Finch, Jackson cleared to play for Georgia Tech
Greetings-
Just finished the Paul Johnson news conference. Some highlights:
1. Johnson gave kudos to Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, noting his run of 18 seasons with eight wins or more in the past 19 years. “What he’s been able to accomplish is remarkable,” he said. “That’s kind of hall of fame numbers there.”
2. Center Jay Finch and guard Will Jackson are ready to practice Monday after sitting out last week’s practice recovering from lower leg and neck injuries, respectively. Johnson said if the game were today, both would be available to play. Johnson said it’s possible having Finch in could change the dynamics of the offense in terms of play calls.
“But we haven’t done a whole lot of that,” he said. “We didn’t do anything differently with Nick that we would have done with Jay.”
3. In response to Hokies defensive coordinator Bud Foster reportedly changing up his line-up for Tech in order to get more speed and experience on the field, Johnson said it’s a tactic he’s used before and won’t change how he tries to attack Virginia Tech. Previously, he said, the Hokies have used defensive back Kyle Fuller at middle linebacker.
“I’m sure they’re trying to get their best athletes on the field like everybody else,” Johnson said.
4. Johnson said that inside linebacker Quayshawn Nealy has earned a starting spot, moving ahead of Daniel Drummond. Nealy subbed for Drummond after he sustained a leg injury in the N.C. State game and has started the four games since. Johnson credited the confidence Nealy has gotten from playing time on sub packages and in the place of Drummond.
“I think he’s kind of earned his playing time,” he said.
5. A key to defending Virginia Tech quarterback Logan Thomas is “getting him out of his spot,” Johnson said, and not letting him gain yards on the run. “And you hope that he doesn’t get hot, because when he goes hot, he goes in streaks. He got hot in the Miami game and he was unbelievable.”
6. A-back Tony Zenon “just hasn’t been in the mix” lately in the rotation, Johnson said. He said that Zenon has been practicing hard, but that “we’ve gotten into a pattern where we play with three guys and two of them happen to be seniors,” meaning Roddy Jones and Embry Peeples, along with Orwin Smith.
7. Johnson said the pre-game routine for a Thursday night game is to have breakfast and perhaps a couple special teams meetings in the morning, along with meetings for any players or position groups that want to meet, and then a devotional four hours and 15 minutes prior to kickoff, followed by a team meal, and then meetings for offense and defense.
A brief team meeting comes after that, and then the bus ride over to the stadium.
He said the staff will likely set up a movie for players to watch for two reasons.
One, an NCAA rule forbids paying for a movie at a team hotel on the day of a game and second, said Johnson, “You can only watch Judge Joe Brown so long.”
Johnson had no explanation for the NCAA rule. “They’ve got a lot of things I don’t have an idea about,” he said.
Thanks for reading. The kickoff time for the Duke game hopefully should be coming out within the hour.
Please follow on Facebook and Twitter.
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech beat
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125 comments Add your comment
5150 UOAD
November 7th, 2011
4:19 pm
Pol Blo………………if you are not an ACC team’s fan, then why are you on a TECH Blog?
you said NC’s so the only ACC teams that really win NC’s are DUKE and UNC in basketball. MNC winners were won (not in the ACC) would be Miami or FSU. So, Exactly who are you a fan of?
Police Blotter
November 7th, 2011
4:20 pm
You had mentioned basketball with the Tobacco Road teams so a little confused on wanting to stick to football only….understandable as this is not exactly a shining star for the conference now is it?
macrotech
November 7th, 2011
4:20 pm
Police Blotter, over/under? About the same for the number of hicks in athens in relation to nervous sheep! Hope that helps…just being a good host!
yeller bug
November 7th, 2011
4:20 pm
5150: Actually, NCSU has 2 NCs in B-ball–one under Norm Sloan in 75 and the other with Jimmy V in 83.
As for football—it’s all on Tech—they’ve play good enough and bad enough to win or lose all of their remaining games regardless of the opponent. VPI has a better D, but a more less explosive O than Clemson. Duke can beat Tech if we play like we did at Miami and UGA, despite their talent, does not seem to have the discipline, focus and team leadership to be really good—that’s their smoking bong…er gun. They’ll probably lose to Auburn although I would prefer they do well until the Tech game. Hopefully the Clemson game reflects a Tech team beginning to hit their stride—if not, it’ll be a crap shoot every week.
Police Blotter
November 7th, 2011
4:20 pm
War Eagle!!
juvenal
November 7th, 2011
4:21 pm
it’s only an hour, never change some of them..as long as it took to get his name on the masthead, i don’t think Ken has much control over it…….
