Georgia Tech begins bowl practice
Greetings-
Some notes, including coach Paul Johnson’s response to rumors/speculation about freshman quarterback Vad Lee transferring after Monday’s practice. Some other stuff first.
1. The team began a full week of practices on Monday. There will be three practices next week, two the week after that and then players will be released Dec. 20 and go to El Paso for the Sun Bowl Dec. 26. There will be 15 practices total.
2. The first stretch of bowl practices is mostly about working on fundamentals. Out of about 20 periods in Monday’s practice, only about six involved scout teams. That means that for most of the practice, all of the players, including the redshirt freshmen, were getting repetitions in Tech’s offense and defense.
3. Johnson said he doesn’t have any plans to make any changes on the staff. That would mean a second offseason in a row without any turnover. Defensive coordinator Al Groh said “for sure” he intends to be back for the 2012 season.
4. Johnson doesn’t expect any players to miss the bowl game because of grades, “but you never know,” he said. “That won’t be for a couple weeks.”
5. Johnson said he’d heard “a lot of really good things” about the Sun Bowl and is looking forward to it. Johnson went to El Paso when he was an assistant coach at Hawaii as Hawaii and UTEP were in the same conference.
“It’ll be a good game against a real good opponent,” he said. “Utah’s real good. Especially defensively, they’ve been good for awhile.”
6. Finally, Lee. At the risk of giving this more attention than I sense is worthy, I’ll provide the Q&A from the post-practice scrum with Johnson and let you draw your own conclusions.
Q: How was Vad Lee at practice today?
A: He’s fine. No problem. He worked hard. I coached the quarterbacks today. Coach (Brian) Bohannon wasn’t there today. He worked hard. All of them did.
(Bohannon was out recruiting, which is pretty typical for early bowl practices. Several questions later, the topic returned to Lee.)
Q: Is there any reason to think that he wouldn’t return?
A: Oh, I don’t know. I didn’t see anything today that made me think he was leaving. But guys could leave tomorrow. I don’t know. It happens all the time.
Q: Has he talked to you about it?
A: I talk with Vad every day.
Q: But has he talked with you about transferring?
A: I’m not going to get into what I talk with the players about. You’d be surprised sometimes. I talk to them about a lot of things.
Q: Homesickness seems to come up with players, particularly those from out of state. Do you have a particular way you address it with players?
A: It’s part of growing up. Everybody gets homesick. It’s part of it. You know what 18- and 19-year-olds are like. It’s something different every day. It is what it is. Just move on.
A couple points of note. I’m guessing it might read that Johnson was being defensive or curt, but he was at ease. I’d say he was trying to downplay the matter but obviously he didn’t say nothing is happening, perhaps to some degree because it’s not for him to say.
That said, if something were really moving forward with a possible transfer, I think Johnson would have answered questions differently. The fact that he’s practicing isn’t a guarantee of anything, but it would indicate that he’s not exactly packing up his boxes.
I’ll say this: Players considering transferring because they’re homesick is not uncommon. You may remember I wrote that David Sims went through the same thing as a redshirt freshman quarterback. I dug back into my notes and found a quote from Bohannon in August regarding the matter.
“I’m sure that goes through a lot of their minds,” he said. “When you deal with these young men who are the life of their town and their school and all of the sudden, they come to college and all of the sudden, they’re just another guy in the mix, it’s a tough adjustment.”
All this to say – I’d take all this with a grain of salt.
Thanks for reading. I’ll have something up Wednesday morning. (I’m off this week, technically.)
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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296 comments Add your comment
Supersize that order, mutt
December 7th, 2011
12:07 pm
Oops, I guess I made a mistake there: it wasn’t Ralph McGill; it was Dan McGill (or however he spelled it). My bad.
Supersize that order, mutt
December 7th, 2011
12:08 pm
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so the REAL 5150 UOAD should be flattered that some troll thinks enough of him to use his name, even if it is to post utter crap. I have my share of copiers too.
