the quarterback by using five backs to try to improve on the worst rushing season in school history, when the Irish averaged just 126 yards a game. He'll also try to come up with some tricks to slow down Tech's blitzing defense.

``You never know what to expect,'' Tech safety Jamal Lewis said. ``He throws everything in world at you. Just never know what he's going to do.''

The Yellow Jackets will be looking for some answers of their own.

Some Tech fans questioned how good Bennett could be if he was stuck playing for three seasons behind Reggie Ball, a frustratingly inconsistent quarterback. But Bennett played well against West Virginia in the Gator Bowl last season when Ball was ruled academically ineligible, completing 19 of 29 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns.

``I believe he's going to play well, but I don't know. Isn't that what makes the game great?'' Gailey said.

While Weis was busy trying to keep Georgia Tech off balance, he also had the Irish preparing for freshman quarterback Josh Nesbitt just in case the Yellow Jackets try a mobile quarterback of their own.

``It wouldn't shock me to see him in the game in some kind of package where they spread it out, had him involved in something,'' Weis said.

Gailey said it will be interesting to see how the game develops.

``The first quarter of this game is going to be a little bit of a dancing match rather than a hitting match. Going to be seeing who's going to do what,'' Gailey said. ``Once we feel each other out, then I think everybody will settle into the game.''

And start answering questions. </td>  </tr> <tr> </tr><tr><td align="left">
?Copyright 2007 AccessNorthGa.com / WDUN News/Talk 550.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.</td></tr></tbody></table>

dirty · Aug 31, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

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Tashard Choice a marked man on Jacket offense
Associated Press

ATLANTA - Tashard Choice knows he'll be marked man this season. With former Georgia Tech receiver Calvin Johnson now in the NFL, the senior running back is the undisputed star of the Yellow Jacket offense.

Choice is coming off a year in which he led the Atlantic Coast Conference in rushing with 1,473 yards. With no obvious candidates to steal away the spotlight, Choice is determined to put up even better numbers in his college finale.

Choice is likely to draw extra attention from opposing defenses, beginning with tomorrow's opener at Notre Dame. The Yellow Jackets are breaking in a new starting quarterback in Taylor Bennett and have only one returning wideout with double-figure catches, James Johnson.

Georgia Tech is starting the season against Notre Dame for the fifth time. The Fighting Irish won all four of the previous openers, most recently a 14-10 victory in Atlanta last year.

Overall, Notre Dame holds a commanding 27-5-1 edge in the series, including an 11-2-1 mark in South Bend.

The Yellow Jackets' last road victory over the Irish was a 14-10 triumph in 1959. </td>  </tr> <tr> </tr><tr><td align="left">
?Copyright 2007 AccessNorthGa.com / WDUN News/Talk 550.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.</td></tr></tbody></table>

dirty · Sep 18, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

GEORGIA TECH REPORT
Three-man corps to replace Choice

By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/19/07 Georgia Tech is preparing for Saturday's game at Virginia under the assumption Tashard Choice won't be able to play, Tech coach Chan Gailey said on Tuesday.
"If you get him it's a bonus," Gailey said.
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</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> If not?
"I think it would be running back by committee, and I'm not ready to say who would take the first snap," Gailey said.
The committee would consist of Jonathan Dwyer, Rashaun Grant and Jamaal Evans.
Dwyer, who played for Kell High School last season, leads Tech with five touchdowns and ranks second to Choice with 181 yards and 23 carries. Grant, a senior who missed the season's first two games with a hamstring injury of his own, carried three times for 23 yards Saturday against Boston College. Evans, a sophomore, had more carries than Grant last season but averaged only 3.8 yards per carry this season against Notre Dame and Samford.
Choice, the defending ACC rushing champion, strained a hamstring injury late in the third quarter of Saturday's loss to Boston College. The injury is day to day, Choice said.
"We'll have to see what happens," he said. "If I don't [play], those guys will go in there and play their butts off."
Smith has different take on refs' calls
Greg Smith leads Tech with nine catches. He thinks it should be 10. Replay reviews went against him twice in Saturday's 24-10 loss to Boston College. The first cost him a reception that would have gone for a first down. The second cost him first-down yardage.
"I hate to say it, but I didn't step out of bounds, and I caught that pass, too," Smith said. "But you know, that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. I've never experienced nothing like that before.
"My opinion really doesn't matter. It's all about the referees. And everybody makes mistakes. It's all good."
BC's game plan did the job vs. Jackets
The Eagles held Tech to 63 yards rushing and shut the Jackets out for three quarters.
"They game-planned us very well," Tech right guard Nate McManus said. "Everything between the tackles was closed down with various blitzes and stuff they had designed to take care of what we had shown as tendencies."
A road map for future Tech opponents?
"I don't know if it will be that easy for them," McManus said. "Plus, from this we can learn. We can learn and change."

dirty · Sep 18, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

Long drought for Jackets at Charlottesville

By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/18/07 The last time Georgia Tech won a football game at Virginia, 3-year-old Maurice Covington sang "The Rambling Wreck" to celebrate uncle Thomas Covington's victory against the No. 1-ranked Cavaliers.
When Tech returns to Scott Stadium on Saturday, Maurice Covington, a junior, could be catching passes as a Virginia wide receiver.
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• More Tech coverage
</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> It has been that long.
In an improbable twist, the site of one of the landmark victories in Yellow Jackets history instantly became the hardest place for the Jackets to win. Tech has lost seven consecutive games in Charlottesville, Va.
Who could have known the 41-38 triumph that keyed Tech's 1990 national championship run would be followed by so much misery?
"I would never have believed that. I would have said you were crazy," Thomas Covington said Monday.
Covington was a junior on the Tech team that carried a 6-0-1 record and a No. 16 ranking into that Nov. 3, 1990, game against a Virginia team that was 7-0 and had won all seven by double-figure margins.
"We had a team that was very confident," Covington said, "and they were standing in our way."
Tech trailed by 14 at halftime, but the confidence remained.
"Not one of us was nervous," Covington said.
Virginia had Shawn Moore and his 344 yards passing and Herman Moore and his 234 yards receiving.
But Tech had Shawn Jones, who threw for 257 yards and ran for 52, and Calvin Tiggle, who dived in out of nowhere to break up a potential touchdown pass, recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass.
And Tech had Scott Sisson, who kicked the game-winning 37-yard field goal.
The Jackets' celebration was so huge it extended all the way back to Atlanta, where the Bobby Dodd Stadium goalposts came down.
Since then, however, it's Tech teams that have crashed to the ground. The losing streak in Charlottesville is as long as any road losing streak in Tech history. It matches two losing streaks at Notre Dame, one of which ended this month.
Thomas Covington might travel to Saturday's game, and although Maurice will wear orange and blue, his uncle plans to pull for Tech.
"Come on, now," said Thomas Covington, who does management consulting and runs a franchise business in Atlanta. "I still bleed the white and gold.
"This is the year that we break the unfortunate curse of not winning up there."

dirty · Sep 18, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

Yellow Jackets Hope They Haven't Seen The Last Of BC Tech hopes it gets another shot at Ryan-led Eagles in ACC title game  Sept. 16, 2007
 
