B-backs still unsettled for Georgia Tech
1. Georgia Tech’s picture at B-back is cloudy with a chance of clearing in coming days.
Following the Yellow Jackets’ Monday practice, coach Paul Johnson said that coaches will determine the pecking order at B-back Wednesday or Thursday. The Aug. 21 depth chart lists, in order, David Sims, Zach Laskey and Charles Perkins, though Broderick Snoddy has made a strong bid for playing time.
“There’s probably two or three guys, and we’ll probably play by situation, which we’ll see,” Johnson said.
Sims’ health is a complication. He underwent surgery to repair a stress fracture in his shin in the summer and was held out of several practices.
“David, I don’t know that he’s 100 percent, so we’ll see how that goes as he gets closer,” Johnson said.
Laskey, who missed practice last week with strep throat, returned for the Friday scrimmage. Laskey passed Perkins on the depth chart after the first full week of camp.
(My guess – and this is a guess – is that Sims starts with Laskey and Snoddy getting in.)
2. With the ACC moving to a nine-game schedule starting in 2013 and Tech’s annual game with Georgia, Johnson acknowledged that “it would be hard” for the Jackets to ever play in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game at the Georgia Dome unless they were to play the Bulldogs. With 10 guaranteed games against ACC teams and Georgia, Tech isn’t eager to add games away from Bobby Dodd Stadium or games against BCS conference teams.
“It’s not a big deal to us, because we play here in Atlanta anyway,” Johnson said. “If it worked out, that would have been cool. If it didn’t, to go 500 yards up the road to play is not that big a deal for us.”
Said Johnson of this year’s games, N.C. State-Tennessee on Friday and Clemson-Auburn on Saturday, “Hopefully, N.C. State and Clemson will play well. I think they will.”
(Johnson is saving his bold predictions for later on in the season.)
3. Johnson graded Monday’s full-pads practice “just O.K. It wasn’t real up-tempo like you’d hope to see.” The team had Saturday and Sunday off after a scrimmage against the scout teams on Friday. Johnson wasn’t particularly high on that session, either.
“I think there was some decent things at times,” he said. “The competition level wasn’t as good as I would have liked, especially early on.”
Johnson has not ruled out any players to injury, though he said he probably wouldn’t do that until Thursday or Friday anyway. Safety Fred Holton did not practice again with an undisclosed injury. Regarding his chances of playing Monday, Johnson said, “He’s not out there yet, but we’ll see.”
(Holton should play, though he probably needs to get on the practice field by Wednesday, likely the last padded practice.)
4. The competition between defensive ends Euclid Cummings and Emmanuel Dieke will probably play out into the season, Johnson said. Both will likely play in a rotation with end Izaan Cross.
“It’s just kind of the question of who goes out there first and whoever’s playing the best will probably get the most snaps,” Johnson said.
In case you missed it…
Recalling the 2000 Georgia Tech-Virginia Tech lightning game
Ready or not, Jabari Hunt-Days to start vs. Hokies
Quayshawn Nealy buying in to Tech defense
Jeremy Moore’s opportunity arrives
Days to play ’somewhere’ for Tech
Thanks for reading.
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
Thanks for reading. Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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153 comments Add your comment
WnE
August 28th, 2012
6:08 am
re:
2. With the ACC moving to a nine-game schedule starting in 2013 and Tech’s annual game with Georgia, Johnson acknowledged that “it would be hard” for the Jackets to ever play in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game at the Georgia Dome unless they were to play the Bulldogs. With 10 guaranteed games against ACC teams and Georgia, Tech isn’t eager to add games away from Bobby Dodd Stadium or games against BCS conference teams.
_____________
CPJ is flat-out wrong here!
Other big-time BCS level teams with much LARGER STADIUMS ( and therefore much more money to lose) have played in neutral site games.
Schools like; Bama, Clemson, Auburn, Michigan, USCw, Notre Dame.
GT doesn’t want to do it because CPJ knows that it won’t take much to satisfy a fanbase that doesn’t know a lot about CFB to start with, so he comes up with lame excuses about WHY GT can’t do what other schools can easily do.