Supersize that order, mutt
December 7th, 2011
12:09 pm
Is what tn jacket posted at 10:40AM correct? Did Lee say today that he is not transferring. Boy, I hope that’s correct
Atlanta City Guv is Corrupt
December 7th, 2011
12:13 pm
Ken, I wish the ajc would stop recycling your column under different headlines, this is the third time I have pulled this article up on my computer, each time under a different headline, as though it is a new column!
TW Fan
December 7th, 2011
12:13 pm
I like that break down Big Time.
Although I am partial to TW, ultimately want to see the team improve and enjoy the next level of success. I do think that with limited prospects (recruits) we benefit from utilizing all the talent we have. It would be a loss not to capitalize on TW’s knowledge of the offense in some way. We’ve invested the time into bringin him up offensively… it would be ludacris not to reap anything more from it. If not at QB maybe hit some weights and he’d be a good BBack.
Idk, but we gotta shake some things up if we want different results.
… I dont share your view on Days. He shows heart and some promise but doesn’t understand the TO well enough to trump TW yet.
1 4 GT
December 7th, 2011
12:13 pm
Me too Supersize. Twice. About V Lee & no longer visiting here for factual info.
superDawg
December 7th, 2011
12:19 pm
ss you are a legend in your own mind!
tn jacket
December 7th, 2011
12:19 pm
Supersize, he reactivated his twitter account and posted exactly what I copied and pasted.
Supersize that order, mutt
December 7th, 2011
12:21 pm
tn jacket, thanks. that is great news and a big relief
Supersize that order, mutt
December 7th, 2011
12:22 pm
supermutt, at least I have a mind. It’s obvious from all of your posts that you are deficient in that area
Supersize that order, mutt
December 7th, 2011
12:23 pm
supermutt, have you ever actually had an intelligent thought?
superDawg
December 7th, 2011
12:24 pm
So much for the bonus pj gets for beating UGA.
roughrider
December 7th, 2011
12:24 pm
Could it be the year that Tech wins a bowl game ? It’s been a dry spell since 2004. Could it be the year that CPJ finally wins a bowl game at Tech? He has lost 3 in a row. Stay tuned and we will find the answer to these questions.
Supersize that order, mutt
December 7th, 2011
12:25 pm
The ajc stated a month ago that changes were coming to the way blog posts are handled. What are all these trolls going to do with all their time when they can’t post crap in here every hour of the day? What will they transfer their obsession to if that happens?
tn jacket
December 7th, 2011
12:26 pm
Supersize, then they will just migrate back over to the other tech blogs where they can troll anonymously (headley, WnE, srschirm, among others)
Supersize that order, mutt
December 7th, 2011
12:27 pm
supermutt, there wasn’t any sign of intelligence in your last post. Keep trying, bubba, or better yet, go get a job.
1 4 GT
December 7th, 2011
12:27 pm
And furthermore, I am old enough to remember when the AJC was two different newspapers–1 in AM & 1 in PM. and I bought both each day and subscribed on a monthly basis to both. I traveled the SE on work then and bought both papers each day from Charleston to Vicksburg and Miami to Chattanooga. Under the header of “The Atlanta Constitution”, the AM paper, was their slogan, “Covers Dixie Like the Dew”. I still bought the AJC when I was where I could find one. The advent of the internet has put a huge hurt on newspapers nationwide with the instant availability of current news. All of this just to say, I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER AJC as long as they choose to allow the garbage to continue flowing on the sports blogs for GT & UGA, from what I read as the trolls reason for infiltrating this blog. I was taught two wrongs never make a right.
Supersize that order, mutt
December 7th, 2011
12:28 pm
tn jacket, from what I read, they are going to try to control the entire “entry process” into the blogs, so they won’t be able to go to any of the tech blogs, at least not in the manner in which they do so now
Supersize that order, mutt
December 7th, 2011
12:29 pm
AMEN, 1 4 GT
Who Run Bartertown?