By Jack Wilkinson
RamblinWreck.com

With 3:34 left during halftime, the main scoreboard -- which, like the Georgia Tech offense, had been largely inoperative most of the first half -- flashed the big question:
"What's the good word?"
Wellllllll...
Let's see. The Ladies of the Rings had just left the field and did so to a roaring, richly-deserved reception. The Tech women's tennis team, which won the NCAA championship in Athens in May, received their national championship rings in a halftime ceremony.
Before the players departed, a short video was shown. It revealed the partial secret of their success: Their shoes, which they'd spray-painted yellow for good luck during their run to the title.
Thirty-two seconds later, alas, when the Yellow Jackets reappeared for the second-half kickoff, it was clear they hadn't touched up their football shoes. No good vibes eminating down there. Not that it would've mattered.
Neither yellow-painted cleats, nor ruby red shoes, nor even glass slippers would've made a difference this clear, crisp evening. Not the way Matt Ryan played and Boston College contained Tashard Choice & Co.
On a night of opportunity as golden as its headgear, No. 15 Tech abruptly returned to earth Saturday. There was no shame in losing 24-10 to No. 21 BC, now 3-0 overall, 3-0 in conference play and already atop the early A-list for the ACC Championship Game on Dec. 1.
There was no shame in losing to an experienced Boston College team, one that certified itself as the class of the conference before a near-capacity, full-throated crowd of 51,112 at Bobby Dodd Stadium. No shame at all, after Tech fell behind 14-0 at halftime, then 21-0 midway through the third quarter but didn't crumble.
When freshman Jonathan Dwyer scored from the 2 just 16 seconds into the fourth quarter, it was 21-7. After Tech's recovery of a BC fumble on the ensuing kickoff was correctly overturned upon review, Taylor Bennett (20-for-39, 204 yards passing) took his team to the Eagles 12. He misfired twice in the end zone and Tech settled for Travis Bell's 32-yard field goal, yet was still within 24-10 with fully 10:33 to play. 
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 Then Ryan, BC's senior quarterback, one of its co-captains and the ACC pre-season player of the year, resumed riddling Tech's secondary.
Stopping captain Ryan? Not a chance.
He threw for two first downs, ran for a third and ran 6:01 off the clock before a Steve Aponavicious field goal restored the 14-point advantage. Ryan completed 30 of 44 passes for 435 yards (of BC's 527 total). The last QB to throw for 400 yards versus Tech: Georgia's Cory Phillips (413) in 2000. There's no shame in losing to Matt Ryan.
After handling Wake Forest and N.C. State handily at home, after a successful first road game -- "A barometer," new BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski had called this one, "to see where our program is and to see where we are" -- the Eagles return home for three certain victories against Army, Massachusetts and Bowling Green before venturing to Notre Dame and then Virginia Tech.
By the time BC plays at Clemson Nov. 17, the Eagles may well have clinched the Atlantic Division. By then, Tech (2-1, 0-1 ACC) may have captured the ACC Coastal and earned a rematch with BC. "We will get another shot at them," insisted Bennett, who then regrettably added, "They got lucky one night. We played our worst game on that same night."
Tech wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, in light of Tech's tepid rushing attack (63 yards, including 31 by Choice, whose string of 100-yard rushing games ended at nine), said, "It wasn't that we couldn't run on them. I'm just not sure we were calling the right plays."
Indeed, Tech had several big plays called back, nullified by penalties or overturned upon further review. Unfortunately, that moved several Tech students in the south and north end zone sections to throw objects on the field. Others chanted profanely, obscenely, not befitting true Tech fans.
Who did they think they were, Maryland fans? Or the drunken Rutgers louts who taunted Navy -- a service academy! -- with obscenities a week ago? Once public address announcer John Pendergast advised, "Fans, do not throw objects on the field. You will be ejected and subject to prosecution," all that stopped, thankfully.
Yes, much of the crowd was disappointed with the outcome. But no, this wasn't hapless, 0-3 Notre Dame or Samford of the Gated Subdivision Series, or whatever they're calling Division I-AA these days. This was Boston College, best in the ACC so far. The team Tech just might encounter again Dec. 1 in Jacksonville.

Yellow Jackets Hope They Haven't Seen The Last Of BC :: Tech hopes it gets another shot at Ryan-led Eagles in ACC title game

dirty · Sep 18, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

Georgia Tech Football Game Notes Yellow Jackets travel to Charlottesville Saturday for intra-division game  Sept. 17, 2007
 

Complete Release in PDF Format

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Georgia Tech, which fell out of the national rankings this week after a loss to ACC leader Boston College, now faces a difficult road test and its first ACC intra-divisional opponent at Virginia Saturday (Noon/ESPNU).
The Yellow Jackets, 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the ACC, are coming off a 24-10 loss to impressive Boston College last Saturday in Atlanta.
Virginia, 2-1 and 2-0, is on a roll after a season-opening upset loss at Wyoming. The Cavaliers are coming off back-to-back ACC wins over Duke (24-13) and on the road at North Carolina (22-20).
Georgia Tech, which beat Virginia 24-7 last season in Atlanta, has not won in Charlottesville since 1990.
The Yellow Jackets rallied from a 21-0 deficit with 10 fourth-quarter points against Boston College. However, Eagle quarterback and ACC preseason player of the year Matt Ryan was too much to overcome. Ryan passed for 435 yards and a touchdown against the Yellow Jackets.
Cavalier running back Cedric Peerman shredded the North Carolina defense for 186 yards and a touchdown, and Chris Gould tied a school record with five field goals in Virginia's 22-20 win at North Carolina last Saturday.
The all-time Georgia Tech-Virginia series is tied 14-14-1.
Tech-Virginia Bullet Points
- Georgia Tech, which lost just one ACC game last season en route to winning the league's Coastal Division, needs a win Saturday to avoid its first 0-2 ACC start since 2003.
- While the Yellow Jacket-Cavalier series is even, Georgia Tech has not won in Charlottesville since 1990 -- a streak of seven consecutive losses.
- Tech, under the direction of former NFL head coach Chan Gailey, will face its third opposing coach with a strong NFL background. Notre Dame's Charlie Weis, Boston College's Jeff Jagodzinski and Virginia's Al Groh all rose to their current positions from the NFL ranks.
- Saturday's game features the ACC's top two rushers. Virginia's Cedric Peerman (113.7 ypg) and Georgia Tech's Tashard Choice (112.3 ypg) are the only players in the ACC averaging more than 100 yards rushing per game.
- Saturday's game includes three of the ACC's top five scorers. Tech kicker Travis Bell (11.0 ppg), freshman running back Jonathan Dwyer (10.0 ppg) and Virginia kicker Chris Gould (8.3 ppg) all rank in the top five in the league in scoring.
- Both teams have had success in getting to the opponent's quarterback. Georgia Tech (13 sacks) and Virginia (11) are the only ACC teams to record double-figure sacks.
- Georgia Tech and Virginia have been successful in the red zone. Both teams have failed to score just once when in the red zone this season.
Tech, Wahoos Can Kick It
The ACC's top two punters -- at least through three weeks of the season -- will go head-to-head. Cavalier punter Ryan Weigand (49.4 ypp) leads the nation in punting and Yellow Jacket Durant Brooks (46.0 ypp) ranks seventh nationally.
Georgia Tech kicker Travis Bell and Virginia kicker Chris Gould are tied for the ACC lead in field goals made with seven. Both players are 7-of-8 in field goal attempts.
Georgia Tech-Virginia Series History
- The all-time series is tied, 14-14-1.
- Georgia Tech won the most recent meeting, 24-7 last season (Sept. 21, 2006) in Atlanta on a Thursday night.
- Virginia has won three of the last four meetings.
- Virginia holds an 8-2-1 series advantage in Charlottesville.
- The Yellow Jackets and Cavaliers have met every season since 1982.
- Georgia Tech and Virginia have been frequent Thursday-night opponents. They have met on Thursday night five times since 1983.
- The Yellow Jackets and Wahoos first met on the gridiron in 1965.
- Georgia Tech head coach Chan Gailey is 2-3 all-time vs. Virginia.
- Virginia coach Al Groh is 5-6 all-time vs. Georgia Tech, including a 4-2 record against the Yellow Jackets while coaching at Virginia.
- Georgia Tech is 31-17-1 all-time vs. schools from the commonwealth of Virginia, including a 14-14-1 mark vs. Virginia, 2-2 vs. Virginia Tech, 14-1 vs. VMI, and 1-0 vs. William & Mary.
Yellow Jacket-Cavalier Connections
- Georgia Tech has just one player from Virginia on its roster -- redshirt freshman running back Trevor Bray from Chesapeake.
- Virginia has no players on its roster from the state of Georgia.
- Both head coaches -- Georgia Tech's Chan Gailey and Virginia's Al Groh -- served a number of years in a variety of roles in the NFL.
- Groh and Gailey served on the same staff at Air Force in 1979. Groh was the Falcon defensive coordinator at the time while Gailey was a defensive assistant. In 1980, Groh left Air Force for Texas Tech. In 1981, Gailey took over as Air Force's defensive coordinator.
- Groh's first NFL job was as an assistant coach with the Atlanta Falcons in 1987.
- Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta began his college coaching career at Virginia as a graduate assistant in 1981 and 1982.
- Georgia Tech offensive coordinator John Bond and Virginia assistant head coach Steve Bernstein were on the same Northern Illinois coaching staff in 2004 and 2005 (Bond was also with the Huskies in 2006). At Northern Illinois, Bond was offensive coordinator and Bernstein coached the Huskies' secondary.
- In 2004, Virginia assistant coach Levern
Belin was also on the Northern Illinois staff as coach of the defensive interior line.
- Virginia graduate assistant coach Vincent Brown previously served as head coach at Meadowcreek High School near Atlanta. Brown is a native of Atlanta.
- The Yellow Jackets and Cavaliers combine to have four players on the Seattle Seahawks' roster.
Since Gailey's Arrival, Only FSU Has Won More In The ACC
Since Chan Gailey arrived in Atlanta prior to the 2002 season, his Yellow Jackets have won 24 ACC games in five seasons. Only Florida State, with 28 ACC wins, has more.
It should be noted that three schools -- Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech -- have been in the ACC for three years or less. Over the last three seasons, only Virginia Tech has fewer ACC losses than Georgia Tech.
Throwing To The Tight End? That's New
Sophomore tight end Colin Peek caught five passes last Saturday against Boston College.
Solid performance, yes, but what's so significant? Consider last year that Georgia Tech tight ends caught five passes -- for the entire season. Michael Matthews caught four passes and George Cooper caught one pass. Incidentally, both Matthews and Cooper are on NFL rosters.
Peek has caught eight passes for 57 yards on the season. His top back-up, Brad Sellers, is out for the season with a knee injury.
Turnovers, Or Lack Thereof, A Key For The Yellow Jackets
Georgia Tech has not committed a turnover since the fourth quarter of the Gator Bowl last season. That means the Yellow Jackets have played more than 182 minutes of football and have had 205 consecutive offensive snaps without throwing an interception or losing a fumble.
- Georgia Tech is the only team in the nation without a turnover in 2007. In fact, Ball State ranks alone in second place with one turnover. Every other team in the nation has at least two turnovers.
- Meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets have recovered six fumbles to give them a +6 turnover margin for the season. Tech ranks tied for first in the ACC and tied for sixth nationally in turnover margin.
- The Yellow Jackets are one of just seven schools in the nation that have not lost a fumble. They are also in a group of seven schools who have not thrown an interception.
- Junior quarterback Taylor Bennett has attempted 73 consecutive passes dating back to last season without throwing a pick.
- Over the last two seasons (17 games), Georgia Tech has lost just six fumbles while recovering 18 opponent fumbles.
- Georgia Tech has fumbled five times this season but lost none of them.
- In six seasons under head coach Chan Gailey, Georgia Tech is 25-4 and has won 12 of its last 14 when committing fewer turnovers than the opponent.


