Safety Morgan Burnett said on Thursday that he hasn’t decided if he will leave Georgia Tech early for the NFL.
A junior from College Park, Burnett has 77 tackles and four interceptions this season. Last season, he tied for the national lead with seven interceptions. It was the most by a Tech player since 1991.
Burnett said he will sit down with his family after the Orange Bowl on Jan. 5 and then they will decide what to do. He’s rated as the second-best safety by Mel Kiper, a draft analyst.
Paul Johnson is one of 10 finalists for the Liberty Mutual National Coach of the Year Award.
The Yellow Jackets, champions of the ACC, will play Iowa in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 5.
Johnson is 20-6 in two seasons at Tech, including 11-2 this season.
Other finalists include Texas’ Mack Brown, USC’s Pete Carroll, Temple’s Al Golden, Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly, Penn State’s Joe Paterno, TCU’s Gary Patterson, Alabama’s Nick Saban and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney.
It’s a slow time of the year. Tech is in finals so there’s no practices this week. They will resume next week, so I’ll be back with the blog then.
In the meantime, I thought I’d open the floor to you. I’d like to know who you think the team’s offensive MVP, defensive MVP, biggest surprise were this season.
Surprise can be player, play, game, moment….anything.
It appears that special teams coordinator and A-backs coach Jeff Monken will help coach Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
Monken recently accepted the head coaching position at Georgia Southern. He and the university held a press conference yesterday. It appears he may be splitting some time between Statesboro. The story on Southern’s website said that he has begun his duties for the Eagles.
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Item No. 2:
There’s going to be another Georgia Tech golfer on the PGA Tour: Cameron Tringale. He tied for 19th place at the tour Qualifying School with a 10-under par 422. He went 8-under in the event’s last two rounds.
He will join alumni Stewart Cink, Matt Kuchar, Troy Matteson, Bryce Molder and Nicholas Thompson (123rd) on the Tour in 2010.
It may not have the glitz of the battle of the unbeatens in the Fiesta, but the Orange Bowl will be a great matchup of offense vs. defense: Tech’s o’s vs. Iowa’s x’s. Or is it the other way around?
Either way, it should be fun to watch.
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said that he couldn’t remember the last time he faced a team that uses this much option, and that trying to simulate it in practice will be quite a challenge.
The Hawkeyes’ offense isn’t flashy, but with a defense as stout as Iowa’s is, they don’t have to be. A couple of scores here and there is all they need. It’s kind of like Tech’s defense. It doesn’t have to stop everyone all the time, just a couple a game seem to work fine.
Anyway, it’s beena long day so I’ll open it up to your thoughts about the matchup.
As always, follow the AJC’s coverage if Georgia Tech on facebook at http://bit.ly/7QyRsX
Georgia Tech is headed to the Orange Bowl with an 11-2 record.
Back in August, as I was driving back from a Falcons’ preseason game, I got a call from a national sports talk radio show that invited me to come on for a few seconds.
“What do yall want to talk about?” I asked.
“tech. My host thinks they are going to be the national champions,” the producer said.
“This year?” I asked.
“Yes” he said.
“Allright, I can see that,” I said.
And off we went.
Now, some 13-14 weeks later, the Yellow Jackets are the champions of the ACC.
But, let’s look back at the two losses. What would have happened had Tech not had three games in 12 days, with the last being at Miami? Would they have beaten the Hurricanes? Coach Paul Johnson said he watched film of the game a few weeks ago and that his players looked like they were running in quicksand they were so tired.
What if Tech had converted the fourth down against Georgia and kept its last drive going?
Ifs and buts, Ifs and buts. As Dwight …
Continue reading Orange Bowl-bound and the future of the program »
Larry Williams, who covers the Tigers for Rivals, was gracious enough to answer these five questions for me heading into the ACC championship game:
1. How is C.J. Spiller’s injury? Did it affect him during the South Carolina game? Has he practiced this week?
His toe injury has consistently nagged him all season. The Oct. 10 open date did him some good, but he’s going to need several weeks of rest to resolve it. He’s been limited in practice all year, so I doubt he did a whole lot this week. He was more affected by a stomach bug in the South Carolina game. He said he was holding down vomit on the sidelines after his 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown early. He definitely wasn’t himself. He also suffered a groin injury early in the game, but that appears to be fine.
2. Clemson’s defense seems to have given up quite a few more big plays the past few games, compared to the first few. Is there a common thread to the plays?
Virginia gashed the Tigers on one possession with …
A few weeks ago, as Georgia Tech’s volleyball team was on the verge of potentially missing out on at-large berth to the NCAA tournament after losses to Miami and Florida State, coach Tonya Johnson asked Paul Johnson to come talk to her women.
He not only came and spoke, he provided them with a little motivation with a sack of marbles.
He gave each player a marble and told them to keep it because they were playing for all the marbles.
Johnson said before each game they take the marbles from the girls, and then give them back after the game.
They are 3-0 since and will play Baylor in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday in Los Angeles.
Derrick Morgan picked up another honor today when he was named to American Football Coaches Association All-American team.
Morgan, a junior, has 12.5 sacks this season.
He is the fifth Jacket to pick up All-American honors the past five seasons. Can you name the previous four?
I have a note about this in tomorrow’s paper, but the loser of the ACC championship game could fall all the way to the Music City Bowl.
I’ll save the details for the print story (which I hope you read), but should the Jackets lose to Clemson, and fall to Nashville, will you go back to Music City for the second time this year?
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Also curious to get your thoughts on C.J. Spiller winning both the player of the year, and the offensive player of the year. Seems odd to me that one player can win both, but I don’t make up the rules. Not saying he’s not deserving, but it should be one or the other.
It should be pointed out that he ws second-team running back, and first-team specialist.
I wasn’t surprised that Nesbitt finished second, but I did think he would receive more votes.
Continue reading Bowls, bowls, bowls and awards, awards, awards »
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