Miami has roughly the same attendance as GT does and in recent years they have played Oklahoma, Florida and other tough teams OOC and will be adding ND in Chicago(?, not sure) in the near future.
GT has no excuse to not ramp up their OOC schedule given the fact we play Dook each yr. in conference plus a patsy from the other side that rotates in (Wake, BC, Md, etc).
As long CPJ plays a “small potatoes” OOC schedule GT FB will never draw fans like it should.
The fact is with 10 Games vs. BCS opponents on the horizon CPJ wants to use the other 2 games to keep GT’s schedule as WEAK as possible so he can keep his cushy windfall from the GTAA coming in as long as possible, he could care less about bring quality opponents and exciting FB to GT and its fans.
With CPJ ’s crappy scheduling we’ll never pick up “sidewalk alums” like other FB Programs in the deep South does.
Paddy
August 28th, 2012
6:50 am
Okie Dawg…….come back tomorrow, you are getting it handed to you today.
Go Dawgs
ToeMeetsLeather
August 28th, 2012
7:00 am
I know the math behind the schedule issue, but as a season ticket holder I sure hate to hear that we will lose the home and homes we have been able to play over the last decade. Auburn, BYU, Ms State, Vandy, Notre Dame, etc, are much more exciting and bring such a different game day experience with them. (It didn’t hurt that we swept those SEC teams either, and probably put one of the worst losses on Notre Dame at their place in the last fifty years). Maybe Drad can find a way to work around this financial issue.
We’ll be fine at B-back. The secondary worries though with Young and possibly Holton out.
Reality
August 28th, 2012
7:40 am
WnE….Can you say anything positive about the GT Football team?? Your comments contribute nothing to this blog. You are not welcome on this blog with all of your negative dribble.
Ken…I wish you would just ban him/her/it.
Jacket Detective
August 28th, 2012
8:12 am
Tech folks are employed while dawgs fans evidently have all the time in the world to make worthless comments.
I used to write letters to the editor and many were printed but since there was no pay, I gave it up.
A lot of the Tech people who post on here are retired like me.
I ran with a young Tech Co-ed.
She was worried since she did not have one of the better degrees in engineering that she would have trouble getting employment.
She is a HR specialist.
Since she graduated in 2004, she has been employed and changed jobs only for better pay.
That is the difference in a Tech degree and a degree from lesser colleges.
Is Uga a lesser college?
No it does have some very good majors that like Tech, the football and basketball players may not be in.
Uga fans with good degrees probably do not have time for this silliness that takes place every day on these blogs.
They are too busy making money.
dawgfan
August 28th, 2012
8:27 am
“It’s not a big deal to us, because we play here in Atlanta anyway,” Johnson said. “If it worked out, that would have been cool. If it didn’t, to go 500 yards up the road to play is not that big a deal for us.”
LOL. I’m sorry but this is just weak. The Chick Fil A game is played in front of a nationally televised audience in a big time atmosphere. To arrogantly dismiss it as just another game in Atlanta is absurd. Just be honest and say you don’t want another tough game on your schedule and leave it at that coach. So much for all the BS we hear about how Johnson is a “straight shooter.” Absolutely laughable.
Said Johnson of this year’s games, N.C. State-Tennessee on Friday and Clemson-Auburn on Saturday, “Hopefully, N.C. State and Clemson will play well. I think they will.”
If they don’t pay well you can always dismiss the SEC’s obvious superiority as “perception” and your moron fans will buy it hook, line and sinker. No big deal coach.
Hilarious.
Virginia Tech 31 Georgia Tech 17. No ready for prime time.
dawgfan
August 28th, 2012
8:38 am
Meanwhile, guess who had the biggest mouths when UGA lost to Boise last year? TECH FANS. Meanwhile, their coward football program doesn’t even have the stones to play in a game like that.
I’m sorry. It just never ceases to amaze me what a complete and utter joke Tech is.
FL Jacket
August 28th, 2012
8:38 am
Ken…when is CPJ scheduled for his weekly presser before the game? Kelly over at Rivals has been stingy with the audio interviews and I’m not paying $10/month.
The Truth
August 28th, 2012
8:42 am
Dwagfan = Idiot
Alabama Jack
August 28th, 2012
8:50 am
It will sure be nice when the dawgs get they asses whupped and their trolls stay home.