December 7th, 2011
12:30 pm
1 4 GT – I believe “the schirmster” @ 10:52 AM on Dec 7, 2011 is exposing one of two trolls who frequently raid this blog.
The one he is referring to has a deep hatred of Paul Johnson, GT’s uniforms, and GT fans in general (refers to us as GT’s fanbase). He posts under multiple names, runs a firepauljohnson website, and poses as a Tech alumnus or a Tech fan while spewing his hatred for other fans. He also likes to stalk football recruits.
The other troll is a UGA grad. He apparently becomes enraged when there is any mention of GT academics. He takes every opportunity to denigrate GT academics, a subject he knows nothing about. He tries to make jokes about inappropriate subjects, such as people being assaulted. If you read his posts, he does not seem to have any respect for himself or anyone else.
Both trolls are your prototypical geeks, but they call the people on this blog nerds. Both seem seriously deranged and have too much time on their hands.
Who Run Bartertown?
December 7th, 2011
12:31 pm
1 4 GT – I believe “the schirmster” @ 10:52 AM on Dec 7, 2011 is exposing one of two trolls who frequently raid this blog.
The one he is referring to has a deep hatred of Paul Johnson, GT’s uniforms, and GT fans in general (refers to us as GT’s fanbase). He posts under multiple names, runs a firepauljohnson website, and poses as a Tech alumnus or a Tech fan while spewing his hatred for other fans. He also likes to stalk football recruits.
The other troll is a UGA grad. He apparently becomes enraged when there is any mention of GT academics. He takes every opportunity to denigrate GT academics, a subject he knows nothing about. He tries to make jokes about inappropriate subjects, such as people being assaulted. If you read his posts, he does not seem to have any respect for himself or anyone else.
Both trolls are your prototypical g_eeks, but they call the people on this blog n_erds. Both seem seriously deranged and have too much time on their hands.
superDawg
December 7th, 2011
12:33 pm
ss you thinking you are more intelligent is funny.
Supersize that order, mutt
December 7th, 2011
12:36 pm
supermutt, it is highly obvious that you have no intelligence, and yes, that is funny, but sad too. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, bubba.
Supersize that order, mutt
December 7th, 2011
12:36 pm
Check out the posts made by Really? a little after midnight. The last one, in particular, is the most hypocritical garbage I have ever read on here.
superDawg
December 7th, 2011
12:37 pm
Gotta go granny yelled vitals…………………………………….
Supersize that order, mutt
December 7th, 2011
12:38 pm
Check out one made by Tradtion is…. from last night too. Talk about a total lack of intelligence.
superDawg
December 7th, 2011
12:38 pm
My team got pounded on national television and now my vicarious vajayjay hurts. I need to sit on a bag of ice until the swelling goes down.
Supersize that order, mutt
December 7th, 2011
12:39 pm
OK, guys, whoever is posting under superDawg’s name is just as bad off as he is. Don’t stoop to that level
1 4 GT
December 7th, 2011
12:40 pm
Who Run——I think you are just about right on both of them. I can’t understand why this can’t be stopped. We must give an email address which also carries an IP address. They should be able to ban them, but for some reason they choose not to or absolutely no one monitors this blog. I believe IP is the proper term?
TW Fan
December 7th, 2011
12:54 pm
We need a coaching staff capable of PLAYER DEVELOPMENT – on boths sides of the ball! Thats where it starts. We get decent talent (not 4 star) and if we can further develop those we have, then we are moving in the right direction. It creates an obligatory relationship between players and coaches, players and fans and creates positive buzz amongst recruits.
Ramblin Man
December 7th, 2011
12:57 pm
Since I don’t expect recruiting updates on GT I thought some might want to know that two good ones will be on campus this weekend in Elijah Shumate and Darion Monroe. These two guys would definitely be a great addition to the secondary. I have heard that Mike Davis will also be making a visit, though I am not sure on the source it came from.
