Open competition in Tech secondary
Greetings-
Have a couple leftover bits from the Fred Holton story I wrote that ran in Monday’s paper. Aside from speaking with them about Holton, I asked secondary coach Charles Kelly a little about the position battles at the cornerback and safety spots (no starters return) and strength coach Neal Peduzzi about the work being put in by players this summer.
First, Kelly. As I think I mentioned in the story, Rashaad Reid and Isaiah Johnson finished spring ball as the starters with Holton just behind. Jemea Thomas is in the mix as well. Thomas will also get a look at cornerback.
As for Holton’s chances, “I think a lot of it depends on how much carryover he has from the spring,” Kelly said. “If you play physical like that, you’ll find somewhere for guys like that to play.”
Kelly said that the competition for the cornerback jobs is “going to be pretty open.” As you likely know, there’s some talent but also inexperience. Among the candidates — Rod Sweeting, Louis Young and Michael Peterson, who all lettered last season, and as well as Ryan Ayers and Thomas. Jamal Golden and Domonique Noble are incoming freshmen who will get a shot at cornerback.
Sweeting finished the season strong. Young didn’t get much playing time at corner last fall but played a lot on special teams and has good speed. They ended the spring as starters. For what it’s worth, Holton said Young has made a lot of progress this summer.
Thomas might have had the best spring of any secondary player. Peterson, a senior who graduated in December, probably has the best understanding of the defense. Ayers, who redshirted last fall, showed some promise in the spring.
I don’t get the sense that Kelly is sold on any of them. I’d say they’ve all shown the capacity to play but he’s looking for consistent performance.
“There’s some good competition,” Kelly said. “That’s what you always want.”
Peduzzi has been conducting testing for players this week in vertical jump, broad jump, bench press, squat, clean and pro agility drill. When I spoke with him last week, Peduzzi named four players who’d made notable progress – center Jay Finch, inside linebacker Daniel Drummond, offensive tackle Phil Smith and wide receiver Stephen Hill.
“I’m sure there’s some other people I’m forgetting, which is going to get me yelled at,” Peduzzi said with a laugh, “but those guys, they’ve definitely been working hard.
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119 comments Add your comment
RamblinRecluseRoad
July 3rd, 2011
2:14 pm
Secondary is important when one realizes how often offenses pass from shotgun formations these days. Not only is the position important, but the defensive coordinator and secondary coaches are important for this position. If DLs and LBs can’t sack a QB, which might be the case with a shotgun offense, then tremendous pressure is placed on the D secondary. We had a guy who played in the secondary and led the nation in interceptions when I was at Tech. His name was Jeff Ford, a white guy, and he was from Satellite Beach, FL. I’ll bet Jeff could teach the secondary some. What a gruelling position, having to stick to the receiver like glue and never let him behind you. No wonder those guys are flyweight and bantamweight-sized…they are really in shape, running on each play.
RamblinRecluseRoad
July 3rd, 2011
2:40 pm
1990’s right, passing must be included for Tech to be competitive. They’ve tried the run now since the CfA Bowl and the ACC championship with shared players from Gailey, and once those players were sent to NFL, we ran out of ability with the same plays used last year. Actually any team can look at Tech films and figure out the probability that Tech will run the same running plays every year, which is not good for Tech since there’s no element of surprise Tech really uses. We gotta use shotguns like everybody else, or else we’ll get creamed on the first few drives of each game. The momentum that gets built on the first few drives is usually enough to predict the outcome of the game these days. It used to be that Tech could win competitive thrillers like the games were in the Thrillerdome. I haven’t seen thrillers in a long time because Tech gets blown out early on…by passing. I think the game last year that was the biggest blowout was against NC State, where their QB outplayed Nez. What a shotgun clinic they showed CPJ, only using LOS QB lineups in or near the red zone. They also demonstrated complexity of plays way more so than Tech. Maybe we could hire Fridgen again as offensive coordinator to get more complexity. The last I heard was that he got fired by Maryland, and no one picked him up afterwards.
RamblinRecluseRoad
July 3rd, 2011
2:42 pm
no element of surprise Tech needs to use, not really uses, because it’s easy to read Tech’s offense, probably the easiest in college football, since it is known beforehend that they will not pass and that they will not line up in a shotgun
RamblinRecluseRoad
July 3rd, 2011
2:50 pm
How about “since there’s no element of surprise Tech uses under CPJ”? That’s the correct grammar. I only got 3 C’s and 3 B’s in English at Tech, not straight A’s. Also plz excuse “beforehend” in my third comment…I meant “beforehand”. I’ll shut up now since I’m making too many mistakes. I’ll go off on a recluse tangent.
GDBurdell
July 3rd, 2011
7:41 pm
Amazing enthusiasm from some real bonehead tek fans in here. Reminds me Tariq Aziz during the Iraq war. Tek is going to get slayed this year and I’ll be laughing hard as he.ll once again!!!!!
Elsa
July 3rd, 2011
10:30 pm
The athletic history of UGA is full of so many sordid, sleazy incidents – dating back to Vince Dooley and continuing through Mark Richt – that it’s impossible to overlook. The school has come to stand for drunkenness and lawlessness, coddling of illiterate athletes who should never have been admitted to college, and rampant cheating by coaches.
Sickening, really
needles
July 4th, 2011
6:07 am
Bib Macon Dog, you are so correct. Problem is Mark Richt can’t do squat with them and most of them can’t stay out of jail. Besides Tech does not have trailer skirting as a major.
Paddy
July 4th, 2011
9:36 am
needles……..they had trailer skirting at Tech. They had to drop the course because the trailer parks were requiring cinder block skirting and the professors didn’t have a clue of how to teach cinder block. Too bad, it could have changed the way the South looked at manufactured housing and Ga Tech. We will never know!!!!!!!!!!!
superDawg
July 4th, 2011
8:19 pm
TUCH FECK!
dawgfan
July 4th, 2011
9:57 pm
Crybaby Techie Handbook, Chapter 43, Section III, Subsection B, Page 567:
When faced with the crushing realization that your joke football program sucks, can’t be Georgia, and will most certainly never obtain even the slightest degree of relevance, do the following:
1. Cry to mommy
2. Make excuses about academics
3. Make up cowardly lies about how the other team cheated
4. Cry some more
5. Make up more cowardly lies about UGA
6. Cry even more
7. Make up more excuses about academics
8. Pretend your smarter and better than everyone else
9. Brag about leading the nation in rushing
10. Repeat steps 1 through 9
Thanks.
sho
July 4th, 2011
10:16 pm
h
Teddy Roosevelt
July 4th, 2011
11:59 pm
surprise surprise dawgfan doesn’t know basic grammar
GT93
July 5th, 2011
11:33 am
time for a new blog topic perhaps?
GT93
July 5th, 2011
11:47 am
… the usual flatulence from ‘dawgfan’ notwithstanding … I just figured its time for a new discussion.
GDBurdell
July 5th, 2011
8:24 pm
You left out all their “moral victories” dawgfan
dawgfan
July 5th, 2011
8:30 pm
See Chapter 57 GDBurdell.
OldSchoolTechFanatic
July 6th, 2011
11:30 am
Could we please get a new post about GT football !!! Thanks
The Bees Nees
July 6th, 2011
11:40 am
Is there any stories that you can give us to pass the time? I need my football fix.
dawgmatic
July 6th, 2011
12:07 pm
NERDS!!!!