A look at Georgia Tech’s offensive line
I felt bad leaving you without a blog for two weeks, so I cobbled this together, using colleague Tim Tucker’s capsule on the Georgia blog. A few more will be coming.
THE OFFENSIVE LINE
- Returning starters: T Phil Smith, C Sean Bedford, T Austin Barrick.
- Others to watch: Guard Omoregie Uzzi and the versatile Nick Claytor saw lots of snaps last season. Guard Nick McRae looked very good in the spring and there are many redshirted players, including Will Jackson and Ray Beno, waiting in the wings.
- Key losses: All-ACC guard Cord Howard graduated and is now with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. The other starter, Joe Gilbert, will graduate this summer and has transferred to Georgia State. Starting tackle Brad Sellers graduated.
- Key fact: The Jackets led the ACC by averaging 295.4 rushing yards a game last season. They were 87.2 yards ahead of the next-best team, Virginia Tech.
- Key fact II: The Jackets were second in that category in the NCAA, behind Nevada (344.92 ypg).
- Key question: Will the two new guards be able to step in and play as well as last season’s did? Coach Paul Johnson has said the line played well, but there is lots of room to improve.
- Recent developments: Other than the transfers of Gilbert and backup Clyde Yandell, not much.
- Outlook: Should be fine, but we will see. It’s tough to lose that many starters on the line.
- Your turn: What say you about the offensive line?
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249 comments Add your comment
Why???
June 15th, 2010
10:42 am
Enter your comments here
Reality Stinks
June 15th, 2010
10:44 am
Hey you want it to stop
Just tell people like POAD, St. Simons, Buzz etc to stay out of our blogs
Man up...
June 15th, 2010
10:48 am
To all, Dawgs post like this more often when the article gives us any kind of hope. Look at the trend. IF the article is about Tech improving in any area or getting recruits they HAVE to post to maintain their current worldview whihc will never accept anything other than an inferior and possibly foreign or demonic technical institute versus their God-ordained juggernaut “flagship university” team from a holy city. The chink in the armor is purely emotional…we call it fear. They deny it with more poisonous comments, but they betray it simply by paying attention to us all day long. Somewhere deep down their obsession with GT football grows everytime they hear we might be improving in some aspects. They were there for the ending of the “lay down and die” era in Athens, and they saw how close last year’s game was to being won by our team – despite being dominant in the trenches they can’t deny it came down to #8’s single dropped pass. Fear. Fear that when they can’t win the SEC or even beat their “main rival” Florida that they still might have endure the reality that Tech has been on the rise and won’t stop. The rivalry is real again. That’s why their here. Bask in their vitriol as a vote of confidence in our program. They wouldn’t bother if they didn’t think so.
Have at it, Dawgs. Thanks for all the publicity!
Man up...
June 15th, 2010
10:52 am
Reality, it aint about makin’ deals son. Be responsible for yourself. We don’t own the other bloggers. They make their choices. If you retaliate that’s your own classless act, sir. Blame-shifting is for middle schoolers.
RambleOn84
June 15th, 2010
10:52 am
RealityStinks,
As human beings, we can only control our own actions. I can’t tell those posters not to go on your boards. It’s none of my business whether they do or don’t. But I won’t go on there and post garbage.
Likewise, you have the choice to come on here and post negativity or be happy with your own articles.
RambleOn84
June 15th, 2010
10:53 am
Couldn’t have said it better, Man up…
If only.....
June 15th, 2010
10:55 am
Attention POAD, St. Simons, Buzz etc. Please stay out of the UGA blogs. You are upsetting Reality stinks. Now, that we have complied with policing our own you may leave.
Delbert D.
June 15th, 2010
11:05 am
Technique of the offensive line is a key in this offense. The option does not really require “road graders.” Phil Smith (the “Are you stupid??” sideline one-way chat with CPJ) demonstrated that that he is very coachable. He started several games when Barrick went down and made the All-ACC Freshman team. Smith’s subsequent injury had Tech down to the 3rd string in the last 2 games.