ToeMeetsLeather
August 28th, 2012
9:06 am
dawgfan, you may want to check your blood pressure dude! That hate is not healthy.
GTVegas
August 28th, 2012
9:13 am
Talk about scheduling, Buffalo, Florida Atlantic and Georgia Southern are not the definition of top 25 opponents. They make up three of your four out of conference games, all three available slots removing GT from the mix just as the article discussed removing UGA from the mix. Those who throw stones in glass houses…
I can understand both sides of the scheduling issue and I think every situation is unique, plus, that is DRad’s job, not mine.
OKieDokieDawg saying that size matters to him… Why is that such a shock. Why else would he feel the need to post so vehemently on a GT Blog? Size does matter to him. It’s a classic case and he should consider seeing a therapist, or maybe answering some of those spam e-mails.
dawgfan
August 28th, 2012
9:14 am
“It will sure be nice when the dawgs get they asses whupped and their trolls stay home.”
We will stay at home win your laughable football program can beat us itself and you losers stop living vicariously through other teams. There isn’t a more pathetic sight in the world than a Tech fan running their mouths about how a team not called Georgia Tech beat UGA. Then you morons wonder why we think you’re a joke. Unbelievable.
“dawgfan, you may want to check your blood pressure dude! That hate is not healthy.”
If you can’t attack the message attack the messenger. Classic Techie deflection tactic.
Georgia Tech=JOKE.
Wes
August 28th, 2012
9:18 am
Nice to see I’m not the only white trash here!
Simple math for dogtard imbeclies
August 28th, 2012
9:21 am
Boddy dodd stadium 55k
Sanford and son 93k
Uga fan base 5 to 1 in the state.
Yet they wonder why they can sell out their stadium. Get a stadium with 225k seats, sell it out and then you can talk smack.
FL Jacket
August 28th, 2012
9:23 am
Guys…ignore the trolls. TML and Vegas…what starting lineups do you guys want to see?
Simple math for dogtard imbeclies
August 28th, 2012
9:23 am
Hey dwag, your fans did the same against uf for the past 2 decades. Pot meet kettle
dawgfan
August 28th, 2012
9:23 am
“Talk about scheduling, Buffalo, Florida Atlantic and Georgia Southern are not the definition of top 25 opponents.”
We’ve traveled to Oklahoma State, Arizona State and Colorodo all within the past 5 years. When does your pile of crap program even leave the state of Georgia to play an OOC game? Vandy? LMAO. We played a top 5 team to open up the season last year. The only time Georgia Tech football sees a top 5 team is when its sitting on its azz in front of the television at home. You play in the most laughable BCS conference of them all and then shy away from playing anyone worth a crap out of conference other than Georgia. And your coward football program would probably back out of that one too if it could get away with it. You don’t want to go talking about schedules Techie. You will not win.
Thanks.
razorjacket
August 28th, 2012
9:27 am
Don’t ban WnE!! He has some very good points, and they are legitimate comments. His tone is a little harsh, and clearly he is not a fan of CPJ, but the points about the Safety position, the oversupply/underutilization of talent at A-back, and the weak schedule are defendable. Having a marquee non-conference game every couple of years is not too much to ask, especially if we want to raise the profile of the program, which leads to better recruiting, etc. Remember the Auburn 2003, 2005 games. There was a break in between years, but both games provided invaluable exposure.
juvenal
August 28th, 2012
9:29 am
how much say does any football coach really have on the schedule any more?
Ken Sugiura
August 28th, 2012
9:42 am
FL Jacket – first one is Friday.
ToeMeetsLeather
August 28th, 2012
9:42 am
Yea Dawgfan, and you got your butts handed to you and we will never see UGA attempt that again, ever.
TECH took care of Auburn, Notre Dame and Ms State, all on the road, over the last few years. Now go away before you look even more foolish than you already do.
sean jones
August 28th, 2012
9:52 am
UGA<South Carolina
sean jones
August 28th, 2012
9:53 am
I personally know Lattimore and he told me Rambo is soft…lol
Sam Houston
August 28th, 2012
9:54 am
Most of the ga fans I know are band wagon fans. Some of them can not even name two of the players. When asked why are you a ga fan? A lot of the time the answer is because they win.
