6 Tech spring practice observations
Greetings-
Hope you were able to make the spring game Friday night. It was a strong turnout and it wouldn’t surprise me if the GTAA stays with Friday, or at least re-visits it, in years to come. Some thoughts from spring practice.
1. No change at quarterback spot
It was a much anticipated competition between Synjyn Days and Vad Lee, but it doesn’t appear that much changed in the pecking order. Both improved over the course of the spring and shrunk their flaws, but neither made an unimpeachable case to be the No. 2 behind Tevin Washington, let alone a challenger to the top spot.
“The other guys are both very talented and good at certain things,” coach Paul Johnson said. “As I said, they’ve got to get better at what their weak spots are.”
In this offense, and probably any other, limiting mistakes and turnovers is crucial, no matter what a quarterback’s big-play potential is. That is where Washington’s advantage is, developed over four years in the system, a season and a half of starts and tireless work to hone his game.
After the spring game, Johnson said that if the season started today, Washington would be the starter and saw Lee and Days as situational-type quarterbacks.
“The goal is to make them not situational players and to be able to do the whole thing,” he said.
2. Defense should be better
As with all projections, it’s hard to know for certain until the fall, but tweaks to the scheme and the development of the defensive line should make this unit better. Ends Izaan Cross, Euclid Cummings and Emmanuel Dieke look capable and nose tackle T.J. Barnes may be ready to realize his potential in his final season. Perhaps the biggest question of the summer, literally and figurative, will be how much conditioning work Barnes and backup Shawn Green put in in order to be ready for the season.
“We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” defensive line coach Andy McCollum said. “We’ve got to have a great offseason. We’ve got to have a great summer. T.J. has done some things that we hadn’t done in the past that I’m excited about.”
(Note: You’ve probably heard all of that before. For whatever it’s worth, and I’ve written this before, Al Groh’s defense made a much bigger statistical jump Year 2 to Year 3 at Virginia than Year 1 to Year 2.)
3. The secondary is a strength
This looks like the best unit on the team. Four of the top five players back, with Fred Holton returning from injury. Further, cornerback Jamal Golden made more than his share of plays in the spring. There is the matter that the secondary spent the spring lined up against one of the least experienced units on the team, so it was easier to stand out, but the talent in this group is hard to deny.
“I think those guys are a lot hungrier this year, more physical with our receivers,” Washington said. “They come out and just compete every day, try to make plays on the ball, put the defense in a position where they feel like nobody can come out and thrown on them.”
4. Special teams still wobbly
I would guess that new special-teams coordinator Dave Walkosky will make a difference on the return teams most quickly. Where he’ll earn his money is his development of punter Sean Poole and kicker Justin Moore into consistent performers. As I think I’ve written before (and will probably write again), both have the capability but the juniors have yet to prove themselves as routinely dependable.
Poole has said the team’s goal is to lead the nation in net punting, which would be quite a leap from 54th last season. That said, he’s got the leg to do it. Doing it each punt is the trick. Walk-on Michael McDonald and signee Ryan Rodwell will give him competition.
5. Wide receivers a waiting game
It didn’t appear that any of the four returners – Jeff Greene, Chris Jackson and Jeremy Moore and Darren Waller – made heads turn this spring. Moore probably made the biggest gain, and I think Johnson likes the group, but wants a little more. I’d say that in the same way that it was tough on Stephen Hill in 2010 to feel a burden to replace Demaryius Thomas, and probably unfair, so the same holds for these four.
That said, the signees – Micheal Summers and Travin Henry and possibly Anthony Autry – will get an opportunity to play this fall.
“You’d like to see some guys make plays on some deep balls,” Johnson said, “but you’ve also got to throw ’em inbounds and give ’em a chance to make a play.”
