Archive for August, 2009

Well, it was another hot one, this time at Bobby Dodd.

Tech ran an extended 11-on-11 drill on Saturday, in front of a few hundred fans (unofficial count).

There were some interesting moments:

Josh Nesbitt had a crafty touchdown run: he took the snap, took a step back and stood up looking left for what seemed like a second. He then tucked the ball and weaved his way to the end zone.

Tech ran a reverse pitch, in which the QB runs right or left, and then pitches to a wide receiver heading the other way, with great success throughout most of the day. Finally, the defense figured it out and stuffed the play.

Speaking of the defense, it was putting some licks on some players. Jaybo Shaw seemed to take the brunt of it. Sedric Griffin and Jerrard Tarrant really stuck their facemasks into his chest. His helmet popped off four times (unofficial count).

It’s still hard to tell how the depth chart is shaking out.

For example, this is who started on either side of the line on …

Continue reading Day 6 in the books »

Hey, folks

It’s Ken Sugiura here, pinch-hitting for Doug.

The Jackets completed their first practice in full pads Friday, a roughly two-hour session that featured a couple scraps as tempers flared in the heat.

Among the players standing out on the day was redshirt freshman Quentin Sims, who mad ea couple nice catches on deep balls in passing drills.

The offense installed different elements of their package, including screen passes and misdirection plays. They looked pretty sharp in doing so, the screens in particular.

There were three scraps, the second between defensive end Anthony Egbuniwe and B-back Anthony Allen. Both ended up on the ground and perhaps a dozen players entered the fray to break it up.

Coach Paul Johnson chalked it up to the heat and the raised intensity from playing in pads.

The team will do some 11-on-11 work in Bobby Dodd Stadium at 9 a.m. 9:45 a.m. The session will be open to the public. The team will also have its fan day at Bobby Dodd from 3 p.m. to 6 …

Continue reading Day 5 in the books »

Alright, Techsters. Some things that you might be interested in happened today during practice:

The quarterbacks, to this untrained eye, looked very good. Though the receivers had some problems holding onto the ball, the QBs were hitting them throughout the drills.

On to special teams: Chandler Anderson was crushing punts during drills. Lots of hangtime. I have no idea about the distances because we were watching from the back, and not the side. But, they looked good. 

Of course, it must be pointed out that kickers were going without a rush coming at them. As Paul Johnson says, the games gets a bit different when live bodies start flying around.

One of the fun drills of the day is when a receiver lines up on either side and runs straight down the sideline. The quarterbacks throw the ball downfield and the receivers try to make a play. Stephen Hill and Quentin Sims were snaring passes in that exercise. Demaryius Thomas did, as well. 

No injuries today. Antonio Foster injured …

Continue reading Day 4 in the books »

Well, there was some hitting today, as documented in the print story in Thursday’s paper. Not a lot, but the players were excited.

Dominique Reese said he was glad to do some hitting because he didn’t feel like the defense played well in the T-Day game back in the spring.

Josh Nesbitt was glad to see others get hit. The quarterbacks made several good plays in 7-on-7 drills on the afternoon, and the defense made some interceptions as well. Nesbitt said he felt more relaxed on Wednesday in the passing drills than he did the previous two days. He had one very pretty pass down the seam to Marcus Wright that had perfect touch on it.

Toward the end of practice it seemed that Paul Johnson had seen enough and brought the players together for an 11-on-11 drill. It was getting fairly rowdy. No tackles were supposed to be made, so when someone knocked down Jonathan Dwyer on a run up the middle voices were raised.

In stuff-that-was-cool-to-see-but-may-not-mean-much-department:

Mammoth …

Continue reading Day 3 in the books »

Well, day 2 is over and it would seem that everyone is anxious to put on some pads and start hitting, coach Paul Johnson especially. Not that he’s going to hit anybody, but you get the idea.

The first two days have been mostly about giving the coaches opportunities to view the players, particularly the freshmen. Other than defensive end Emmanuel Dieke, who enrolled at Tech in the spring, none of the new players have been at Rose Bowl field practicing until Monday. The coaches want to see what they’ve got to work with. It’d be like getting 20-something Christmas gifts, but not being able to open them until Memorial Day. 

The quarterbacks looked much smoother in the drills on Tuesday. Josh Nesbitt made some very strong, laser-like throws, as did Jaybo Shaw (who has a nice touch) and Tevin Washington. 

There hasn’t been too many position switches yet, other than the one documented in the story in Tuesday’s paper.

Coach Johnson was asked if anybody stood out and he basically said …

Continue reading Day 2 in the books »

Well, it was a hot one, for sure.

But, all the players made it through, with what looked like just one player, linebacker Brandon Watts, suffering from what looked like cramps.

The defensive linemen and special teams units beat the others out. Defensive line coach Giff Smith was fired up with his players, some of whom didn’t do a drill the way he wanted. So he made them to do it all over again.

The quarterbacks looked shaky at times, but it was just the first day. At one point the two freshmen qbs had fumbles on six of eight possessions, mostly on the snap. Overall, passes fluttered, passes bounced, passes went a few yards too far, but again that’s the be expected on the first day of practice. As I wrote in the print story, there were some nice plays too.

The other news, which was posted on ajc.com, is that Kamaron Riley has left the team, and that Kyle Jackson hopes to be back in time for the season-opener. 

Roddy Jones, wearing a don’t-you-dare-touch-him-gold-jersey, was out …

Continue reading First day in the books »

Alright, it appears that the team is checked in (with one exception) and ready to officially start the 2009 season.

I wrote a story that will appear in Monday’s paper (it’s already online), with five issues that I think are most important for Tech to address in August. Again, these aren’t season-long issues (such as the questions asked by many about the offense). These are issues which plagued the team last year: red-zone scoring, special teams, enough healthy scholarship players, etc.

So, I’m going to keep this blog short, but I hope to get a lot of comments from yall:

What issues/areas of concern do you think are most important for the team to work on during August? And, most importantly, why?

Which players who were subs last year (or still in high school) do you think will step up and win starting jobs during the next 34 days?

And, lastly but of the most importance, what are you season’s predictions, both wins and losses, awards, etc. I said a few blogs ago that I thought …

Continue reading Day 1, your hopes and dreams »