They don’t know what is going on, but they fill up the stadium and holler how bout them dogs. This makes them feel like they are a real supporter, and also give them the right to talk trash about how bad other teams are.
sean jones
August 28th, 2012
9:59 am
Munson is as dead as DWAG football
sean jones
August 28th, 2012
10:01 am
@dawgfan
UGA football hasnt been relevant since 1980…..
Quote of the Day
August 28th, 2012
10:27 am
To all you UGA Bulldog fans, “GT fans don’t suffer fools gladly.” UGA motto, “Wait till next year.”
dawgfan
August 28th, 2012
10:58 am
“Yea Dawgfan, and you got your butts handed to you and we will never see UGA attempt that again, ever.”
Oh really? We’re playing at Clemson next year. You know, the current defending ACC Chump. Doesn’t that count for something Techie or are you willing to concede that the ACC is such a huge embarassing failure that playing its champion at their place is no big deal? Which is it Techie? Let me know when your coward program plays a defending SEC Champ at their place. I’d love to see your candy azz team take its lilly little arses down to the Bayou for a game against LSU. You can’t even win at Virginia.
Georgia Tech=JOKE
GT Lee
August 28th, 2012
10:58 am
dawgfan
August 23rd, 2012
10:22 am
“ I probably won’t even watch the Buffalo game. I’ll be on the golf course.”
___________________________________________
Hey Carl Spackler, let me help you out with that gopher problem. Make a clay bunny rabbit, put 2 or 3 sticks of dynamite in its rear-end (you should REALLY enjoy that) and drop it it down the gopher’s hole. You might be able to make it back home in time for for the second half.
Thanks
GTBob
August 28th, 2012
10:58 am
Having a marquee non-conference game every couple of years is not too much to ask
This partially depends on what we get with our future ACC schedule. We pretty much have to play UGA at home in years that we play only 4 home ACC games or else we have no schedule flexibility at all. 9 game conference schedules will probably kill most out of conference rivalries in the long run.
East Cobb Hokie
August 28th, 2012
11:06 am
Heads up for Jacket’s travelling to Monday’s game. Classes are in session Monday (Labor Day), so parking lots are not scheduled to open for football traffic until 4:00 pm. RV lots open over the weekend and off campus lots are open early. Safe travels..
GT84
August 28th, 2012
11:13 am
I think the point of the scheduling comment is the fact that the ACC is doing what the SEC refused to do, which is to schedule 9 conference games. Which means that every other year you will play 5 conference away games, plus Georgia. If you play a home and home with a BCS team, that would give you 6 away games each year. How many times has UGA had 6 away games? Just a question that I don’t know the answer to.
GT84
August 28th, 2012
11:14 am
And I understand why the SEC would not go to a 9 game schedule because the top of the conference is very good.
GT84
August 28th, 2012
11:16 am
In recent times, all major BCS schools have 7 home games for revenue. There are more things to think about in the grand scheme of scheduling other than what the fans want. UGA tried it to appease the fans with OK State and Boise and look what happened.
SansWorld
August 28th, 2012
11:26 am
“UGA football hasnt been relevant since 1980…..”
They are allmost always relevant preseason, but often something bad happens to them around Labor Day.
sean jones
August 28th, 2012
11:30 am
UGA hasnt won a Natl Title since 1980……and that =not relevant. sorry
sean jones
August 28th, 2012
11:30 am
did they even wear facemasks in 1980?
sean jones
August 28th, 2012
11:32 am
gotta go clean the mud off my truck and get some possum trapped for the BUFFALO game on Sturday..All my kin folk who studied at Georgy are coming into town…SEC football and firearms=happy times!!! YEEEE—HAWWWW
yeller bug
August 28th, 2012
11:35 am
If the ACC adds two more teams and gets to 16, then will we have 10 conference games? I think it would stay at 9 with 7 division games and a rotating two games in the other division. The objective of being a super conference, garnering TV revenue in various markets, and being relevant in the title game hunt is the goal, but it does limit OOC games especially if you want to have 7 home games.
sean jones
August 28th, 2012
11:36 am
UGA<alabama, lsu, arkansas, and south carolina. Yall fans sure are proud to be in a conference that makes your team look mediocre..yawn
sean jones
August 28th, 2012
11:38 am
if u catch u a lightning bug and pinch him between the eyes you can have u a nifty little light saver for the tailgate!!! yee–haw
Mutts r nutts
August 28th, 2012
11:40 am
That clemson series was created years ago and i wouldn’t be surprised to see it cancelled since expanson is coming for the acc next year.