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dirty · Sep 21, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

Tech's Choice to start at Virginia

By MATT WINKELJOHN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/20/07 Tashard Choice will start after all Saturday, when Georgia Tech tries to win at Virginia for the first time since 1990.
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</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> Choice, the second-leading rusher in the ACC with an average of 112.3 yards per game, left last Saturday's Boston College game with a strained right hamstring. He was limited in practice Tuesday and Wednesday, when he was held out of contact.
On Thursday, "He did everything and looked good," coach Chan Gailey said. "We're going to start him and play it by ear."
The Yellow Jackets lost a starter, though, as Gailey said right tackle Jacob Lonowski, who has been beset by shoulder injuries in his career, was banged up against B.C. and will not play. His injury has not been disclosed. Asked if A.J. Smith will start (the other apparent option is Cord Howard, who re-gained his eligibility last week), Gailey said, "We're going to see."
Tenuta 'Mr. Growly?'
You give up a whopping 527 yards of total offense, as Tech did last Saturday against B.C., and you have to ask a player if defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta is playing the role of Mr. Growly this week
Senior safety Jamal Lewis wasted no time responding: "Coach Tenuta's always Mr. Growly so we kind of get used to that."
Lewis shot down the suggestion that the lopsided nature of the B.C. game will dent the Jackets' confidence in themselves and their schemes.
"It's not confidence. It's mental errors, and guys not being where they're supposed to be," Lewis said. "We have to go out there and play fast, and I don't think we did that."
Chambers leaves team
Junior reserve linebacker Travis Chambers of Decatur (Chamblee High), who battled a string of injuries, has left the team. Gailey declined to say why, and Chambers was unavailable for comment.
Internet chatter
Tech's regular-season practices are closed to the media and the public, but there is mention on a popular Tech-oriented website of freshman quarterback Josh Nesbitt practicing the speed option, and/or option this week.
Gailey said, "It's amazing how rumors get started, isn't it? I don't know where that gets started, how that gets out there. Right, wrong, true or untrue, I'm shocked that stuff like that gets out there."
So is it true?
"Why would I tell you?" Gailey said.
Nesbitt played sparingly in Tech's first two games, but not against Boston College. He is no longer eligible for a redshirt, as players lose their redshirt rights the very first time they step on the field.
The exception is a medical redshirt, which schools may apply to the NCAA for if a player suffers a season-ending injury in the first four games.
Ref reports
Several Tech fans groused about the officiating in the B.C. game, and Tech filed a report with the ACC stating its opinion about the matter — like the Jackets always do after league games.
"You can, but you don't have to," Gailey said. "We do every week."
Asked if the Jackets have any recourse, the coach said, "No."
Officials occasionally are disciplined for the mis-application or mis-interpretation of rules, but never on judgment calls.
Inside the numbers
Tech's passing numbers look terrible.
On the one hand, the Jackets didn't have to throw much in their first two games, yet tossed it around liberally in the second half while trying to come from behind against B.C. Quarterback Taylor Bennett completed 20 of 39 for 204 yards against the Eagles, but still hasn't thrown a touchdown pass.
His passer efficiency rating of 103.4 ranks ninth in the ACC, and 95th nationally. His 13 completions per game rank 88th nationally, and his 136.7 passing yards per game rank eighth in the ACC and 96th nationally.
But Bennett has thrown 73 consecutive passes without an interception, and he's been sacked just twice.
"I thought he made some good reads and did some good things [against B.C.]," Gailey said. "We haven't arrived in the passing the game, but I thought we did some decent things, and we can build on that."
Halftime features 'Big Boi'
Antwan "Big Boi" Patton, one half of the Grammy-award winning duo OutKast, will perform at halftime of the Tech-Virginia Tech football game on Thursday, Nov. 1. Patton, an Atlanta native, will perform along with the Tech marching band during the nationally-televised game (ESPN).
Extra points
Tech is the only Division I team in the nation that has not yet turned the ball over. . . . Defensive end Darrell Robertson leads the ACC and is third nationally with 2.17 tackles for losses per game . . . . Punter Durant Brooks is averaging 46 yards per kick with eight of his 15 kicks being downed inside the 20-yard-line. . . . George Morris has been chosen to represent Tech in the ACC's 2007 ACC Football Championship Game Legends class. Morris, an all-America linebacker for the Yellow Jackets' 1952 National Championship team (International News Service), will be joined by North Carolina representative Harris Barton, a lineman from Dunwoody High.

SCOUTING VIRGINIA
Tech's strongside linebacker Shane Bowen may be busier Saturday than he's been yet, even though Notre Dame tight end John Carlson is a potential All-America player and the Jackets limited him to three catches for 29 yards. Virginia tight end Tom Santi leads the Cavs with 11 receptions, and 18 of Virginia's 54 completions — exactly one-third — have gone to tight ends with Jonathan Stupar catching seven. . . . Don't be surprised if Virginia takes a cue from Boston College in the passing game, over-committing to protection while limiting the number of receivers in routes. Cavs sophomore Jameel Sewell — a run threat — is considerably more composed than when he played against Tech as a freshman. Freshman quarterback Peter Lalich has completed almost 70 percent of his 33 attempts. "The first element of having a sound passing game every week is don't get your quarterback hit," said Virginia coach Al Groh. "If your quarterback is constantly under harassment, then you're going to get some bad decisions. Plus your quarterback takes a beating and that effects how they play."

dirty · Sep 21, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

RamblinWreck.com :: Georgia Tech :: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets :: Official Athletic Site

dirty · Sep 29, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

Choice good to go against Clemson

By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/28/07 Tech coach Chan Gailey didn't have a lot to say about Tashard Choice on Thursday, but he answered the two most important questions about the injured running back:
Did he look good in practice Thursday? And will he start Saturday against No. 13 Clemson?
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(ENLARGE)

</td></tr><tr><td class="caption">Tashard Choice sat out the last three quarters against Virginia with a hamstring injury.
</td></tr><tr><td><table bgcolor="#cccccc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="170"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="9" cellspacing="0" width="168"><tbody><tr><td class="body">RELATED STORIES

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</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> "Yes," was Gailey's answer to both, meaning Choice (hamstring) had his second straight practice in which he wasn't adversely affected by the injury and is considered good to go.
Choice, who missed the fourth quarter against Boston College and the last three quarters against Virginia, is fourth in the ACC in rushing with 357 yards.
In other injury news, backup right tackle Jacob Lonowski and special teams player Sedric Griffin are out, Gailey said. Lonowski will be replaced by either A.J. Smith or Cord Howard. Anthony Barnes will start at strongside linebacker in place of Shane Bowen (undisclosed injury), but Bowen is expected to play, Gailey said. Free safety Djay Jones (shoulder) will start Saturday
Reserve defensive end Robert Hall, who injured a leg Sept. 8 against Samford, may not play the rest of the season, and he might seek a medical redshirt.
Browns shows his adaptability
You've heard of a utility infielder. Meet David Brown, utility football player.
Brown came to Georgia Tech as a defensive lineman, switched to offense before last season and has played at guard and tackle in 2007.
Saturday, you might see him at tight end when Tech plays the No. 13 Tigers.
That shouldn't come as a total surprise if you remember last season's Duke game, when Brown took the field at that position. He returned to tight end this week, trying to help fill a void created when Tech lost No. 2 tight end Brad Sellers to a season-ending knee injury against Samford.
Brown, a junior, learned to be adaptable while playing at Bob Jones High School in Madison, Ala., just west of Huntsville.
"I played defensive end, defensive tackle, linebacker, wing, tight end, offensive line, fullback, so I've done it all before," Brown said. "Last year, I played tight end against Duke, and I was supposed to be the starting fullback in goal-line [situations], but we never did run goal-line."
The move to tight end doesn't mean he won't play in the trenches. Brown could play there, too, Gailey said. He'll have two jerseys: No. 82 when he's a tight end, and No. 55 when he's a lineman.
Brown, 6 feet 3, 275 pounds, spent most of Wednesday's practice at tight end but in the two-minute offense worked at first-team right tackle and second-team guard.
He is more likely to be a blocking tight end than a pass-catching one. He couldn't remember a single catch in high school.
"I probably didn't," Brown said. "I was in there just to block."
"He can catch it a little bit, not a lot," Gailey said. "He's working on it."
Where will the Yellow Jackets put Brown next?
"I'm always open to anything," he said. "I'm fine stepping in where the team needs me."
Not enough tickets for Walker
Vance Walker disappointed a lot of friends this week. They wanted to come watch Walker, from Fort Mill, S.C., play against his home-state team. He couldn't find teammates willing to put his friends on their pass lists. (Each player is allowed four guests per game.)
In Fort Mill, just across the border from Charlotte, South Carolina's big state schools dominate sports conversations, along with the NFL's Carolina Panthers.
"It's Clemson and USC everywhere," Walker said. "[Saturday's game is] a big deal to my family. They want me to beat Clemson."
And his ticketless friends?
"They're probably mad at me, but sorry," Tech's junior defensive tackle said.
— Matt Winkeljohn contributed to this report

dirty · Sep 29, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

Tech looks to close gaps in defense
Ranked fifth in ACC, Jackets believe 'chemistry' will make for more success

By MATT WINKELJOHN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/27/07 Three starters are gone, but lately Georgia Tech's defense has seemed to be missing more than former linebacker KaMichael Hall, cornerback Kenny Scott and tackle Joe Anoai, who were seniors last season.
The Yellow Jackets are ranked fifth in the ACC in total defense, first in sacks, second in rushing defense, and second in scoring defense.
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JOHNNY CRAWFORD/AJC

(ENLARGE)

</td></tr><tr><td class="caption">Virginia's Jonathan Stupar breaks away from Georgia Tech's Shane Bowen (57) and Jahi Word Daniels (32) during Saturday's 28-23 loss to the Cavaliers. Georgia Tech missed several tackles throughout the game.
</td></tr><tr><td><table bgcolor="#cccccc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="170"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="9" cellspacing="0" width="168"><tbody><tr><td class="body">RELATED STORIES

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</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> At first glance, not so bad.
But those numbers were hugely skewed in Tech's favor in the Jackets' first two wins, 33-3 over Notre Dame and 69-14 against Division I-AA Samford.
Since then, Boston College passed for 435 yards in a win over the Jackets, and Virginia seemed to move the ball at will on the Cavs' first two possessions last Saturday — scoring touchdowns on each — on the way to a 28-23 win.
There are no apparent signs of fracture in the ranks, but Tech may not have the same chemistry it had last season, at least not yet. "It's not so much of a different feel; it's just that we have to come together as a team," said end Darrell Robertson. "We've been playing hard, but we need to gel more."
Against B.C., Tech's blitz didn't cause the problems the Jackets surely sought.
It's well known that Virginia favors throwing to tight ends, yet the Cavs were able to complete six passes to tight ends in the first 18 minutes last Saturday, 12 overall. Coach Chan Gailey after that game was content with adjustments made by the defense, but wished aloud they had been made quicker.
So what's going on?
"I'd have to say at times we're playing like we're capable of playing, and at times we aren't," said middle linebacker Philip Wheeler, who is second to safety Jamal Lewis with 23 tackles to 26 for Lewis.
Robertson is off to a fantastic start, tied for the league lead with 8.5 tackles for lost yardage, 2.5 sacks, a fumble forced and one recovered.
Lewis is playing quite well, and Wheeler has played at a high level, although arguably not up to preseason All-America hype. Tackle Vance Walker has 3.5 sacks, and 4.5 tackles for losses to go with 16 tackles.
Opposing offenses are scheming more for Wheeler this season, but other oddities are perhaps more difficult to explain.
End/tackle Adamm Oliver, who was second team All-ACC last season when he had 11 tackles for lost yardage, has one tackle for a loss so far. He has 17 tackles. Tackle Darryl Richard has six tackles.
"Those guys are playing well," said defensive line coach Giff Smith. "The guys that are making the plays are the guys getting the one-on-ones. Some people get double-teamed. That's why stats might not show that some guys, like Adamm, are playing within the system."
Hall led the Jackets with 91 tackles last season. His replacement, sophomore Shane Bowen, is tied for 15th with seven tackles. Redshirt freshman Anthony Barnes, who also has played that linebacker spot and will start Saturday against Clemson in part because Bowen is injured, has 10 tackles.
Then, there is what appears to be a dropoff from pass-rushing end Michael Johnson. He played well in the opener at Notre Dame, yet his five tackles leave him tied for 18th with special teamers Troy Garside and D.J. Donley. Johnson, who also plays on special teams, has one sack, two tackles for a loss, a forced fumble and a recovery - most of his statistics coming at Notre Dame.
Smith, though, again said that the truth is beneath numbers.
"He's probably drawn about seven holding calls, which could have been seven sacks and then everybody would be talking about how great Michael's playing, about him going for the school record," the defensive line coach said. "Stats don't always tell the entire story."

dirty · Sep 29, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

GEORGIA TECH REPORT
Johnson eager to play catch-up

By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/27/07 James Johnson expected big things out of this season, but so far a couple of little things have gotten in the way.
First came a preseason knee injury that led to minor surgery. Then came blows to the ribs early in the Boston College game. He felt better going into Saturday's game at Virginia but reinjured the ribs (remember that headfirst dive for a deep pass just before halftime?) and sat out most of the second half.
<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="175"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#cccccc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="170"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="9" cellspacing="0" width="168"><tbody><tr><td class="body">RELATED STORIES

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</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> Johnson, who was supposed to be Georgia Tech's top receiver, has four catches for 60 yards and no touchdowns through the first third of the season.
"There's a lot of things that aren't going the way I thought they were going to go, but it's early," Johnson said. "We've still got a long season ahead of us."
That starts Saturday against Clemson, a team that should bring out the best in the junior from Oakland, Fla. Johnson caught a career-high seven passes last season against the Tigers, for 75 yards and a touchdown.
How close to 100 percent will he be?
"I'm closer when the game's about to start because the adrenaline kicks in," Johnson said. "It's just a bad bruise [to the ribs]. You've just got to wait and keep icing it, keep heating it, and wait until the season ends, hope it doesn't get worse."
Choice returns, does everything
Running back Tashard Choice (hamstring) practiced Wednesday and expects to play Saturday against Clemson.
"I'm back now, maybe a little sore, but not how I couldn't play last week," Choice said. "I had a chance to burst, going 40, 50 yards downfield. I'm good to go this week. I'm excited."
Coach Chan Gailey said Choice was able to do everything in practice Wednesday and a decision on his status will come after today's practice.
Third-and-longs hurting conversion
The way to fix Tech's third-down problems is to get more consistent on first and second downs, offensive coordinator John Bond said. The Yellow Jackets are facing too many third-and-long plays, and their 20.8 percent conversion rate on third down ranks 118th out of 119 Division I-A teams.
"A lot of the other [offensive] numbers look great, but when your conversion number is as low as ours is you've obviously got something you've got to address," Bond said.
"We spend more time on third downs than anybody in the country. We spend whole segments of practice, and we always have. We've just got to find a way to be better on first and second down and avoid some untimely penalties and execute a little better to keep ourselves in more manageable situations."
NCAA on campus for peer review
NCAA representatives were on campus this week conducting interviews, but it wasn't the enforcement staff. Instead, it was administrators from other schools' athletics departments, conducting a peer review.
Tech's athletics department is undergoing the certification process, a once-a-decade analysis of standards and practices. The idea is to force each athletics department to look at everything it does and analyze whether it is fulfilling its mission. Every NCAA Division I member goes through the certification process on a rotating basis.

dirty · Sep 29, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

Jackets tend to go third-and-nowhere

By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/25/07 Georgia Tech's offense would be great for the Canadian Football League. Teams north of the border punt on third down.
But here in the land where the offense gets three cracks at gaining 10 yards before the punter or kicker trots onto the field, the third time for Tech has been anything but a charm.
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</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> The Yellow Jackets rank second-to-last in the nation at turning third downs into first downs. They've done it 11 times in 53 attempts, a conversion rate of 20.8 percent. Only winless Florida International fares worse on third-down plays.
There may be no more important reason why Tech (2-2, 0-2 ACC) has started conference play with back-to-back losses. The Yellow Jackets have failed to come up with the third-down plays they need to keep their offense on the field.
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution computer-assisted analysis shows:
• Tech has trouble converting anything longer than third-and-1. The Jackets are 3-for-4 on those but just 2-of-8 on third-and-2-to-4; 5-of-21 on third-and-5-to-9; and 1-for-20 on third-and-10-or-longer.
The third-and-long numbers show how Tech has failed to complete the same passes under pressure that it has thrown with some success on first and second downs. Tech has completed 29 passes of 10 yards or more, but only four of those converted a third down into a first down. Some of that can be explained by defenses adjusting to down and distance, but the rest is errant passes and dropped balls.
• Almost two-thirds of Tech's third downs are third-and-8-or-more. That's the statistic that bothers coach Chan Gailey.
"When you get to 8-plus, your odds go down extremely," Gailey said.
• Third down usually means a pass, regardless of the distance needed. That's even true of third-and-1, where Tech is 2-for-2 throwing the ball and 1-for-2 running it. Four games into the season, Tech has converted only two third downs by running the ball. The Jackets are 0-for-7 when trying to run the ball on third-and-2-to-5.
In other words, an offensive line that returned four starters still lacks the power to move the line of scrimmage or open a hole in short-yardage situations.
• Three times, Tech completed a third-down pass and came up 3 yards or less short of first-down yardage, raising the possibility a slightly deeper route might have worked.
• Tech averages 6.5 yards on first down, 4.8 on second and 4.7 on third.
The players know they've got a problem.
"Third down is something we work on a lot," Tech quarterback Taylor Bennett said after Saturday's 28-23 loss at Virginia.
"That's something we haven't been very good at all season. We need to get better at that."
The Yellow Jackets keep expecting something good to happen in their passing game. One good thing happened Saturday, when Bennett connected with Demaryius Thomas on a 56-yard touchdown pass, but it was the exception rather than the rule in a season where Bennett often has been off-target and receivers haven't given him much help.
Less than nine months after a Gator Bowl in which Bennett threw for 326 yards, he is averaging less than half of that per game. The touchdown pass to Thomas is Tech's only one this season.
Bennett's pass efficiency rating ranks him 11th out of the ACC's 12 starters and is lower than predecessor Reggie Ball's was in any full season of his four-year career.

dirty · Sep 29, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

RamblinWreck.com :: Georgia Tech :: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets :: Official Athletic Site

Chuck Luck · Sep 29, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

WHO DO YOU LIKE IS THE G.T./CLEMSON GAME TODAY?

dirty · Sep 29, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

I have played GT for a 1/2 Unit. Tech always wins games they shouldn't while losing to teams they shouldn't ... They rarely lose 3 in a row, and I don't expect them to this time

Chuck Luck · Sep 29, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

AGREE

dirty · Oct 2, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

The selling of Tech football
Promoters try to grab new fans outside the alum base

By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/02/07 Jennifer Pierce is the kind of person Georgia Tech marketers are trying to reach.
She's 30, new to Atlanta and lives in Virginia-Highland, within a couple of miles of Bobby Dodd Stadium. She's a long way from her alma mater, California.
<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="175"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#cccccc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="170"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="9" cellspacing="0" width="168"><tbody><tr><td class="body">RELATED STORIES

