Perkins, Days take reps at A-back

Greetings-

A couple notes from Georgia Tech spring practice

1. B-back Charles Perkins and quarterback Synjyn Days took reps at A-back in practice Monday. Perkins has done it previously; it was Days’ first time there. It’s not a permanent move.

“It’s just a question of, when it’s all said and done, we want to try to get our best 11 players on the field,” coach Paul Johnson said.

It’s hard to say what it means, exactly. Quarterbacks and B-backs coach Brian Bohannon noted that B-backs David Sims and Zach Laskey have had practice time at A-back, also. As an example, he said that sometimes he’ll work separately with the quarterbacks and let the B-backs go work with the A-backs under the supervision of assistant coach Lamar Owens.

“It’s a cross-train, so those guys can learn a little bit about both positions,” he said. “We’ll see how it unfolds.”

Both did fine, according to Johnson. He brought up the matter in response to a question about A-backs, first noting that Robert Godhigh, because of his knowledge of the assignments and ability to execute them, is still leading this spring.

“Deon Hill did O.K. Saturday, B.J. Bostic made some plays. Tony Zenon’s still working at it,” he said. “Those are probably the four right now, and then you get Orwin (Smith) back, and we were running some other guys in there. I put Charles in there today some at A-back. I put Synjyn in there at A-back. We had all kinds of guys in there running, so we’ll see how it goes.”

2. Guard Will Jackson is still out with a high ankle sprain. Defensive back Demond Smith returned from an unspecified injury Monday. Cornerback Louis Young is expected to return Wednesday. Tackle Morgan Bailey suffered an injury Monday.

3. Johnson said that Hill and wide receiver Jeremy Moore graded out well from the scrimmage.

“Defensively, I don’t remember anybody being really good,” he said.

Johnson and defensive coordinator Al Groh were critical of the tackling after the scrimmage, an opinion Johnson maintained after watching the video. “It’s bad,” he said.

4. No changes on the depth chart. It sounded like there won’t be any official changes until a new depth chart is released after spring practice ends.

5. Quarterbacks and B-backs coach Brian Bohannon’s evaluation of Days and Vad Lee from the scrimmage: “They did some good things and then they did some things that weren’t so good. … If they can just eliminate the negative plays, the plays that are going to get you beat, (we’ll be in good shape), because they do some really good things and make some really good plays. It’s just eliminating some of the silly stuff.”

Bohannon said that both have been making progress, and that he doesn’t “know how much it’s going to sort out in the spring, anyway. I think they’re both getting better, and that’s encouraging.”

Bohannon observed that Lee has been “starting to click a little better,” particularly since last Friday.

“Today, he actually got the option read right a few times, which he’s been struggling with,” he said. “But he just seems a little more comfortable even throwing the ball.”

Thanks for reading. I’ll have a post up on Wednesday morning from an interview with Sims about running harder into the hole.

Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog