P. Smith won’t return to Tech
After two separate suspensions this past season, offensive tackle Phil Smith will not play for Georgia Tech in the 2012 season.
“(After) his violation of team rules at the bowl game, I think he and Coach (Paul) Johnson decided that it’s probably best for him to concentrate on his studies,” associate athletic director Wayne Hogan said.
Smith, a redshirt junior from Tampa, Fla., was a starter for the Yellow Jackets in the 2010 and 2011 seasons and started a total of 20 games in his career. He helped the Jackets lead the nation in rushing in 2010 and finish No. 2 this season.
Smith is on track to earn his management degree this semester and would be immediately eligible to play his final season at another FBS school if he enrolled in its graduate school.
Johnson suspended Smith for the first two games of the 2011 season for violating team rules. He sent him home from the Sun Bowl for breaking team rules in El Paso, Texas. At the time, Johnson called Smith’s actions “disappointing” and said that he would address further discipline after returning to Atlanta.
Smith split snaps with tackles Tyler Kidney and Ray Beno this past season. Those two players will return, along with every other offensive lineman on the roster.
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210 comments Add your comment
1 4 GT
January 18th, 2012
9:10 pm
A lot of ya’ll are giving this young man way too much grief. I have been on a “team” more than once and when your “young, stupid” mistakes hurts your teammates, no one feels worse than said individual. I and several others were told what his mistake was at a pregame brunch in El Paso, and it was not a “crime”, but just a typical youngsters behavior for which he got caught. His harshest punishment, IMO, was being put on a Greyhound Bus back to Georgia. I’m glad he is on track to graduate with his class. I think his 1st suspension was for the same team rule. I would guess the bus ride gave him a lot of lonely time to mull things over and decide his little escapade costs too much. Maybe he will transfer somewhere and utilize his remaining year towards earning a Masters Degree and be prepared for a successful life. BTW, his mistake was no worse than what many of us did at his age. And no, I will not elaborate on what I/we were told, suffice it to say the individual telling us was high enough in the hierarchy to know and CPJ saw fit not to tell the world and I will respect that. So ya’ll ease up a bit on the harshness of your comments towards this young man.
1 4 GT
January 18th, 2012
9:22 pm
Cryptozoology=Frozen Zoologs???
Worm
January 18th, 2012
9:33 pm
TYPICAL Tech cover-up!
DesignerJacket
January 18th, 2012
9:33 pm
1 4 GT, I am freshly out of Tech, and I have not been one to give Mr. Smith any grief. BUT, being just a few short months ahead of him in life (I’ve only been in the “real world” since May 2011) I already know good and well that to make the same mistake twice is to ask for people not to trust you any longer. You show yourself to be unwilling to grow and be taught. I cry no tears for those who repeatedly defy their chosen authority figure (and a college coach is a chosen figure, not one you are born with.) Hopefully (after a painfully public humiliation) he now understands that he needs to abide by whatever set of standards and rules he signs onto in the next phase of life. I hope he gets his degree and goes on to be a more mature man than he was that week in El Paso.
HighTech
January 18th, 2012
9:33 pm
Cryptozoology is one of the newest life sciences, and certainly one of the most thrilling. It is the study and pursuit of those animals which fall into one of three categories: 1) animals which have yet to be discovered and scientifically classified, 2) animals which are known, but thought to be extinct and 3) animals which are misidentified.
e.g. Big Foot, Loch Ness Monster, Couth UGA Fan
5150 UOAD
January 18th, 2012
9:34 pm
1 4 GT it is what he listed on the TECH site as his major. The study of animals whose existance is unproven ie. Bigfoot.
5150 UOAD
January 18th, 2012
9:36 pm
HT I was typing the same time damn you. LOL
HighTech
January 18th, 2012
9:38 pm
That’s happened more than once. Scary.
DesignerJacket
January 18th, 2012
9:42 pm
Tech doesn’t offer cryptozoology. It’s probably a joke.
5150 UOAD
January 18th, 2012
9:46 pm
Desinger I think that is a joke and the kind of guy Phil is. Smart a Joker and I am afraid why he is no longer on the team.
Go Jackets!
January 18th, 2012
9:49 pm
Can the Aussie player be a linebacker and kicker too?
1 4 GT
January 18th, 2012
9:53 pm
Designer Jacket–whole heartedly agree. My post was directed at such comments as “good riddance”. He doesn’t deserve to be cast aside like that and it is commendable that he & CPJ came to a mutual agreement and apparently is being allowed to stay in school and finish his degree.
1 4 GT
January 18th, 2012
9:55 pm
LMAFO @ High Tech’s 3rd classification.
Go Jackets!
January 18th, 2012
9:57 pm
We need a couple of huge NT’s for the 3-4. The Aussie might give our kickers a run for the money. I believe I saw he is 6′4 and 245, needs more weight for NT. Interesting situation, hope he works out for Tech.
1 4 GT
January 18th, 2012
9:59 pm
That particular major is not on the GIT webpage. It could be newer that the webpage though. I was trying to make a witty, sarcastic joke. Guess I failed. Again. Oh well.
