Days to play ’somewhere’ for Georgia Tech against Hokies
1. Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson wasn’t in much of a mood to share details, but allowed this about quarterback/A-back Synjyn Days. He’s in the plans for the opener against Virginia Tech.
“We’ll see where he plays, but I’d be surprised if he didn’t play in the game somewhere,” Johnson said following Wednesday’s practice.
Johnson said he didn’t know if Days, who has spent some of the preseason training at A-back, would play at that position. Coaches want to get Days on the field to make use of his playmaking ability, but he is behind Tevin Washington at quarterback.
Coaches “really haven’t said anything, just that we want the best 11 players on the field and they said I’m one of the best 11,” Days said. “If it’s a special package or something, I’m just trying to do the best for the team any way possible, even if it’s special teams or holding the kick or something.”
Days has worked with the punt return and kickoff return teams in addition to A-back and quarterback. A-backs coach Lamar Owens said that Days is “getting there” as an A-back.
Johnson said he didn’t know how big the A-back rotation will be. Orwin Smith and Robby Godhigh are the expected starters, followed by Deon Hill. Johnson mentioned Tony Zenon, B.J. Bostic and Days as possibilities.
“There could be several guys rolling in there by situation,” he said.
(My guess is Days will play some at A-back. He was something to watch in the spring, though, running the pistol.)
2. Johnson said that Wednesday’s practice dragged. “The defense was a little more up-tempo, probably, than the offense,” he said.
The team was in full pads. Offensive tackle Morgan Bailey, defensive back Lynn Griffin, safety Fred Holton, wide receiver Chris Jackson and B-back Zach Laskey were held out. Bailey was still in a walking boot. Laskey has strep throat. The other injuries were not disclosed, but are not believed to be serious.
B-back David Sims practiced for the third day in a row.
“I think he’s getting back to healthy,” Johnson said.
Tech will practice Thursday, scrimmage Friday and then have the weekend off. Johnson plans six practices next week, Monday through Saturday. The team will fly up to Virginia Tech Sunday.
(Secondary coach Charles Kelly bragged a little on Griffin on Tuesday. “I’m really excited about him,” he said. “He’s big, physical, he can really change directions and run.”)
3. If Bailey is not available for the Hokies game, some adjustments may be made. Johnson said that left tackle Ray Beno has worked at right tackle in Bailey’s place, with Bryan Chamberlain playing left. Backup right tackle Tyler Kidney could play in a rotation.
Nose tackle T.J. Barnes is likely to play no more than 35 or 40 snaps in a game, Johnson said. He is backed up by Shawn Green.
“He’s done well in practice, but we’ll see once we get going game-wise,” Johnson said of Barnes. “I have no reason to doubt him.”
True freshman defensive lineman Adam Gotsis has stayed up with what Johnson calls “the varsity,” meaning he is a candidate to play this season and not redshirt. Gotsis is from Abbotsford, Australia.
(Chamberlain being responsible for Washington’s blindside in his first career game at Lane Stadium is a tall order. With the injuries to Beno and Bailey in camp, he’s gotten a lot of extra practice time. “He’s starting to get a little more comfortable with his own assignments, with his own techniques in a critical situation,” offensive line coach Mike Sewak said. Also, I don’t remember who asked about backup offensive lineman J.C. Lanier, but I asked Johnson about his role. “Right now, he’s a backup offensive lineman. That’s what he is.” I asked if a switch back to defense had been considered. Said Johnson, “I think he’s in the right spot, if he’s going to play.”)
Thanks for reading. There’s no more coach or player access until next Tuesday, so the next couple days I’ll be posting a couple stories that I reported this week on Orwin Smith and Quayshawn Nealy. Also, I need to post the next in the “10 things” series, on inside linebackers coach Joe Speed. Interesting background.
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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235 comments Add your comment
FL Jacket
August 23rd, 2012
12:28 pm
Yeller…remember the disparity is in call against them…not agaisnt us.
GT Lee
August 23rd, 2012
12:32 pm
another nice article, FLJ……
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
12:33 pm
there’s an easy explanation for that bob
the majority of ranked teams u play are ranked 20-25
uga’s are 1-15.
i’m not surprised you overlooked this fact.
FL Jacket
August 23rd, 2012
12:36 pm
“the majority of ranked teams u play are ranked 20-25
uga’s are 1-15″
Not last year until the SECCG. You make it sound like you play the West every team every year. The truth is Tennessee has been down quite a while, Florida is the most beatable it’s been lately, Kentucky stinks, Vandy is Vandy, and you lost to the only team in your own division who was ranked (USCe).