6. A-backs bear watching
This might be the most intriguing bunch on the team. Orwin Smith is a proven commodity and it appears Robert Godhigh will be dependable and there’s a crop of younger players with playmaking ability but not much experience after that. The A-back rotation usually goes three or four deep, so one or two out of B.J. Bostic, Deon Hill and Tony Zenon will have to prove themselves consistent enough to warrant heavy snaps.
Thanks for reading.
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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948 comments Add your comment
GT Lee
April 24th, 2012
12:26 pm
ah, just stick to yestaday
Supersize that order, mutt
April 24th, 2012
12:26 pm
yeah, I would think so, Lee.
I see that those 3 ways of typing the word went through. I guess it IS just the combination of “t e r d” in a word, with no spaces between the letters. That’s just stupid.
atlxman
April 24th, 2012
12:27 pm
gt lee i brought him up because you brought up WnE…
HighTech
April 24th, 2012
12:28 pm
GT Bob strikes a raw nerve with many dwags. He gives ‘em hell on their blogs. Some of the dwags insist on coming to Ken’s blog to return the favor. It seems some people have not developed past the third grade.
GT Lee
April 24th, 2012
12:28 pm
“the acc is a joke.”
You must be dating dawgfan, xman. You talk just like him.
Supersize that order, mutt
April 24th, 2012
12:29 pm
xman, WnE posts on the Tech blogs, so why wouldn’t we talk about him? He’s a mutt in disguise. We (at least neither Lee nor I) go on the mutt blogs talking about him. So why do you feel the need to talk about Bob on a Tech blog? In fact, why do you feel the need to post anything at all on a Tech blog? Are you that obsessed with Tech?
HighTech
April 24th, 2012
12:30 pm
Please take WnE with you atlxman. I think he will find his soulmate with Thomas Brown.
Supersize that order, mutt
April 24th, 2012
12:30 pm
Frankly, I wish Bob would stay off the mutt blogs, but I have to admit that I think it’s funny as hell that he gets to them the way he does.
GT fan
April 24th, 2012
12:30 pm
atlxmen et al UGA fans …….. GT probably was the “signature win” for the dawgs in 2011. Maybe some dawg fans would say AU/UF, either b/c they are SEC teams, or b/c what the Tigers were in 2010, and UF has been (head-to-head) over the past 20 years – IDK.
But really when you look at UGA’s 10 wins, and what those teams really were in 2011, GT is probably the only team that actually outperfomed the “experts’ ” preseason expectations (most thought the Jackets would win 6 games). I’m not real happy with GT’s 2011, b/c I saw L’s that easily could’ve (VT) or should’ve (UVA, Utah) been wins. So, IMO, GT should even been better.
Maybe 2012 will be the year UGA does to GT what they should do 9 out 10 times, win by a blowout (i.e. 51-7 kind of game). But it really baffles me, seeing the way UGA recruits compared to GT and the level of talent/depth in Athens vs. North Ave, how GT keeps the games way closer than they should be.
Supersize that order, mutt
April 24th, 2012
12:31 pm
xman, does Gollum let you play with his preciousssss?
GT Lee
April 24th, 2012
12:31 pm
here’s the thing, xman…..you and WeeniE have both trolled on this Tech blog. Unlike GT Bob, I have never been on any UGA blog, so your comparison is a little off.
Supersize that order, mutt
April 24th, 2012
12:32 pm
@ GT fan……VERY WELL PUT !!!!
atlxman
April 24th, 2012
12:33 pm
i have nothing against gt bob or any tech fans. always fun talking football with tech fans. funny how mad they get and how quickly too. i try to explain to them why their team is falling off the face of the earth in football but most seem to think that PJ is getting close to winning 10 games again, so i just sit back and read the lame excuses on these blogs on why tech is not winning against the better teams in college football.
Supersize that order, mutt
April 24th, 2012
12:35 pm
xman…..CPJ has had one (ONE) season with under 8 wins. How is that falling off the map?
atlxman
April 24th, 2012
12:36 pm
and if i was a ga tech fan i wouldn’t go on a uga blog either ..not with the record uga has against tech.