Tech’s experienced heavy players are short at 6′1″ to 6′3″, but as with the Falcons’ offense 5 years ago, agility in the cut-blocking technique is a key. 1st Team All-ACC center Sean Bedford started last year, with the previous year’s starter (Dan Voss) as his backup. The quality of the depth will depend on how the redshirts and last year’s third team players developed in the offseason ans spring. Since both Barrick and Smith missed the spring, those backups got a lot of work.
Why???
June 15th, 2010
11:06 am
Reality,
I am only responsible for my own actions, I cannot control what others choose to do. I learned this lesson as a child. I am truly sorry that you feel bad about your program and that tech posters go to UGA blogs and make you feel inadequate, but two wrongs do not make a right. Yet another lesson most of us learned from childhood. Now, if you are still an adolescent, then perhaps we can give you a pass, this may be the opportunity for you to learn these lessons. If you are an adult, then you are just sad.
Man up...
June 15th, 2010
11:06 am
I’m of the opinion his title “Reality Stinks” is aptly chosen. He really must hate reality. Think of how often they would all try to convince us that Tech is evil and wrong for being diverse (having students from many countries and from all walks of life gets called “training terrorists” while having a homosexual on the flagline twenty years ago is also somehow wrong and evil). For comaprison, in their collective opinion, Georgia has never had a homosexual student or a Muslim one nor a fat one (all the ladies are actually Playboy bunnies and the guys are all Abercrombie models, if you haven’t heard). When. of course, by enrollment numbers they probably have a greater number of BOTH! They’re all actually SO much smarter than us too and simply “chose not to attend Tech.” And finally, they’d have us believe we have never had a good team or season and will never ever have one. Not in football, not in basketball, not in baseball and certainly not in the bank account department.
Yeah, I’d say a look at reality for them would seriously stink!
messin with.........
June 15th, 2010
11:11 am
still say dogboi’s are just like sasquatch.
If only.....
June 15th, 2010
11:12 am
Reality,
Now that I have told the bad men to leave you alone, do you feel better, safer? Just let me know if there is any thing else daddy can do for you.
Man up...
June 15th, 2010
11:14 am
Ok, all that said, we have also gotten commitments from some really big and mobile O-line recruits so far for 2011. Not that they’ll play as freshmen. CPJ, loves the redshirt season to have ‘em learn and grow bigger. But if the line isn’t great soon, it looks to be in coming years.
KeithB
June 15th, 2010
11:15 am
I think they will be fine. The center returning and the guards having snaps last season will help. They need to just hold on until CPJ’s guys get in there. I think it will go really well then. I agree that NC is going to have a top D unit. That will be a big test. The Defense needs to, and I think will, step it up. Every team loses players. They just have to pick up the pieces and keep on truckin’. Can’t wait for toe to meet leather.
Flagboy....
June 15th, 2010
11:17 am
Man Up…. You sound like my kind of “Man”…. Can we MAN-UP together??… Toodles,FLAGBOY,GT’11…..
KeithB
June 15th, 2010
11:24 am
UGA should go to the ACC. Maybe they’d win something in the next 30 years. That or they need to bring back Herschel.
Beat UF
michael
June 15th, 2010
11:30 am
WHY AND WERE DID CLYDE YANDELL TRANSFER TO?
Reality Stinks
June 15th, 2010
11:32 am
Charles would you please pass the Grey Poupon
Yes My Dear
Oh those Dreadful Uga fans are just disgusting I do say
They are so loud and so many of them. They have a 92,000 seat stadium and that still isnt enough to contain them
Yes Lady Belveder that they are quite the rabid fan
Why cant they just have 58 or so fans like us with petite little stadium and enjoy a quite peaceful game of tag football
There there my dear we cant have everything we want in life
Come to think of of it is quite dreadful having to watch our team get pummeled every year
Servant could you please get me 2 cubes of sugar for my tea, just thinking about this truth leaves a bitter taste in my mouth
That will be quite enough Charles, cheer up we have a new coach who has brought us gifts from afar, such as the MIDDLE SCHOOL OPTION VEER, we will win again someday in the next decade or two!!
Man up...