1 4 GT
January 18th, 2012
10:00 pm
Aussie is listed @ 6′5″ & 295#
5150 UOAD
January 18th, 2012
10:03 pm
1 4 GT where are you getting his size the TEAM website for the warriors didn’t help me much
Paul in NH
January 18th, 2012
10:14 pm
Good luck to Phil Smith. Getting a degree and then transferring to play at a different school in Fall 2012 looks like an excellent move for him – he gets to start fresh elsewhere.
I was interested to see that GT is looking at a kid from Australia. Now, if GT is looking for players from other countries/sports they may want to look at Jonny Wilkinson – he’ll solve all of their kicking woes and he is available.
1 4 GT
January 18th, 2012
10:37 pm
I think that is what was in Ken’s article
Old Blind Dawg
January 18th, 2012
10:52 pm
Puzzling when these kids have so much in front of them yet throw it away. He will have that degree and miss out on being part of a team.
UGA has had its share of rule breakers too. Glad to see CPJ is like CMR when it comes to repeat offenders. From what I saw the kid could play – GT will miss an experienced big ugly next year but rules are rules.
1 4 GT
January 18th, 2012
10:52 pm
5150-if you’re still here. I’ve been looking at all the blogs for that info. I could have sworn I saw that guy’s size on one of the blogs. Now I can’t even find a blog about it. Dadgum brain farts!
5150 UOAD
January 18th, 2012
10:57 pm
OK I have seen his size different a few times. I just don’t know where people got it. I looked up his Club’s webpage and it was not very helpful. Sean Bedford’s Osos Madrid team had a better site.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 18th, 2012
11:01 pm
I just tracked down this link for the Aussie….check it out
http://profiles.berecruited.com/athletes/701553
Supersize that order, mutt
January 18th, 2012
11:02 pm
UOAD, all you had to do was GOOGLE his name—-Adam Gotsis. There are several other links too
1 4 GT
January 18th, 2012
11:06 pm
There must a GT alum in Australia that watches these games and sent some info/tapes of this guy to the coaches. If the guy pans out, they might want to put this alum, if there is one, on some kinda retainer.
5150 UOAD
January 18th, 2012
11:09 pm
Sean Bedford said he had a blast playing and traveling Spain, but it was work.
Thanks Supersize didn’t think of using his name. LOL
Supersize that order, mutt
January 18th, 2012
11:10 pm
Looking at that link, his stats are not overwhelming, but you never know. Also it doesn’t indicate any reason why he might be interested in an education at Tech, since his interests seem to be in health and PE. Who knows?
Supersize that order, mutt
January 18th, 2012
11:11 pm
yeah, 1 4, you have to wonder how Tech got steered to him or he to Tech
1 4 GT
January 18th, 2012
11:11 pm
Thanks Supersize. His physicals are listed but that is at least a year and a half ago when he was younger. He could have grown another inch and bulked up, but 50# in that short a time might be a reach. He could easily be 275-280# by now though.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 18th, 2012
11:11 pm
BTW, 1 4 GT, email me what the guy said at the pre-game brunch. I think I remember, but I’m not sure.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 18th, 2012
11:12 pm
1 4 GT, the link says 245, but like you, I remember somebody posting sometime today that he was 295
1 4 GT
January 18th, 2012
11:17 pm
His personal comment shows a lot of self confidence & determination which a plus. He also said he prefers DE or DT but will play wherever the coaches want him-another plus. I hope he measures up. It will be good for Tech to have a leg up in the Down Under. It seems to building up to a source of good players. They have to be pretty rugged, especially outside the major cities.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 18th, 2012
11:19 pm
Oz is definitely a good place to find good b’ball players. Augusta State has had several from down under in the past few years, and one of them was All American at point guard in Div 2, and also good enough to lead them to the Div 2 Final Four 2 years in a row.
Give Me A Break!!
January 18th, 2012
11:22 pm
1 4 GT – Not to keep beating this thing to death about letting up on Phil – but – first the information you provided in your post @9:10 was made public knowledge while the incident was going on in El Paso (about Phil’s offense not being a “crime” – about the bus ride home – about both suspensions being for basically the same reason. So I’m not sure what to make of your comment that you heard this at a pre-game luncheon from a high source and won’t devulge either the source or “crime” – I don’t know that anyone really cares about either one. I suppose you get to keep your ego intact for having the inside scoop that makes you “the man” to go to for information – don’t really know.