Stop taking credit for the success of the SEC that you haven’t done much to carry the weight…
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
12:40 pm
12-2 versus Clemson, FSU, UNC, and the other SEC teams we’ve played. Throw in the wins against UGA, Miami, VT, and a very good 2008 Boston College team (went to the ACCCG that year) half our wins have come against good competition
you are 1-3 against uga vt and miami
those are ur three toughest games year in year out the past 4 seasons.
clemson is coached by dabo and is a joke. nuff said
bc was 4-4 in the acc that year. you think 5-4 is very good???
u played fsu with their worst teams since the 70’s. and braging over unc wins??? u certainly are easy to appease.
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
12:42 pm
fl jacket can you read? the discussion was since 2008. apparently reading comprehension isn’t one of your strong suits.
FL Jacket
August 23rd, 2012
12:43 pm
“clemson is coached by dabo and is a joke. nuff said”
Conversation over…if you value your opinion over Clemson’s 2 ACCCG appearances and 1 ACC Championship in 4 years.
GTBob
August 23rd, 2012
12:45 pm
the majority of ranked teams u play are ranked 20-25
uga’s are 1-15.
Ok then. Lets look at just the top 15 opponents.
CPJ: 2-2
UGA: 1-10
UGA played 9 more games and had 1 less win. Feel better now?
GTBob
August 23rd, 2012
12:47 pm
you are 1-3 against uga vt and miami
those are ur three toughest games year in year out the past 4 seasons.
What exactly makes Miami one of our three toughest games every year? Are you sure you aren’t just including them because it helps your argument?
FL Jacket
August 23rd, 2012
12:48 pm
hoodoo…love this level of fantastic insight…
“If CPJ had only won the games he lost…”
FL Jacket
August 23rd, 2012
12:49 pm
“and braging over unc wins??? u certainly are easy to appease.”
No other ACC team has put more players into the NFL
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:00 pm
“What exactly makes Miami one of our three toughest games every year”
Gee i don’t know? the fact they beat u all the time!!
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:01 pm
acc 2-13 in bcs games. nuff said
Yeller Bug
August 23rd, 2012
1:02 pm
Perhaps I failed to articulate my point FLJ as I agree with you. Since we pass less, we get less opposing D penalties for holding/pass interference—you opined that. With the TO, we have more open field blocking and thus get called for more holding/illegal blocks than others. For no call fouls, opponents throw more and hold more on pass plays but they are not called for it. If we could analyze the stats more—break down penalties into offensive and defensive, it would interesting to see if the drop in penalties for our opponents are on one side of the ball. If our opponents have less offensive penalties called against them when playing GT than other opponents, that would be a very curious stat. It will seem as something is afoul in Denmark or in Bobby Dodd.
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:02 pm
“No other ACC team has put more players into the NFL”
Over what time period?
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:04 pm
can someone remind me again the final of clemson’s bcs game last season? i forget? tia
FL Jacket
August 23rd, 2012
1:05 pm
“fl jacket can you read? the discussion was since 2008. apparently reading comprehension isn’t one of your strong suits.”
Apparently it isn’t yours either…
Yeller Bug
August 23rd, 2012
1:05 pm
By the start of 2013, Tech will be 2-3 against VT and UM and hopefully UGA although the latter includes some wishful thinking.
FL Jacket
August 23rd, 2012
1:06 pm
“can someone remind me again the final of clemson’s bcs game last season? i forget? tia”
Funny how this erases beating Auburn, FSU, and Virginia Tech in consecutive weeks, as well as beating VT again in December.
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:09 pm
uga plays in a conference with superpowers. gt plays in the worst or second worst conference of the big 6. nuff said
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:10 pm
yep it certainly does erase it. when u get beat that badly on national tv. btw, the acc school with the most players in the nfl is obviously miami. only an idiot woudl write unc.
GTBob
August 23rd, 2012
1:11 pm
“What exactly makes Miami one of our three toughest games every year”
Gee i don’t know? the fact they beat u all the time!!
Just because they have done well against us the past couple of years doesn’t make them a tougher game than Clemson or Florida St who we have done well against. Nice attempt at cherry picking though.
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:13 pm
i’m going to laugh so hard when vt kicks ur pathetic weak team in the groin again. and of course the annual beatdown by uga.
1-10 since 2000. nice job!
Yeller Bug
August 23rd, 2012
1:13 pm
Going back to Keeping It Real’s video—great play on the wheel route to the A-back. The problem with TW that I hopes he works on this year is that he looks at his intended receiver the whole way. He telegraphs his passes and he needs to be conscious of that this year.
GTfan2012
August 23rd, 2012
1:13 pm
Alan,
I don’t know about anyone else, but I have three tix for Lane Stadium in Blackburg on Sept 3rd. I expect a great game, but that requires that your offense actually show up to give it to us. Remember, the VT offense struggled mightily through the first five games last season. And you lost several OL, an NFL RB, and two starting WRs off that team. So while VT will be a favorite, as they should, with a strong returning defense, I’d caution you against talking too much smack given the way your offense started the season last year. You could end up looking very foolish. Go Jackets!
FL Jacket
August 23rd, 2012
1:14 pm
“btw, the acc school with the most players in the nfl is obviously miami. only an idiot woudl write unc.”