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</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> Pierce and people like her are perfect candidates to come to Yellow Jackets football games. Maybe that's one reason Tech hired her.
Who better to lure the target demographic than a member of it? Her assignment: Change the perception of Georgia Tech football; make it less of a game and more of an event, less of an insiders' club and more of a welcoming experience.
That's the point behind hiring Antwan "Big Boi" Patton to stage a halftime concert at the Virginia Tech game Nov. 1. Big Boi, half of the Grammy-winning Atlanta hip-hop duo OutKast, will perform three songs with the Tech band.
"This is a real step forward in staging our image and trying to invite people into our stadium," Pierce said. "We want people to feel welcome. Hopefully, our brand and his brand can align."
It's an innovative idea, far from the Up With People feel of old-time halftime shows. Having a cutting-edge popular music artist perform at a sports event has traditionally been associated with pro sports, not the college game. The closest comparison might be pop rockers Hootie and the Blowfish performing before and at halftime of South Carolina's Garnet and Black spring game this past April.
Tech has a lot of incentive to go the extra mile in marketing. Its local alumni base could fit into Tech's 55,000-seat stadium with plenty of room to spare, and filling that spare room has been an ongoing challenge. Associate athletics director Wayne Hogan looked at the demographics of Atlanta and saw potential fans he needed to lure to campus. They aren't Tech alumni, but they are in the market for entertainment if someone invites them and makes them welcome.
"What you see is a vibrant, thriving community of young, progressive adults," Hogan said, and a key to attracting them is to make Tech less of "a closed shop" and more appealing to newcomers. A Big Boi concert is like a flashing neon sign that sends that message to the 25- to 40-year-olds the Yellow Jackets hope to attract.
"We just think it's a good show for a younger demographic," Hogan said.
Pierce's pursuit of Big Boi wasn't simple. She originally tried to recruit the other half of OutKast, Andre 3000, whom she saw on the sideline during Tech's 2006 victory over Miami, shortly after Pierce was hired as Tech's director of promotions and events.
Months of effort led to a deal with Big Boi, who agreed to give Tech a break on his usual appearance fees. Other issues had to be resolved, such as how to acquire, store and assemble the stage and bring in a sound system for the show. One Stop Productions, which has worked with the Falcons, is producing the concert. Total budget: $43,000. The result, Tech hopes, will be a show that sells out a Thursday night ESPN game that drew a sub-sellout crowd of 48,398 fans three years ago.
Pierce said she chose the Virginia Tech game because she wanted a night concert and the ESPN schedule made Nov. 1 a guaranteed night game. If it's a success (early feedback has been positive), Georgia Tech might do a halftime concert every year, Pierce said.
She has made several other, smaller changes to the gameday experience.
There's a Faithful Fan of the Game featured on the video board. Trivia questions that in the past might have been too obscure to appeal to the non-traditional Tech fan have been replaced with the more accessible "Are you smarter than a junior Jacket?" A fan in the crowd answers a general knowledge question and can get help from a kid, who answers the same question on a tape shown on the stadium's video board.
Pierce and Hogan stressed they don't want to turn off the traditional fans. Hogan, for example, emphasized that Big Boi's song won't contain any dirty lyrics. Pierce and Hogan both spoke of Big Boi's upcoming collaboration with the Atlanta Ballet.
The key, they said, is broadening Tech's appeal.
"If we can make this an entertainment package," Pierce said, "people who live here will make Georgia Tech their hometown team."

dirty · Oct 2, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

Gailey vs. Friedgen

By Mike Knobler | Monday, October 1, 2007, 12:59 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I arrived in Atlanta in 2002, post-George O’Leary and a year after Ralph Friedgen won the ACC title in his first season at Maryland. So I wasn’t here for the Friedgen offenses at Georgia Tech.
But I’ve been fascinated by the love many Tech fans have for Friedgen vs. the coach they’ve got, Chan Gailey. In my eyes, they’ve both been pretty successful. Let’s look at the numbers.
Friedgen has the better record, 53-26 vs. 40-29. But Gailey has the better record in the past three-plus seasons, 26-17 vs. 22-18.
Gailey leads head-to-head 3-1 and has a three-game winning streak against Friedgen.
Friedgen won an ACC championship. Gailey won a division championship.
Friedgen has had two losing seasons. Gailey has had none.
Gailey has never had a losing record in ACC play. Friedgen has, twice.
Friedgen has had three 10-win seasons. Gailey has had none.
Permalink | Comments (57) | Post your comment | Categories: Football

dirty · Oct 2, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

Jackets' passing woes continue
Team supports struggling Bennett

By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/01/07 Taylor Bennett ranks 14th in the ACC in passing efficiency — and the league has only 12 teams.
It's hard to say exactly where Georgia Tech's quarterback ranks nationally. The NCAA lists only the top 100, and Bennett's rating of 96.58 is far below the 104.6 needed to make that list.
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Johnny Crawford / AJC

(ENLARGE)

</td></tr><tr><td class="caption">Georgia Tech starting quarterback Taylor Bennett has passed for only 707 yards in four games this season.
</td></tr><tr><td><table bgcolor="#cccccc" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="170"><tbody><tr><td><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="9" cellspacing="0" width="168"><tbody><tr><td class="body">RELATED STORIES

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</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> One thing isn't hard to say: The Yellow Jackets have to get better in the passing game if they want Saturday's 13-3 upset of then-No. 13 Clemson to be the start of something bigger.
When does the passing game have to improve?
"Every week. This week," Tech coach Chan Gailey said on Sunday, as Tech (3-2, 1-2 ACC) began preparations for a trip to face a Maryland team that just knocked off then-No. 10 Rutgers.
The last time Tech played at Maryland, in 2004, Gailey threatened to pull starting quarterback Reggie Ball if he didn't play well and replace him with a freshman, Bennett. Ball responded, and the Jackets knocked off the No. 23 Terrapins. This time, Gailey is making no such threats.
Bennett's backup, freshman Josh Nesbitt, played two snaps against Clemson. He started Tech's fifth possession, threw an incomplete pass, then dropped a shotgun snap on a running play. The pre-game plan had been to use Nesbitt on the third or fourth possession in each half, but what Gailey saw changed his mind.
"I had second thoughts. Maybe that's too much to put on a guy in that big of a ballgame," Gailey said.
Nesbitt remains the No. 2 quarterback, Gailey said, though junior Calvin Booker would be the No. 2 in certain situations. Nesbitt is more of a runner; Booker is a dropback passer.
Tech threw for 67 yards against Clemson, the Jackets' second-lowest passing yardage since the start of the 2004 season; only last season's 42-yard game at Georgia ranks lower.
It wasn't entirely Bennett's fault. Demaryius Thomas dropped Bennett's third pass. One play later, Bennett threw deep for Greg Smith, who didn't fully extend his arms, and the ball fell incomplete.
"You hit those first two passes that he threw right on the money and the game is different," Gailey said, presumably referring to the throws to Thomas and Smith.
Bennett threw only 15 times, six in the second half. The defense was playing so well, Gailey said, he told offensive coordinator John Bond to stay conservative.
On the season, Bennett is 63-of-126 for 707 yards, with two interceptions and one touchdown. He hasn't looked anything like the confident player who threw for 326 yards and three touchdowns in the Gator Bowl against West Virginia. What changed?
"That team was notoriously weak against the pass going into that game," Gailey said. "We haven't played a lot of those teams."
Maryland isn't one, either. The Terps rank second in the ACC in pass defense, behind Clemson.
Meanwhile, Maryland has a passing-game issue of its own. Backup Chris Turner led the team past Rutgers after starter Jordan Steffy left with a concussion. Steffy is questionable, coach Ralph Friedgen told reporters on Sunday, and if Steffy can play he might split time with Turner, and Turner might start.
Tech ranks last in the ACC in passing yards per game and last in passing efficiency, which measures the outcomes of a team's passes without regard to the number thrown.
Receiver James Johnson said you have to look beyond the statistics to appreciate what Bennett brings to the team.
"Great leadership. He was talking to us before every play telling us we've got to keep going," Johnson said Saturday. "The stats may not show how great a quarterback he is, but he is a great quarterback. He's poised. He keeps us lifted in the huddle when we make a bad play. He's a great leader."
Gailey said he's more concerned with helping Bennett improve than with propping up his confidence.
"I think he's OK emotionally. I don't think he's in the tank by any stretch of the imagination. And I think our team still has confidence in him."

dirty · Oct 2, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

TECH REPORT
Jackets smother running game

By MATT WINKELJOHN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/30/07 It seems like only last week, or so it might have to Georgia Tech defenders, that James Davis and C.J. Spiller repeatedly ran past them as if they were fence posts and Davis and Spiller had rockets strapped to their backs.
When one guys rushes for 216 yards and two touchdowns, the other for 116 yards and a score on the way to a 31-7 win, there are not good memories.
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• How They Scored • Tech Stats • ACC Standings
• PHOTOS: Score of Game