GT84
August 28th, 2012
11:46 am
Going back to the 7 home games, Dawg Fans, if you were in the same situation do you think your AD would be willing to give up the 2million in revenue that each home game brings?
Ken
August 28th, 2012
11:51 am
OkieDawg…
Many things factor into the number of people attending a football game.
First and foremost is the student body. UGA has nearly 4 times the number students than Tech.
Second, local alumni. It would take nearly all of the local Tech alumni to sell out Bobby Dodd. Why is that? Well, see point number one above (simply more alumni from UGA than Tech) and most of our alumni move away from Atlanta. Tech has one of the largest national followings of any school out there. I highly doubt there are many UGA alumni clubs outside of the Southeast, yet I know of multiple Tech alumni clubs all around the nation, even attending some events. Heck, I know random people, not even affiliated with Tech, who know parts of, if not all of the fight song.
This disparity in alumni then drives more of the “sidewalk” alumni toward UGA rather than Tech and that’s OK. Growing up in Ohio, I was and still am a Buckeye fan. I have no connection to the school and in fact have never attended a game in person. But I still know everything going on with the team and watch nearly every game possible, when it doesn’t coincide with a Tech game.
If you’d like to check fan excitement, try considering the National TV schedule, particularly the games broadcast by ABC and ESPN. There is a reason Tech gets regular Thursday night games, Saturday night games and even this year’s Labor Day game. The Jackets drive good national ratings (see point number two above). Heck, even the Tech/UGA game gets broadcast by CBS when it is a home game for UGA. Do you think that is because of the Dawgs? No way. It’s because of the Jackets. UGA only gets a national game when their opponent is appealing. For the most part, no one outside of this state could give two flips about the Dawgs.
crackbaby
August 28th, 2012
12:17 pm
Ken – lively blog today. Off topic for the most part but you have action…
My dim-witted retorts:
1) Tech won 8 games last year and should be significantly better this year. Anyone who posts 6-6 or 7-5 without some supporting discussion is closet masterbating troll
2) Days at safety was, is and will always be a stupid idea. The kid came to Tech to play offense (and spurned other schools offers to play DB) and he is a playmaker. If Tech loses a safety or two, Sweeting will have to move over to play safety. He’s plenty big and moves FORWARD to the ball extremely well. Tech’s secondary is as deep and talented as it has ever been. That’s EVER – wNe.
crackbaby
August 28th, 2012
12:25 pm
More dim-witted retorts-
Why does anyone feel the need to defend Tech’s home attendance? It is what it is. If GT would schedule home games at night, attendance would increase 5k to 10k per game. Saturday afternoon games preclude families and kids (and grandparents and uncles etc.) from attending because of weekend athletics in metro Atlanta.
Here’s an Atlanta only stat for ya – Did you know that Atlanta has 80,000 recreational tennis players? Yup – as many as the whole state of California thanks mostly to ALTA. And ALTA men play on Saturday mornings. Now add youth football, lacrosse, soccer, etc.. Get the idea? Oh, and NONE of these events occur on Saturday night. Are you listening, DRAD?
dagnabit
August 28th, 2012
12:31 pm
Time to start playing the game. Time to start whipping hokie butt.
GTBob
August 28th, 2012
12:32 pm
Oh, and NONE of these events occur on Saturday night. Are you listening, DRAD?
DRad has very little influence on the starting times for our football games. ESPN controls the majority of that.
www
August 28th, 2012
12:34 pm
based on how often they comment, “dwags” and “OkieDwag” are bigger fans of georgia tech football than i am, and i actually graduated from the institute.
glad to have u on board as fans, fellas. remember to burn your ugly red polo shirts.