GT Lee
April 24th, 2012
12:36 pm
“and tech would have gone 500 against the team uga played or worse.”
xman, can you prove this or are you just talking out of your ass again?
GT Lee
April 24th, 2012
12:38 pm
“and if i was a ga tech fan”
if you were a Tech fan I think I’d find myself another team to root for
atlxman
April 24th, 2012
12:39 pm
super..how many seasons has PJ coached at tech where he didn’t have one of chan gailys players? i think you might find the two go hand in and hand.
GT Lee
April 24th, 2012
12:39 pm
“and if i was a ga tech fan i wouldn’t go on a uga blog either ..not with the record uga has against tech”
using this logic I hope you stay off the Florida blogs, xman
Supersize that order, mutt
April 24th, 2012
12:39 pm
The only games Tech lost last year that we absolutely should not have lost were UVA and Utah. Both VT and Miami were good teams, and we had our chance against VT before blowing it. Remember, UGA could easily have lost to Vandy and probably should have.
Wizard
April 24th, 2012
12:40 pm
GT Lee, are you Flag Boy?
GT Lee
April 24th, 2012
12:41 pm
“super..how many seasons has PJ coached at tech where he didn’t have one of chan gailys players? i think you might find the two go hand in and hand”
Dumbass, this will be the first year without Chan’s players
atlxman
April 24th, 2012
12:41 pm
gt lee…i can prove that just as much as you can prove that tech would have beaten every team uga beat last year…all i have to do is look at the roster of tech. way under size every where…
GT Lee
April 24th, 2012
12:42 pm
No I’m not Wizard…..who the hell is Flag Boy?
Supersize that order, mutt
April 24th, 2012
12:42 pm
xman, how soon do new recruits consistently perform on a team? Certainly not in their freshmen year, and only a few in their sophomore year. Most of CPJ’s recruits are now juniors (with a few seniors in the mix). Although we DID lose a couple of games we should not have lost last year (with MOSTLY CPJ recruits), the majority of them are now juniors, and whether you want to admit it or not, IMHO, the future is bright.
HighTech
April 24th, 2012
12:42 pm
atlxman
April 24th, 2012
12:39 pm
super..how many seasons has PJ coached at tech where he didn’t have one of chan gailys players? i think you might find the two go hand in and hand.
—————————–
0?
atlxman
April 24th, 2012
12:44 pm
uva and utah were actually better than tech last year. there play on the field proved that. and uga dominated handy the whole game. handy offense was shut down until the last possession where rogers scrambled for some yards. vandy couldn’t even move the ball after the punt block. the better team won
Pull My Finger
April 24th, 2012
12:45 pm
GT Fan, so you admit that the bugs are a totally inferior to UGA?
Supersize that order, mutt
April 24th, 2012
12:45 pm
CPJ’s recruits are just this year coming into their own. This year should prove that they can perform as well as Chan’s recruits did (although we DO need a Dwyer). 2013 should seal the deal for good, and I mean in the best possible way.
Pull My Finger
April 24th, 2012
12:46 pm
There should have been “team” after totally…..oops.
atlxman
April 24th, 2012
12:47 pm
hiver ..1 is thé right answer
Supersize that order, mutt
April 24th, 2012
12:48 pm
xman, Utah was NOT better than Tech. As much as I like CPJ, I think his play-calling in the 4th quarter is the ONLY reason Utah won that game. I don’t see how you can say that UVA was better either, but for some reason we almost always manage to lose to UVA, no matter who the coach is. As far as the UGA game, Tech was very much in it in the first half……just like UGA was “in it” in the first half against LSU.
Wizard
April 24th, 2012
12:49 pm
GT Lee, Who is Flag Boy?? LOL
GT Lee
April 24th, 2012
12:50 pm
@ Super 3 missed field goals didn’t help……
Supersize that order, mutt
April 24th, 2012
12:50 pm
xman, “1″ is not the correct answer. 2012 will be the first year that CPJ hasn’t had any of Chan’s players.