Police Blotter
November 7th, 2011
4:24 pm
Maryland in Basketball won it all with Gary Williams…..beat the Hoosiers
Police Blotter
November 7th, 2011
4:26 pm
Maryland won championship in basketball (Fear the Turtle) under Gary Williams……beat the Hoosiers
gtfanfrom1951
November 7th, 2011
4:28 pm
Just win the next three!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!please
59jacket
November 7th, 2011
4:28 pm
Ken’s reporting is great! Wish we had a few bloggers who offered some insight instead of this back and forth bickering. How about giving opinions about the team performance in the game? Deal with answers you have about the game. Answer questions that arise in your minds. Examples such as: Why did the team play with such intensity against Clemson after not showing up for the other ACC games? What packages were used on defense that were not used earlier in the season? Why was our running game so much more effective?
Jimbo
November 7th, 2011
4:35 pm
Hey Police Blotter……….maybe before you try to criticize people regarding………their use of the English…..language, you should try……studying up on the………proper use of………………………an ellipsis.
5150 UOAD
November 7th, 2011
4:42 pm
juvenal………….Schultz changed his Blog clock a few hours ago. Schultz’s is right now. I am guessing Ken can adjust his too. A few of the blog clock were off to start the day so it must not be the AJC, but the individual reporter posting on their computer/laptop.
5150 UOAD
November 7th, 2011
4:43 pm
Pol Blo…………thanks for living up to saying you correct ERRORS.
What team do you cheer for? Put it down in writing on the BLOG!
Saban
November 7th, 2011
4:44 pm
Never like Beamer. He whines too much. Would like to play Virgina Tech in a bowl. Put 50 on them and go back and get ready for LSU next year.
5150 UOAD
November 7th, 2011
4:45 pm
DALLAS…………….not usually
GT Dude
November 7th, 2011
4:45 pm
@GT Jason,
couldn’t stop laughing, still am as I type…
now that is how a player gets back at a coach who made him run stadium steps
spider
November 7th, 2011
4:46 pm
wow the ncaa says no to movies being paid for anymore but they dont say anything to BYU cheating on the field in a game that changed the outcome of the game and put them in a bowl game..ncaa is 2nd worse organization in the would right after al quida.
Police Blotter
November 7th, 2011
4:46 pm
Quite the blog you have here girls….it is now 2 hours ahead vs. correct time…..Spring forward / fall back…..can you girls get anything correct?
Police Blotter
November 7th, 2011
4:48 pm
microtech…….no arguements on nervous sheep…..kind of like nervous dweebs venturing out to North Avenue….
Police Blotter
November 7th, 2011
4:51 pm
I think Fear the Turtle has a NC in basketball and The U a couple in baseball…..
Police Blotter
November 7th, 2011
4:54 pm
No really it is not…..just trying to help all the errors….please do tell where I made a mistake and corrections will be made……it is ok to strive for perfection….try it some time.
Golden Tornado
November 7th, 2011
4:57 pm
Why all the joking? Virginia Tech has some top talent – I’m scared they’re going to run us out of our own house.
andre
November 7th, 2011
5:03 pm
thats great adding nealy to the starting lneup he is a play maker now do the same thing with jema thomas please
5150 UOAD
November 7th, 2011
5:15 pm
Pol Blo…….baseball is not on the radar. You still have not I.D. you team. you scared or something?
that was no homeless man
November 7th, 2011
5:16 pm
that was pulpwood doing what he does best after his shift at mcdonalds.
i heard that he was busing uga football players to atlanta for easy pickings around tech.
GIVE ME A BREAK
November 7th, 2011
5:16 pm
argument.
5150 UOAD
November 7th, 2011
5:18 pm
Pol Blo………..you said NC’s and NCSU has 1 so that is not NC’s. This is football season so please don’t say you want to talk the B..Ball sports.
WHO do you say you are fan of?
GT
November 7th, 2011
5:18 pm
I’m with you Golden Tornado…
any truth to the rumor that the next
November 7th, 2011
5:19 pm
AD for uga is Herman ‘i never saw a white women i didnt like’ Caine ?
Tokyo jacket
November 7th, 2011
5:20 pm
“Frank Beamer,” you’re an idiot. There are only two schools (note schools, not coaches) that have even won 6 games more consecutive times than Beamer has won 8 – and both of those have struggled to get to 6 wins of late. HoF is a body of work and Beamer has a body of work. LSU, OSU, Bama, Miami, UGA, Texas, USC, Notre Dame, and Michigan have all had losing seasons since the last time Frank Beamer didn’t win 8 games at what used to be a quite little agricultural school in the mountains between Virginia and West Virginia. They don’t have the resources of any of the programs I listed above, yet they produce a winner year in and year out. THAT is what gets you in the hall of fame, not being “next year’s champ” or winning your conference if and only if UF is having a bad year.