June 15th, 2010
11:36 am
Hey there, Flagboy, you know since I’m not a redneck homophobe who barks at anything painted red we could actually have a beer together without you feeling like you’re about to get lynched. We’re glad you’re at Tech, sir, and we thank you for carrying our colors onto Grant Field to represent the only fanbase in the deep South who are “too busy to hate.” And don’t let the dawgs get to ya, son. It’s not like their male cheerleaders are all lookin’ up the ladies’ skirts, know what I mean? Maybe your top ten degree in any one of hundreds of technological and business-realted fields will launch you into the stratosphere of society – a place where you’ll rarely if ever deal with a Bulldog (well, ones that aren’t from Yale, anyway). Spin it proud young man. Let them show their true colors by continuing to hate. Know that it’d be much worse if you were Muslim. One thing’s for sure, the only thing you need to be a Yellow Jacket is a brain and a work ethic. Go Jackets!
Savannah Jacket
June 15th, 2010
11:36 am
Doug thanks for checking in on us and posting a new article. I personally believe that the O-Line will be stronger this year than last. Once the guys that we have been red-shirting the past two years get in there you will see much more mobile, quicker guys of the same size. This is what we have to have to beat the better teams. Its hard to block a guys when your pulling guard/tackle can’t make it to the block. Things are going going to get better.
Go Jackets
BIG BEE
June 15th, 2010
11:53 am
GT=GEORGIA TOILET, hey idiot, let me explain something to you. The 2 O-linemen from GT, actually graduate in June. They are academic seniors, but have 1 year left to play FB. Now see if you can understand this–The are graduating in 3 years, which may be out of the scope of your understanding. GSU has their masters program, GT does not. I am not sure if you ever had a FB player smart enough to graduate in 3 years.
BigTimeTechFan
June 15th, 2010
12:18 pm
“Perhaps CPJ is doing a good job recruiting players for his system, but his system doesn’t work against bigger, better teams.”
Fact is CPJ has a great history of beating bigger and better teams:
Miami, FSU, UNC, Clemson, UGA, Va Tech all have history of recuiting better rated player and Tech competes with all of them. At Navy his team were competing with every team they played and all of them had “better” player recuiting wise.
CPJ is one of the best coaches in the country. Very good OL coach, so they will do well. That being said they may be better this year but record may not show it because most of the team we play will be a lot better then last year, Va Tech, UNC, UGA, Miami.
Reality
June 15th, 2010
12:22 pm
Well said BIG BEE, “Graduation” is a novel concept for most of UGA players as well as most of their fans.
Reality
June 15th, 2010
12:24 pm
I agree BigTimeTechFan. Good coaching often trumps good talent.
StingerSplash
June 15th, 2010
1:23 pm
Michael,
Like Joseph Gilbert, Clyde Yandell graduated EARLY and applied to get into Tech’s graduate school. They could not get in and opted to apply for Georgia State’s graduate business school. They gained entrance and tried to work out a deal to attend GSU grad school and play for Tech, but could not make it work.
collegeballfan
June 15th, 2010
1:23 pm
I look for big things from Uzzi. He really played well last year when he was in the game. I cannot figure McRae; he came in with a lot fanfare. Is he just not a fit for this blocking scheme?
Reality Stinks
June 15th, 2010
1:30 pm
Ah yes Mrs Belvedere good coaching does trump talent and we at Tech believe in graduating all our football players with a business degree my dear, no matter how we give it to them.
Its all about perception dear Charles, academic perception, ha ha ha a ha
Coach Paul Johnny Apple Seed is a great coach, we have shown that in bowl games
Pass me a tea cake my dear I’m feeling good about myself
I think we should do society a favor and donate several hundred peso’s to go to the cleaning up of North Ave.
Yes, lets do our part to get rid of all the dreadful high crime surrounding our beautiful campus
gt
June 15th, 2010
1:51 pm
Gilbert made some bonehead mental mistakes last year. I am not real sure leaving was his idea. And if it wasn’t his idea then you wonder what is on the bench that allowed that to happen. I am thinking a smarter more suited player or players will show their talent and intelligence this year. Like Johnson said, “room for improvement” and he meant it.