Check the NFL Draft data since 2008 and get back to me…
GTBob
August 23rd, 2012
1:15 pm
i’m going to laugh so hard when vt kicks ur pathetic weak team in the groin again. and of course the annual beatdown by uga.
1-10 since 2000. nice job!
Im sure you will headley. Try not to kill yourself if the game goes the other way though.
FL Jacket
August 23rd, 2012
1:17 pm
“and of course the annual beatdown by uga.
1-10 since 2000. nice job!”
hoodoo…if you are in anyway suggesting that head-to-head record implies perpetual dominance over another team, then I guess since you have only beaten Florida 4 TIMES SINCE THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION implies how inferior of a program you are to them
GTfan2012
August 23rd, 2012
1:18 pm
oops, I meant Blacksburg….
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:21 pm
3 years bob they have stomped u.
so of course it’s a tougher game.
again u beat the weakest fsu teams they’ve had since the 70’s.
congrats. be glad u aren’t playing them this season.
FL Jacket
August 23rd, 2012
1:24 pm
“3 years bob they have stomped u.
so of course it’s a tougher game.
again u beat the weakest fsu teams they’ve had since the 70’s.
congrats. be glad u aren’t playing them this season”
hoodoo = WnE…obviously the Win doesn’t count if you didn’t beat the best version of their team in recent memory
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:24 pm
since 2008. are u kidding me? yep just pick any parameters u want. let’s ignore the other years!
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:25 pm
no complaints there fl. at least they have won multiple national championships over that period. in other words, we don’t lose to losers like you do.
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:27 pm
funny how u think everyone on here is this wne person. delusional psychosis.
FL Jacket
August 23rd, 2012
1:28 pm
“since 2008. are u kidding me? yep just pick any parameters u want. let’s ignore the other years!”
The cherry-picker upset someone else is cherry-picking
OldSchoolTechFanatic
August 23rd, 2012
1:28 pm
If we don’t win 8 regular season games and a BOWL game this year I will not be happy. Beating UGA should be a goal too, that is one reason the last coach is noot here anymore !!!
GTBob
August 23rd, 2012
1:28 pm
3 years bob they have stomped u.
so of course it’s a tougher game.
By your logic Wake Forest is one of Florida St’s toughest games.
Tim VT Snyder
August 23rd, 2012
1:28 pm
You will not be kicking VT proverbial ass. Only thing you will be doing is crying a river while VT dusts the floor with your pathetic team.
FL Jacket
August 23rd, 2012
1:29 pm
“no complaints there fl. at least they have won multiple national championships over that period. in other words, we don’t lose to losers like you do.”
Uhhh…that also encompasses the Ron Zook years and before Steve Spurrier took over.
FL Jacket
August 23rd, 2012
1:29 pm
“Only thing you will be doing is crying a river while VT dusts the floor with your pathetic team.”
Tim…still waiting on the first time for your to dust us in the last 4 years
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:30 pm
gt2012
scoring 66 points in the first game is struggling?
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:32 pm
haven’t “cherry picked” anything. i’m using data since ugly face arrived.
FL Jacket
August 23rd, 2012
1:33 pm
“haven’t “cherry picked” anything.”
Who’s the delusional one?
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:35 pm
“By your logic Wake Forest is one of Florida St’s toughest games”
Huh? wake has beaten fsu 3 in a row? they lost 31-0 2 years ago fool. and are 1-2 the past 3 seasons? how clueless can one be?
Tim VT Snyder
August 23rd, 2012
1:35 pm
We have beaten your team 6 out of 8 times since being in the ACC. If that’s not an ass kicking, then your confused. Still bitter from last year when your DUMB linebacker swung at LT; O not to mention all the chops blocks you run so illegally. So, until you win, shut it.
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:36 pm
obviously u are fl jacket b/c almost everything u write is incoherent blabber
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:38 pm
tim gt bloggers are the most insecure illogical fan base u will meet. they write the most incoherent bs like the comment by this idiot bob saying gt to miami is like fsu to wake.
miami 3-0 vs gt the past 3 seasons
fsu 2-1 over wake yet this is a comp? and i thought these
n e r d s were suppose to be good at math! lol
WnE
August 23rd, 2012
1:39 pm
re:
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:35 pm
“By your logic Wake Forest is one of Florida St’s toughest games”
Huh? wake has beaten fsu 3 in a row? they lost 31-0 2 years ago fool. and are 1-2 the past 3 seasons? how clueless can one be?
_____________
I’m so sorry!
I apologize, my fellow GT fans know very little about CFB, yet they refuse to keep their mouths shut.
hoodoo
August 23rd, 2012
1:39 pm
please fl show me what i have cherry picked. again i am using data since your beloved m a n b o o b s arrived
Tim VT Snyder
August 23rd, 2012
1:40 pm
hahaha. hes thinking….still