19
November 7th, 2011
5:21 pm
That team would be Headley U!
Go Jackets!!!
5150 UOAD
November 7th, 2011
5:21 pm
Pol Blo all errors? Miami has no NC’s(in a men’s sport) as a member of the ACC do they? What is that NC in? Correct the error since I called out your error.
GIVE ME A BREAK
November 7th, 2011
5:22 pm
accomplishment.
Tokyo jacket
November 7th, 2011
5:29 pm
Tornado, I gotta disagree. This one comes down to how GT plays. If we come out with fire in our belly like we did against Clemson, we win hands down. Our guys are better able to run our scheme than their guys can defend it. We average about 400 YPG against VT since CPJ arrived. That was before the addition of the forward pass this year. All three games in that time have been decided on the game’s final posession. I look for a breakout from that mold this year: 31-17 GT. With their injuries and lack of size up front this week, we could run right through their line. This could be a breakout game for Simms.
But, don’t get me wrong. If we come out flat, they’ll do the same thing to us that UVA and UM did. I really like how this year’s schedule has panned out though. This game comes w/ built in motivation and even Duke will next week if we win this week. We could be 0-11 and have all the motivation we need against UGA. I really expect GT plays 14 games this year.
Ramblin Man
November 7th, 2011
5:30 pm
Thanks for the updates Ken. I would also like to see Zenon get some touches but Jones and Peeples are better at blocking and we need that. They also run the ball well. Zenon has next year to be part of the Smith, Bostic, Zenon show. Congrats to Nealy, he played really well against Clemson and Miami. Hope to see the guys fired up Thursday and god willing it will be in person.
Robert
November 7th, 2011
5:32 pm
LET”S GO HOOKIES!!!!
@tokyo jacket
November 7th, 2011
5:36 pm
You’re forgetting, all of the UGA fans like being 10 win season champions. They’ve built a huge display case for the trophy you get for winning 10 wins….it’s completely FULL!!!! and that’s the ONLY thing it’s full of HAHAHA
Chad
November 7th, 2011
5:44 pm
I hope the defense comes out with the same intensity it did against Clemson. I worry we come out flat.
Chad
November 7th, 2011
5:46 pm
What is up with this blog? It is 5:46 now and it has posts showing 6:15 and 6:18?
GIVE ME A BREAK
November 7th, 2011
5:56 pm
14 sounds good if we win all 5.
GT Wins
November 7th, 2011
6:00 pm
If VT plays poorly, only way , Gt doesn’t have the talent to hang with a VT team hitting on all cylinders.
T3
November 7th, 2011
6:07 pm
2012 will be Beaner’s last season at VaTech.
Bank on it.
timthebrave
November 7th, 2011
6:07 pm
As a UGA fan I am looking forward to see the 2 tech’s play. I think they are similar teams and both have looked really good at times and really mediocre at times. This will be for a chance to win the ACC so everything is on the line for both teams. Which GT team will we see….The really good one(against clemson) or the terrible one(against virginia and miami). Which Vt team will we see. The unstoppable one(against Miami) or the one which can barely score against Duke. I think GT will win a close one unless VT gets a few big plays on special teams which I could also see happeing. Should be a good one
DS_CE91
November 7th, 2011
6:13 pm
The Hokies will try to pound us on the ground. If our suddenly improved run-defense shows up Thursday, we have a chance.
I also think we have to others involved on offense. If TW is our leading rusher, I think we are in trouble.
GO JACKETS!!!!!
Police Blotter
November 7th, 2011
6:15 pm
Correct you are…..they were in Big Least when The U won it in baseball with your old coach Jim Morris.
Delbert D.
November 7th, 2011
6:15 pm
VT has a nice “Game Notes” PDF on their site for the “Tech vs. Tech” game, as they call it. 35 pages, up-to-date stats, highlights of their games, even a list of minutes played be each player. Best I’ve seen.
Dallas Jacket
November 7th, 2011
6:18 pm
Don’t They have to attend class during the day on Thursday?
5150 UOAD
November 7th, 2011
6:36 pm
Still on?
Cornish game hens in the Clay pot and stuffed with wild rice. Dinner is started.
5150 UOAD
November 7th, 2011
6:40 pm
@Dallas……… not usually. Many College towns stop classes for ALL students and let the fans start to tailgate early because of the MESS the TRAFFIC causes. TECH being in a Large Metro City doesn’t shut down the school like some. The players on the other hand get a break on classes. It is not much different from the baseball or basketball team going on the road for a midweek game.
Hokie Pokey
November 7th, 2011
7:33 pm
VT will come to Atlanta and destroy you and you nerds will go home crying.