Supersize that order, mutt
April 24th, 2012
12:51 pm
@ Lee……and THAT is one of the reasons CPJ has hired a ST coach.
HighTech
April 24th, 2012
12:51 pm
atlxman
April 24th, 2012
12:47 pm
hiver ..1 is thé right answer
———————————
I know of at least one player on last year’s team that redshirted in 2007 as a true freshman.
GT Lee
April 24th, 2012
12:52 pm
Wizard I have no idea what you’re talking about. I have 1 screen name- GT Lee. I do not know who or what Flag Boy is……..
atlxman
April 24th, 2012
12:52 pm
cpj recruits have been their 4 years now..washington and the butt load of converted running backs are not doing jack against the better teams. only orwin smith is close to a div1a player. he didnt break 1000 yards on a team that runs every play. you will see this year for sure and i will be looking for your post during the season to see if you finally admit i was right after all these years..;)
Supersize that order, mutt
April 24th, 2012
12:52 pm
@ Wizard…….xman has at least shown that he is capable of talking about the game of football with a measure of intelligence. What’s your excuse for being on a Tech blog?
GT Lee
April 24th, 2012
12:53 pm
yeah Super, but the missed FG’s had nothing to do with the play calling…..
HighTech
April 24th, 2012
12:54 pm
atlxman
April 24th, 2012
12:52 pm
cpj recruits have been their 4 years now..
————————–
True. But you asked, “how many seasons has PJ coached at tech where he didn’t have one of chan gailys players?”
atlxman
April 24th, 2012
12:55 pm
who did pj have on his team that was recruited by gaily that actually played last year? maybe a 3rd string lineman? my point is that all of gailys skilled players are gone and pj have been running the team for 2 years.
Supersize that order, mutt
April 24th, 2012
12:56 pm
@ xman…..I am being totally serious here…..I think Tech’s only REAL problem right now, offensively speaking, is that we do not seem to have the inside game that we did with Dwyer and Allen (Allen was recruited from Louisville by CPJ, by the way). I don’t know if our B-backs aren’t getting it done, or the O-line isn’t getting it done. The outside game is getting better, and with Lee coming off red shirt now, the passing game will improve also. Defensively, we have some awesome players now, IF they can learn how to tackle.
GT Lee
April 24th, 2012
12:56 pm
Wizard take your staff and crystal ball and go find Gollum
HighTech
April 24th, 2012
12:56 pm
atlxman
April 24th, 2012
12:55 pm
who did pj have on his team that was recruited by gaily that actually played last year? maybe a 3rd string lineman? my point is that all of gailys skilled players are gone and pj have been running the team for 2 years
———————————–
Roddy Jones is one.
Supersize that order, mutt
April 24th, 2012
1:00 pm
@ HT…..thanks. I was trying to remember who. I think there were a few others who contributed too, but Jones was obviously the most prominent one
Supersize that order, mutt
April 24th, 2012
1:04 pm
Time for some lunch here, guys, and then I have some running around to do. I hope y’all have a good afternoon……even you, xman. lol
atlxman
April 24th, 2012
1:08 pm
utah and uva had the better players and they both shut down tech offense to win the game..thats how i can say utah and uva were better. i watched the games and tech couldn’t move the ball against both teams defensive line.
and fla and aub wins along with all the other sec games uga won were better than the tech win. tech was a gimmie win. bobo knew that the defense couldn’t slow down uga offenses. and uga defense was killing the little guys upfront …also remember uga played with a team full of freshmen and sophs on offense and jrs and sophs on defense. this year might be a 45-13 blowout win for uga when they play tech. your teams future is banking on a gimmick offense with div 1aa players running it.
atlxman
April 24th, 2012
1:09 pm
haha thanks…again..it has been fun talking football with you..even though you think I’m full of bs..lol