You know, the thing is I’ve played a lot of sports – both high school and college – and when a team mate kept making mistakes over and over again – it had a definite affect on all of us from the perspective that we didn’t trust that guy to pull his share of the load when we really needed him to step up – so yeah, it stunk after awhile being his team mate and not being to do anything about it because the coach kept playing him for whatever reason. After college I joined the Army and when we had guys like this in the company who just kept screwing up time after time that made us all look bad – we held what is affectionately called a “blanket party” which means after hours and the lights were off – several of us would catch him in the bunk and pull a blanket down tight over him while the rest of the company beat the crap out of him. Needless to say it didn’t take too many blanket parties for him and everyone else to fall into line and work together for one common goal. Phil – while being a nice guy – and gets to finish his degree – was a rogue player even if it was minor stuff as you say. The point is there are rules for everyone to follow – including you and me – and if Phil felt bad when he screwed up – apparently he didn’t feel THAT bad because he kept doing it over and over – on the field and off. Sure I wish him well in the future – congrats on finishing the degree – but we’re talking football here and the ability to perform to the best of your ability when he hit the field – and he did not. So let’s not confuse the two – 1) The person – nice guy, nice family, good luck down the road and congrats on the degree and 2) The football player – poor performer – not a team player – constantly hurting team by on the field mistakes / penalties and off the field by suspensions that reflected on the team as a whole and disrupted cohesiveness of the offensive unit – what there was of it.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 18th, 2012
11:26 pm
@ Give Me…., I don’t think the specifics of Phil’s offense were ever released. Somebody in the Tech “party” in El Paso told us specifically what Phil had done. That is what 1 4 was talking about.
1 4 GT
January 18th, 2012
11:31 pm
Sent you that info email Super and 5150 too.
Jeffrey
January 18th, 2012
11:32 pm
Who?
5150 UOAD
January 18th, 2012
11:33 pm
Super………….I understand PHIL is Smart and a Joker. I understand that is what lead to his problems. I do hope he does very well.
5150 UOAD
January 18th, 2012
11:34 pm
OK 1 4 GT Thanks.
5150 UOAD
January 18th, 2012
11:37 pm
Watching the 1962 Manchurian Candidate with Frank Sinatra.
1 4 GT
January 18th, 2012
11:57 pm
Give Me a Break. I do not have that large an ego. I do not consider myself, nor do I want to be known as “the guy to go to”. I was just relaying what happened at the brunch. The guy who told us about it was walking thru the room greeting people and making small talk and the incident under discussion came up in a rather soto voce manner. I will continue to respect CPJ’s decision not to make the infraction public knowledge even though others may not. I too know the value and necessity of trusting your teammates to do their job and how hurtful it can be when one team member falls short. I thought Phil Smith played pretty good mostly even though he had a knack for getting dumb penalties at the worst times. I have said enough. Think what you will. You might consider looking before leaping in the future. You ripped into me pretty hard without knowing me at all. But I’ve got thick skin and a hard head. See Ya. BTW, if the info about the rule violation and the bus ride home came out on game day or later, I never heard or saw it anywhere.
5150 UOAD
January 19th, 2012
12:04 am
1 4 GT you responded very well to Give Me A Break. Y’all should be nice and keep it clean as we are all Fans here.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 19th, 2012
12:06 am
UOAD, that was a fantastic movie. It came out while I was at Tech. It really blew me away, and I thought that Angela Lancaster was the most evil woman I had ever seen. Hard to believe she went on to play Mame on broadway and star in Murder She Wrote on TV later. I just caught on my TV viewing, watching the new series Alcatraz from Monday night. Good new show; I guess I’m hooked on another one. LOL
1 4 GT
January 19th, 2012
12:08 am
Just tell me you don’t watch any of those so called “adult” cartoon shows on FOX. Puuuullllllleeeeeezzzzzzzzeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!
Supersize that order, mutt
January 19th, 2012
12:08 am
Give Me a Break is a very nice guy. We met at a couple of games. UOAD, do you remember him?
Supersize that order, mutt
January 19th, 2012
12:09 am
1 4 GT, NO NO NO, I do not watch any of those shows. I DO, however, watch some pretty strange shows…..Supernatural, Fringe, Vampire Diaries, etc. LOL
5150 UOAD
January 19th, 2012
12:11 am
If the Alcatraz is like 24 I will not watch. I hate the shows that you have to see each one in order to know what is happening. I like shows that have back story lines but you can basically see the show and miss a week and still be ok.
Angela LANSBURY….LOL. She is a bitoch for sure in this flick.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 19th, 2012
12:14 am
UOAD, it’s hard to tell yet if Alcatraz will require constant viewing, but the premise is this. When they shut down Alcatraz in 1963, the prisoners weren’t really transferred to other prisons. They were kept in limbo somewhere until now, and one by one they are all coming back (without having aged a day) and committing crimes, which the main characters try to solve. The shocker at the end of Monday’s episode was that one of the current-day investigators was also there in 1963, and she hasn’t aged a day either in all that time.
1 4 GT
January 19th, 2012
12:14 am
I’ve only got 2 regular shows I make any effort to watch. Parenthood on NBC and TerraNova on Fox. I watch movies. I must have seen every John Wayne movie ever made at least 93 times. I read some. I play chess on the laptop. And sports. I’ll be fishing 2 or times a week pretty soon now. May try golf again come the spring.
5150 UOAD
January 19th, 2012
12:14 am
Super yes I do that is why I told them to play nice because we are all friends here.