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</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> That was last season.
Saturday, in Bobby Dodd Stadium, Clemson rushed for 34 yards, and so what if that was in large measure because Tech sacked Tigers quarterback Cullen Harper six times for 37 yards in lost yardage.
The point was, the visitors couldn't do what they wanted to do, especially in the first half when they had 18 rushes for 2 yards.
"If you stop the run, you gain a tremendous advantage, and I thought our pass rush was outstanding," Tech coach Chan Gailey said after his defense limited Clemson to 228 yards, well below the Tigers' average of 445 (not to mention well below their average of 38.3 points per game).
Davis had 12 carries for 60 yards, but that was 156 fewer yards than he had last season. Spiller rushed for 2 yards on nine carries.
"We studied, and I felt like they couldn't block us up front," said middle linebacker Philip Wheeler, who had 2.5 sacks and a pass break-up. "I think we were more disciplined this year."
Defensive tackle Darryl Richard said, "We focused on wrapping up this week in practice, and everybody getting to the football. It was a mind-set; you pretty much know what they are going to do."
Choice rallies the troops at halftime
Several coaches and players spoke about how Tashard Choice motivated the team before the game, and again at halftime. Choice, who said, "I was hurting; I lied all week about how I felt," was especially jacked up Saturday.
"He told us how much he loved us, and we had to win this game," said wide receiver James Johnson. "We came in [at halftime], and even though it was a low-scoring game, he kept emphasizing it and emphasizing it ... we've got to keep fighting for each other."
Cornerbacks find right alignment
Gailey was quick to credit cornerback Jahi Word-Daniels, who tied fellow cornerback Avery Roberson for a team-high eight tackles.
Tech strayed from its usual form, where they play one cornerback most of the game to the "field," or open side of the field, and the other to the "boundary," or short side.
In this one, Word-Daniels defended 6-foot-5 Clemson receiver Aaron Kelly, who came in ranked fourth in the ACC with 22 catches and three touchdowns.
Kelly caught six passes for 53 yards, most of them underneath routes. Word-Daniels broke up the longest attempt to him, in the end zone.
Jackets ground Clemson air attack
Clemson brought the ACC's most efficient passing attack, with a completion rate of 69.7 percent, 13 touchdown passes and zero interceptions.
Harper completed 17 of 39 passes for 194 yards with no touchdowns. Freshman safety Morgan Burnett became the first player to intercept a Clemson pass this season.
"That's the poorest we've played offensively in some time," Clemson coach Tommy Bowden said. "You try and accent certain things against certain styles of defense. The things we accented obviously didn't work."
Gailey optimistic as Earls on sideline
Receiver Correy Earls (neck) was on the sideline with a neck brace -- and Mohawk haircut. Gailey said he believes Earls will be able to play again this season. ... Right tackle Jacob Lonowski and reserve safety Joe Gaston were not in uniform. ... Linebacker Shane Bowen continued to battle an apparent shoulder or arm injury. Anthony Barnes, who replaced Bowen as a starter, had seven tackles, 1.5 for lost yardage, including half a sack.
Freshman QB gets very short stint
Freshman quarterback Josh Nesbitt started a drive in the first quarter but threw incomplete on first down and recovered his fumbled shotgun snap on second down before Taylor Bennett returned. Nesbitt did not play again. "The plan was to put him in more, and we just couldn't get it done," Gailey said.

dirty · Oct 2, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

Georgia Tech-Maryland Game Notes Yellow Jackets, Terrapins meet Saturday at 12:00 <script language="javascript1.2"> procad("http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/CSTV.GEOT/SPORTS.MFOOTBL.SPECREL;pos=promo66;sz=120x60;dcopt=ist;",0); </script><script src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/CSTV.GEOT/SPORTS.MFOOTBL.SPECREL;pos=promo66;sz=120x60;tile=4;ord=530947155360161.9?" type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript1.1"></script>

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Georgia Tech and Maryland, both 3-2 overall and coming off big wins over nationally-ranked teams to break two-game losing streaks, meet Saturday in College Park, Md. (Noon/Raycom-Lincoln Financial TV).
The Yellow Jackets, 3-2 overall and 1-2 in the ACC, got 145 yards rushing from senior Tashard Choice, a suffocating defensive effort and a couple of big plays on special teams to beat visiting 13th-ranked Clemson last Saturday in Atlanta. The win snapped a frustrating two-game losing streak and gave Tech its first ACC victory.
Maryland, 3-2 and 0-1, upset 10th-ranked Rutgers on the road last Saturday, 34-24. Backup quarterback Chris Turner led Maryland to 20 second-half points, Keon Lattimore rushed for 124 yards and a touchdown and the Terps bounced back from consecutive losses.
The Yellow Jackets and Terrapins have followed almost identical paths so far in 2007. Both teams began the season 2-0, both won a non-conference road game and both teams won at home against former Division I-AA teams. Tech and Maryland, prior to last Saturday's wins, were coming off heart-breaking ACC road losses -- the Yellow Jackets at Virginia (28-23) and the Terrapins at Wake Forest (31-24 in overtime).
Georgia Tech leads the all-time series, 13-5, and the Yellow Jackets have beaten the Terrapins three straight times.
Friedgen A Former Jacket
Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen served two different stints as Georgia Tech's offensive coordinator before taking over as the Terrapins' head coach seven years ago (more on page.

A Glance Inside The Numbers Of Tech And Maryland
- Saturday's game features two of the premier running backs in the ACC, if not all of college football. Georgia Tech's Tashard Choice (100.2 ypg) ranks third in the ACC in rushing and Maryland's Keon Lattimore (106.6) ranks second.
- Georgia Tech kicker Travis Bell (10.2 ppg) and Lattimore (9.6 ppg) are the ACC's top two scorers.
- Lattimore (8 touchdowns) and Tech true freshman Jonathan Dwyer (6 TDs) have more touchdowns than any other player in the ACC.
- Georgia Tech's Philip Wheeler and Maryland's Erin Henderson are two of the ACC's top linebackers. Wheeler ranks among the league leaders in sacks, fumbles recovered and passes defended. Henderson ranks second in the ACC in total tackles with 11.0 per game.
- The Yellow Jackets (350.4 ypg) and Terrapins (348.0 ypg) are almost even in total offense.
- Tech (204.2 ypg) and Maryland (176.8 ypg) rank 1-2 in the ACC in rushing offense.
- An interesting match-up should be the Terrapin offense, which has rushed for 14 touchdowns this season, and the Yellow Jacket defense, which allows just 64.6 yards per game on the ground and ranks sixth nationally in rushing defense.
Georgia Tech-Maryland Series History
- Georgia Tech leads, 13-5.
- The Yellow Jackets won the last three meetings and seven of the last nine meetings. The two teams did not meet in 2005.
- Georgia Tech won last year's meeting, 27-23, in Atlanta (Oct. 7, 2006).
- Three of the last five meetings have been decided by four points or less.
- Georgia Tech holds a 5-4 series lead when playing at Maryland. The Yellow Jackets won the last meeting in College Park, 20-7, on Oct. 9, 2004.
n The Yellow Jackets have won eight out of nine games played in Atlanta.
- The Yellow Jackets are 5-4 against teams from the ACC's Atlantic Division since the league began divisional play three years ago. That includes a 4-2 record at home and a 1-1 mark on the road.
- Georgia Tech and Maryland did not meet on the gridiron until 1988. The two teams have met every season since, with the exception of 2005.
- Georgia Tech head coach Chan Gailey is 3-1 all-time vs. Maryland.
- Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen is 2-3 all-time vs. Georgia Tech.
Maryland's Friedgen Was At Tech For Two Stints
Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen and two of his Terrapin assistant coaches worked at Georgia Tech before heading to Maryland seven years ago.
Friedgen had two stops at Tech. He was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 1987-91. He returned as assistant coach and offensive coordinator for the Yellow Jackets from 1997-2000.
Terrapin assistant coach Dave Sollazzo was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech in 1999 and 2000. Maryland assistant John Donovan was a graduate assistant with the Yellow Jackets from 1998-2001.
Four current members of the Georgia Tech support staff were with the Yellow Jacket program during Friedgen's second stint at Tech: Butch Brooks (was then the director of high school relations), Tom Conner (equipment manager), Todd McCarthy (Director of video operations) and Jay Shoop (head trainer).