GTman
June 15th, 2010
1:52 pm
I think this year will tell if Paul Johnson can recruit his type of players and coach them to be successful at this level of football. I think he can, but it still remains to be seen. Even this year the QB and B-back are not his recruits. I will be impressed if we can continue to compete with 3 star and a few 4 star athletes versus teams with mostly 4 star and a few 5 star athletes. I like the way CPJ is redshirting the guys. I believe a 3 star redshirt is equal to a 4 star. 5 star athletes however, are usually another step above.
Go Jackets!
Reality Stinks
June 15th, 2010
1:56 pm
Ah yes Mrs Belvedere
This year we will find out if Coach Paul Johny Apple Seed has moved from recruiting middle school caliber players to high school caliber players
Could you pass me some tea this dreadful Atlanta heat is making me delusional again. For a minute there I thought we were playing for a national title
Ha ha ha ha ha hahha
Reality Stinks
June 15th, 2010
2:02 pm
Rats
Rotten Uga fan just littered our yard with dog poop, call one of our Janitorial Engineers to clean this mess up.
Dreadful, just dreadful
mcdawghna
June 15th, 2010
2:04 pm
It is true, GT’s offence has never, and can’t succeed against teams with real athletes….gimmicks only work but so long then they are figured out……Give PJ credit for being gutsy enough to give it a try, but only in the weak ACC of the Big East can it work……the other conferences have superior athletes which shows on the big stage…….It will be hard for Tech to land a big time QB or tail back into their system….all the big timers want to go somewhere where they might turn pro…..your offence does’nt showcase big time tallent…….just ask your running back from last year…..bet he wishes he went to UGA, FLA,ALA, etc……he had too much tallent to have it wasted in a gimmick system………guess its a good thing the conferences did’nt get realigned huh, at least this way GT can stay competitive in a weak conference…….can you immagine how bad it would be for you if you actually had to play big time ball in a big time conference?…….
DawginLex
June 15th, 2010
2:11 pm
No dawg in this fight
but I will weigh in. The OL will be fine but will lack depth which could hurt given the type of offense being run. The DL is the problem. Al Groh can’t fix that in one year. Expect some improvement simply because of the scheme and Groh’s knowledge but shootouts will be the norm, not the exception.
I still see VT as the team to beat with GT next in line. 9-3?
RambleOn84
June 15th, 2010
2:14 pm
I’m pretty sure all of those arguments were the same before the 2008 season. Two years and 20 wins later, you look like a fool.
Get yourself some new material or build a time machine to go back to 2008 when people actually might listen to your garbage and think you’re smart.
Reality Stinks
June 15th, 2010
2:32 pm
We at UGA are going to win the NC this year!! You ask why? Because we are UGA. We should win it every year but the refs keep making bad calls and our players get thrown in jail or kicked off the team. But this year is different…look our Gators we finally going to win one…no more 4th in the SEC East!!!
Still???
June 15th, 2010
2:34 pm
Still in here spewing nonsense after 5+ hours, Reality? That is one sad reality indeed. I see someone questioned your maturity earlier, no response, but your posts seem to support that you are in fact a juvenile. Enjoy your frustration.
Golden Tornado
June 15th, 2010
2:38 pm
It’s hard to predict just how good a three or four star recruit will be at the collegiate level. Remember that a lot of players who turned out to be super-talented or special didn’t mature into great players until their third or fourth years.
Some four star recruits turn out to be average because their extra-ordinary play in HS is due to them maturing physically earlier than their peers. Then, after the players reach full maturity, those that developed earlier suddenly look average because it is now a level playing field.
I think our O-line will be serviceable this year, but I must say I am very impressed and proud of Sean Bedford. A 3.8 in Aerospace is nigh impossible, but to pull that off, while playing full time football, and to get and “A” on senior design the same semester that he helped GT win a conference championship, that’s amazing.
GT Fan
June 15th, 2010
2:43 pm
mcdawghna, Being a good team in a weak conference beats being a weak team in a good conference (like UGA in SEC).