Big Ol Stinger
December 7th, 2011
1:01 pm
If you really want to talk GT Sports, go to Stingtalk.com. The AJC blogs have been ruined by a bunch of middle school education level jerks.
The AJC blogs are kind of like a train wreck though, you can’t help looking.
UnbiasedOpinion
December 7th, 2011
1:18 pm
The real problem that I see in Tech’s current scheme is the effect it has on recruiting. I will agree that the triple option allows teams to make the best use of less than excellent talent, and that it leads to some pretty improbable upsets. It has been shown to give some really solid defenses fits.
However, the biggest problem with the scheme is that it is degenerative in recruiting. It is very hard to convince the best RBs, WRs, and QBs to come play for Tech because their offense, by its very nature, keeps the majority of the players out of the NFL spotlight. And, as we all know, this is the top priority for the tier 1 recruits in the country. What 5 star QB would ever want to come to Tech, knowing full well that he’d be throwing away his NFL potential? What 4 star RB wants to go to a school where everyone on the field is a feature back and no one stands out?
I feel like the proof is in the pudding; the last big-time recruits Tech got were all under the old, pro-style offense.
Tech’s 2012 class is currently ranked 52 in the country with only 1 4 star recruit an no 5 stars. In 2011, they were 42. In 2010, 41. In 2009, 31. And in 2008, Tech was ranked 34.
Granted Tech has never been a recruiting powerhouse, but they consistently ranked in the top 30 in years past. The new offense does two things: allows weaker players to win more games, but attracts weaker rather than talented players. The danger is the national prestige of a program that USED to compete with the best slipping to a tier 3, or worse, school. This offense is great at a program like Navy, but in the state of Georgia, at a program with 4 national titles, Tech fans should demand more. The state of Georgia is ranked 3 in the country for recruiting, and yet Tech regularly loses to Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina and others in its home state.
Merciless
December 7th, 2011
1:24 pm
Mad Vad will be the starting QB in 2012. Synjin Day will play tons. ACC Champs for 2012. Thanks for setting things up so well Paul and Al.
Marietta Buzz
December 7th, 2011
1:27 pm
Breaking News: Crowell Will Not Make Grades. Will Not be in Bowl Game!
Supersize that order, mutt
December 7th, 2011
1:34 pm
If you can’t make grades at UGA you’ve either got to be dumb or lazy as hell, possibly both
@marietta buzz
December 7th, 2011
1:45 pm
Totally false or wishful thinking.IC grades are fine. it will be 11 out of 12 this time next year. PJ offered Keith Marshall wonder why he wouldn’t jump all over playing for PJ?
IL Jacket
December 7th, 2011
2:36 pm
Unbiased, appreciate your thoughtful comments. I have a couple of points to add. First, we have continued to exceed my expectations in the quality of wide receivers that we attract given how little we throw the ball. I am no expert, but Stephen Hill looks like he will play on Sundays. I know Thomas was recruited under a different regime, but we do have some excellent recent history-Johnson, Thomas and now Hill.
With respect to running backs, I don’t think we are really missing out on anyone we need. There are always more talented backs than there are positions available in Div. 1. Additionally, look at the history of the most highly recruited, highly ranked backs over the past several years. UGA has probably done as good a job as anyone in landing these recruits and what do they have to show foe it-King, Ealey and now Crowell. We are holding our own in that area.
The one area in which I am most concerned is with respect to OLine. I think this position is where our scheme may put us at the most disadvantage. Not enough emphasis on pass blocking for recruits who want a pro career, since today’s NFL is virtually an every down passing league, e.g. Green Bay.
Not from an athlete perspective, but from an experiential perspective, I also wonder about our pass defense. When you run so much, I fear during the week our defense does not get challenged by our scout team to grow and gain confidence to perform well against good passing teams.
If do right, no can defense
December 7th, 2011
2:39 pm
1. CPJ record against VT, Miami, uga – 1-3. So my little dawg fans, your reign over us is nothing exclusive/exceptional. Beamerball and talent overload have nearly always beat us (exception is Clemson).
2. Our special teams (esp. our kicking/punting unit) will be much better next year. Remember, even Scott Blair was inconsistent back in 2008/early 2009. Kickoff/punting coverage will be just as bad, though.
3. We will beat Utah and our bowl-losing will have come a complete circle. (Our bowl-losing streak started in ‘05 against Utah). And if uga loses to Sparty, we’ll both have the same final record, just like last season.
If do right, no can defense
December 7th, 2011
2:45 pm
@IL jacket: Agree with you on the WRs: We have great receivers like Darren Waller and Matty Alcala just waiting for playing time, in addition Hill and Jeff Greene. All of them are 6-4 or above.
Interesting position on the tailbacks. We have a clear-cut need for 3 main types of RBs: the slow, heavy fullback (think Anthony Allen, Preston Lyons), the fast shifty slotback (Tony Zenon, Embry Peeples), and the tight-end/running-back hybrid types who can block well (Roddy Jones, Orwin Smith). So the pro-set RBs you see in most of college ball aren’t the types we need.
GTJeff
December 7th, 2011
2:46 pm
Actually we won’t have the same record. They would be 10-4 we would be 9-4. Just saying.
UnbiasedOpinion
December 7th, 2011
2:58 pm
@IL Jacket
I agree with you on your point re: the WRs at Tech, and the RBs. For your scheme, you get what you need. However, once again, I have to look at the QB position. With the triple-option scheme, you’ll never get solid talent that can throw the ball. While this may not be an issue if Tech’s goal is to win as many games as possible and contend for ACC titles, if the Jackets want to compete on the big stage and have shots at National Titles, they’ll need a scheme that can come back from early deficits. In order to beat the big, fast SEC defenses, you’ll need more balance.
A team like Alabama, LSU, or even Georgia, which are built around defending against the run, will always beat teams that are run-dominant but not big or fast enough to control the line.
An undefeated season is highly improbable under this system.
IL Jacket
December 7th, 2011
3:17 pm
Unbiased, I hear what you are saying about the QB position. I guess where I am at is given the academic limitations the Institute has in recruiting the ” everyone has to have QB”, I think the CPJ offense may be the best for us to compete consistently for ACC Championships.
My thinking on the limitations on our offense based on our QB production has also undergone so rethinking. For example, I look at Saban’s philosophy, which I think is probably the soundest on CFB today. He has a ferocious defense combined with a ball control offense and what I would
call QB adequacy. I am not convinced that Alabama can come from behind either, say 14 points down after the half, but with their defense they haven’t been in that position lately. So I think there is a path that can lead to great success without a great QB.
Now would I love to have a Cam Newton or even a Logan Thomas, absolutely, but I don’t think all is hopeless without such a player. As an aside, maybe it is just a matter of luck, but someone posted that Thomas started out as a TE. Maybe we should be giving our TEs more time at QB, lol.
Jacket Up
December 11th, 2011
10:41 am
Ken- Being out of town, your comments and the Rivals Board are pretty much my connections to the Jackets` news. After the uga basketball game, I`ve sorta gotten some interest in that direction. My question is: Where are the reports and comments about our BB guys? Can`t find anything since the ga. game report. Didn`t they have a game yeasterday(Savannah State)? Thanks for the stuff you`ve done this fall. Keep it up. JU
THWG
December 13th, 2011
3:12 am
Thanks as always Ken!
I am very keen to see Lee next season!!!
also, don’t feed the Trolls. Even the outrageously annoying ones.
Vidalia man
December 13th, 2011
7:22 am
Tech should quit playing Ga. We are at a disadvantage because of school work. We should devote our time and effort on winning the ACC, and occasionally play Ga. in early part of schedule rotating with Ga. Southern. Playing Ga. at the end, usually ruins our season.