More Tech-Terp Connections
- Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta worked with Maryland's Ralph Friedgen in 1983. Friedgen, in 1983, was Maryland's offensive coordinator and Tenuta was a graduate assistant coach for the Terrapins.
- Yellow Jacket assistant coach Brian Jean-Mary was a graduate assistant coach at South Carolina in 2001 and 2002. At that time, current Maryland defensive coordinator Chris Cosh was serving as an assistant coach for the Gamecocks.
- Georgia Tech has one player on its roster from Maryland -- reserve safety Tyler Barrett (Hagerstown).
- Maryland has four players on its roster from Georgia -- kicker Obi Egekeze (Augusta), offensive lineman Lamar Young (Jonesboro), offensive lineman Tyler Bowen (Helena), and defensive lineman Dion Armstrong (Fort Valley).
- Georgia Tech senior running back Rashaun Grant and Maryland senior linebacker Jermaine Lemons both graduated from Jefferson High School in Tampa, Fla.
- Former Yellow Jackets Dawan Landry and P.J. Daniels are both playing professionally in Maryland with the Baltimore Ravens.

Defense Continues To Rank Among The Nation's Best
Georgia Tech's aggressive, blitzing defense under coordinator Jon Tenuta is perennially one of the nation's best units:
- Twice this season the Yellow Jackets have held opponents to less than 35 yards rushing. Last Saturday vs. Clemson, the defense held the Tigers to 34 yards on the ground.
- Tech ranks sixth nationally in rushing defense, allowing just 64.6 yards per game -- the fourth consecutive year the Jackets have been ranked in the top 20 nationally in rushing defense.
- Tech opponents are averaging just 1.8 yards per rush.
- The Jackets are allowing just 14.4 points per game, which ranks seventh nationally and first in the ACC in scoring defense. Tech kept both Notre Dame and Clemson out of the end zone.
- Tech ranks second in the ACC and 20th nationally in total defense (294.2 ypg).
- The Jackets rank third nationally in sacks (21) and tackles-for-loss (52).
- Only once in 20 quarters has an opponent scored more than seven points against the Yellow Jackets in a quarter.
- The Jackets have forced opponents to fumble 18 times and have recovered nine of them. Tech is tied for first nationally in fumbles recovered.
- Georgia Tech's defense has been on the field for 345 plays, of which 136 have gone for negative yardage or no gain.
- Against Notre Dame Sept. 1, the Irish had 19 offensive plays that went for negative yardage. Notre Dame was held to minus-8 yards rushing.
- Sixteen different Yellow Jacket players have been in on a tackle-for-loss and 11 different players have recorded a sack.
- Individually, senior defensive end Darrell Robertson ranks 13th nationally in tackles-for-loss and senior linebacker Philip Wheeler ranks 18th in sacks.
Tech Special Teams Have Been Outstanding
Armed with one of the nation's best punters and kickers, Georgia Tech is excelling in every facet of special teams. The Yellow Jackets rank first nationally in two special teams categories:
n Georgia Tech leads the nation in net punting (42.2 ypa). That's the result of senior Ray Guy Award Candidate Durant Brooks averaging 47.1 yards per punt (ranking No. 2 nationally) and the Yellow Jackets allowing just 5.2 yards per return.
- The Yellow Jackets rank 16th nationally in punt return defense (5.2 ypr).
- Only nine of Tech's 30 punts have been returned. Of those nine returns, four have gone for negative yardage.
- Tech's kickoff coverage team has been a good story. Last year the Yellow Jackets ranked 119th nationally in kickoff return defense. This year, they lead the nation. Opponents are averaging just 15.9 yards per kickoff return. Scott Blair, a freshman walk-on, handles Tech's kickoff duties.
- Georgia Tech leads the ACC and ranks seventh nationally in kickoff returns, averaging 28.1 yards per return. Three freshmen have combined for 10 of Tech's 14 kickoff returns including true freshman Jonathan Dwyer, who ranks second in the ACC and 34th nationally at 27.17 yards per return.
- The Jackets are solid in punt returns as well. Andrew Smith ranks fifth in the ACC and 39th nationally with an average of 12.0 yards per return. Tyler Evans ranks sixth in the ACC and 43rd nationally at 11.2 yards per return.
- Senior kicker Travis Bell has been remarkably consistent. He is 116-of-116 in career PATs. Bell has made 12-of-13 field goal attempts, including 10 consecutive and at least one in every game this season.
Donley, Special Teams Play Huge Role In Clemson Win
True freshman D.J. Donley, a receiver by trade, made two huge special teams plays in last Saturday's win over Clemson. He blocked a Clemson punt in the first quarter and recovered a Tiger fumble on a punt return in the fourth quarter.

Georgia Tech-Maryland Game Notes :: Yellow Jackets, Terrapins meet Saturday at 12:00

dirty · Oct 2, 2007

Re: Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

Choice is right as Jackets find their cure

By Furman Bisher | Saturday, September 29, 2007, 11:08 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Furman Bisher

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First, there was Notre Dame. A wipeout in South Bend. Georgia Tech’s stock rose like a bull market. Then Samford, nice little Samford, an easy means of giving bulk to the team stats. Then came Boston College, a worthy foe, but at home, couldn’t the Eagles have been had? Then news arrived that Michigan had wiped out Notre Dame, too. Maybe the Irish market had been overvalued.
Next came Virginia in Charlottesville, not one of Tech’s favorite places to hang out. But wait a minute, this wasn’t supposed to be a Wahoo year, and here they came. This was getting serious, from 2-0 to the bottom of the Coastal Division of the ACC. The silence was deafening, and meanwhile, Clemson was rolling along unbeaten, 4-and-0, and flexing its muscles. Clemson used to come to town for Bobby Dodd’s personal amusement, and that rankled Frank Howard. But those days are gone. The Tigers are no longer a delicacy on the plate of the big-city Yellow Jackets. They could slug it out with anybody, and here they came.
Second in total offense and passing in the ACC, leading scorer, leader in third-down conversions. If you had suggested to anyone with all his marbles that Clemson would kick a field goal in the first quarter and never score again, he’d have suggested a mental examination.
Mike Knobler had set forth his prescription for the Clemson cure in the Saturday paper, not that Dr. Knobler had it right on the nose, but the vitals were there. Tashard Choice had to be fired up, and he was an infernal flame the Tigers couldn’t put out. Taylor Bennett needed to improve his passing rating, and while that’s still in need of attention, he still kept order and managed to connect on seven of 15 launches for 67 yards. Then there was the order to keep the drives going and the Tigers backing up.
But this was the big one: Play defense early, and onward, and in the long run, this was defense’s day. This should not detract in any way from Choice and how much he contributed to the most vital stat of ball possession. Against the Wahoos, he was only half-Choice, not nearly physically ready to carry the load. This day, he simply ran the Tigers until they were out of breath and full of frustration. Thiry-two times the ball was his, and he delivered 145 of Tech’s 256 offensive yards and scored the only touchdown, which, in essence, put the Tigers away for the day. He made the most out of third downs and contributed mightily to that important figure of possession time.
In fact, Chan Gailey himself said he was shocked that Choice went as far as he did after a hamstring injury. “But if you stood in the locker room and heard him before the game and during halftime, it wouldn’t surprise you.”
Choice is an unusual young man, anything but a physical beast, 6-feet-1 and a trim 205 pounds. Frequently transfers don’t always work out this efficiently.
He had played behind the Heisman-hoopla-ed Adrian Peterson at Oklahoma, far removed from his home in Riverdale, and his mother, who was unable to travel. So, home he came, and it was no academic burden. He is on the All-ACC Academic Honor Roll, majoring in history, technology and society. On the field, he is what the old guard used to call a slashing runner, and apparently knows no fatigue.
Clemson kept its third-down efficiency high, but came up short on offensive consistency. And the field-goal kicker, Mark Buchholz, was 1-for-5 at his specialty. The thing was, Georgia Tech took charge of this game and never lost track of its purpose. Last year the Tigers’ James Davis had a track meet against Tech, 216 yards on foot. This Saturday at Bobby Dodd-Grant Field, the whole Tiger team was held to 34 yards on the ground.
There is new breath in the body, a thrumping spirit, and all this sandwiched around a day fraught with the interruption of something misconstrued as entertainment, during which we learned that Georgia Tech has an “official burrito.” Ole!
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Georgia Tech Football Information Thread for the Upcoming NCAA Football Season

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