Golden Tornado
June 15th, 2010
2:43 pm
And it’s true, big DE’s give GT trouble. I expect UNC to be a tough game, but their Offense underperforms so horribly each year, that their Defense just can’t compensate. I think we’ll win that by a misleading 10 to 14 points.
Fillin' up @ Juniors
June 15th, 2010
2:52 pm
I have read many of the blogs here on the AJC, and I am noticing that many of the UGA fans actually go to multiple blogs and say the same thing. Is a lack of creativity a sign of a lack in intelligence?… I believe so. If you are going to hate at least be orginal so that I dont have to read the same lame insults on each blog…
mcdawghna
June 15th, 2010
2:59 pm
GT Fan….Are you dillusional or what?………Have you bothered to look at UGA’s record in the SEC……SEC titles won in the Richt era, top ten and top five finishes, road record, BOWL record, which by the way, theyve won more BCS bowls than your conference combined, and their record against your Jackets?……..and we’re weak?….pfffffttttt…….now even you know you made a stupid statement there……..you know as well as I do that you cant compete in the SEC……UGA’s worst record in a decade was last years 8-5, which is typically a great year for you guys……I give you props, you’ve won 20 games in 2 yrs, which is more that you usually win in 3 or 4 yrs……but most of those 20 were’nt against the big boys……..with that being said, we have our struggles against Fla as well
juniors
June 15th, 2010
3:07 pm
Only reason UGA fans are over here is because of payback for idiots like St Simons, stinger, ramble on, 4 ncs, etc. that are always on the UGA blogs.
DawginLex
June 15th, 2010
3:12 pm
I tried to make a reasonable comment.
Guess it is a waste of time.
Man up...
June 15th, 2010
3:19 pm
Reality Stinks, we’re all still laughing at you, son. Jealousy doesn’t become you, but we’ll take the publicity. Just keep the comments coming!
mcdawghna, calm down a little. yes, yall have had great SEC success in the last decade with Richt at the helm. I think, however, that the fan your responding to was making his comments based on the last 2 seasons. As for our 20 wins not being against the big boys, sure, give us about 4 or 5 against some cupcakes, but some of those cupcakes were in your league. There are some big wins in those 20 that you’re not mentioning. Handling FSU twice after 25+ years of never doing that is a sign of health for our program by anyone’s standard. Beating VT was big – their season was still impressive and finished stronger than ours. We dominated UNC – watch whether they put up a fight this year against LSU.
Sure, Georgia beat us in the trenches all game, but you still had to pray as it all came down to one dropped pass. And, yeah, Iowa’s big DE’s were tougher than even Georgia’s. We still had flashes of comeback in that game. We were never a terrible team, and now we’re consistently a “good” team. We’re definitely not fading, that’s for sure. But you all know that, don’t you. After all, that’s why you’re here.
You don’t have to give Georgia Tech all the credit we deserve, but our team’s current title is still properly pronounced “Atlantic Coast Conference Champions”. Sound it out if you have to.
Reality Stinks
June 15th, 2010
3:21 pm
Oh Mrs Belvedere darling
Our fellow Techies Rambleon84, and a few other Dimwits seem to think we hired the right Coach for our top rated athletic program.
What do you think about the Middle School Option Veer?
Charles whatever ha ha ha ha, don’t you know that we have the greatest coach to ever coach a football game. I mean just look at our bowl results and last years result from a middle of the road SEC team in UGA.
We hired the right man for the job. Now ask the help if our fish is done frying
Eisendawg
June 15th, 2010
3:23 pm
You should be commended DawginLex. Usually comments are meant to be insightful, aggravating, humurous, or hateful. I’ll take the insightful or funny anyday.
Cleaning Bathrooms at The Varsity
June 15th, 2010
3:24 pm
I went to Tech and got my Janitorial Engineering degree look where I’m at now!
Man up...
June 15th, 2010
3:25 pm
Glad we’re on your mind, Dawgs. Keep it coming. Do you have any time left for your own blogs? I hear you still have a team to talk about (despite what the rest of the SEC thinks).
mcdawghna
June 15th, 2010
3:25 pm
MAN UP! Point taken……..you come with some intelligence……
Reality Stinks
June 15th, 2010
3:26 pm
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