Ready or not, Jabari Hunt-Days to start vs. Hokies
A few old notes. Some more stuff going up later.
1. There will be no dipping Jabari Hunt-Days’ toe into the water. The Georgia Tech inside linebacker is getting tossed into the lake.
Ready or not, redshirt freshman will be starting in his first career game, beneath the lights of Lane Stadium at Virginia Tech in two Mondays. Hunt-Days will be subbing for Daniel Drummond, who has been suspended for 1 ½ games.
“It’s a great opportunity,” said Hunt-Days, the younger brother of quarterback Synjyn Days. “But ultimately, it’s just a team effort. That’s my thoughts.”
Tech has six more practices this week, Monday through Saturday, to try to prep Hunt-Days as much as possible.
“He’s doing real good,” said inside linebacker Quayshawn Nealy, who will be playing alongside Hunt-Days. “I think he’s going to be ready for VT.”
He will be the first redshirt freshman to start in the season opener since guard Will Jackson in the 2010 opener. He is the first defensive freshman to start the opener since linebacker Kyle Jackson in 2008. The last true freshman to start in an opener was wide receiver Tyler Melton, also in 2008.
“He’s still making progress,” inside linebackers coach Joe Speed said. “We’re trying to get him where he needs to be come Sept. 3.”
2. Safety Fred Holton is also expected to make his first career start. Holton has been held out of practice and did not participate in Friday’s scrimmage, but is expected to play. For Holton, it will be his first game since the 2010 season after he missed the 2011 season with a torn Achilles.
Holton has received widespread praise from teammates for his powerful tackling and his improvement in playing pass defense. That said, secondary coach Charles Kelly acknowledges he’s going to make mistakes his first time out.
“All I know is this,” Kelly said. “If you will play hard, physical football and get to the football, good things are going to happen to you eventually.”
3. Tech’s two true freshman offensive linemen, Freddie Burden and Chase Roberts, are likely redshirts. Since offensive line is one of the deepest, if not the deepest, position group, there isn’t much pressure to play either. Burden has worked at center, Roberts at tackle.
“I absolutely like ’em both,” offensive line coach Mike Sewak said. “They were good gets in recruiting and they were what we were looking for as athletes and mentally, too. They’re very smart.”
Thanks for reading.
In case you missed it…
Quayshawn Nealy buying in to Tech defense
Jeremy Moore’s opportunity arrives
Days to play ’somewhere’ for Tech
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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70 comments Add your comment
hedgepruner
August 27th, 2012
2:48 pm
Not feelin it for our opener (SORRY) but TW has to show great improvement like the game he played against Clemson last year, his reads on the corner pitch has to greatly improve for us to be effective. Nesbitt had a knack for pitching at the last second making defensive ends & LB’s slow down just enough for the long hitters, I hope TW proves me wrong because Orwin Smith & Zenon have the Jet burners to put it in the END ZONE & another thing , our defense has to make at least one or two more stops a game to give us any chance of winning the close ones – just my 2 cents ! THWG !!!!!!
GT fan
August 27th, 2012
2:50 pm
WnE,
Are you saying a 6′0″ 180lb safety (Coray Carlson) can’t play D1 football?
IDK for sure, but I think there was a guy nicknamed “honey badger” that played pretty well at the D1 level, even though he’s only 5′9″ 175lbs.
That’s wierd. I mean, we lucky GT fans have an expert like yourself giving us “WnE facts” that are then routinely disproved. How are all of us GT fans supposed to learn anything about the Jackets if our expert can’t provide us with proven/credible facts?
Dawglasvilleq
August 27th, 2012
4:52 pm
Monday? Crap. Now there is nothing to watch this weekend.
I wouldn’t worry too much about passing. I think forcing your offense to throw is Johnson trying to be too clever (see the end of the UGA game in 2009). I’m not sure why he doesn’t run it like the run and shoot. Like Vandy and South Carolina use to. I understand that the qb gets a lot of time to throw the ball and that he gets single coverage so the deep ball looks attractive. Guys like BeBe did well with those situations. The option numbers don’t lie. As far as Monday, to say it’s win or go home is crazy.
FORMATION 4 SUCCESS
August 27th, 2012
4:53 pm
8/27/12 STEP 5: Mental Preparation: You have to believe that winning starts with believing. Losing to UGA and VT and Miami over the last 3 years has to be quit disappointing. It wasn’t because they were better. GT, you just didn’t believe you were. Walking into a game hyping yourselves up during pregame chanting that you are ready, but then playing like you are unsure doesn’t add up. If you all just would understand who you truly are, then you will realize that GT was supposed to be playing in the Orange bowl for the last six years and UGA, VT and Miami were supposed to be wondering how to they are going to stop the bleeding this year. LISTEN. Regardless of who says what, this is where the GT program is supposed to be. Unfortunately, there are upper management folks that disagree. SO!! Who plays the games. And the films of those past games proved it. Don’t wonder, know. Don’t guess, be certain. Don’t fall to adversity, embrace it and then overcome it. Win. No Matter What…Win.
Not too late
August 27th, 2012
5:01 pm
God willin and the creek dont rise, VT starts slow like they do most years……….dont forget James Madison……Go Jackets!
Bryce
August 27th, 2012
5:23 pm
VT is going to run their 6′ 6- 260lb quarterback straight up the middle behind their guards-just like last year and gain 8 yards a pop. Groh’s 3-4 defense cannot stop this-He needs an extra down lineman in the middle–by the time our linebackers have a hand on their QB he’s already 5yards down field.
230gr Full Metal Jacket
August 27th, 2012
6:11 pm
Sorry Bryce, but I just don’t see THAT happening again! The Defense will be better than last year (by how much? Not sure yet, but even a marginal improvement will result in a few more wins for GT, plus improvement on special teams will yield a win or two too) and your offense won’t even be close to last years. I think the game will be fairly close, but in the end GT’s offense will simply prove to be too much for VT’s defense, while VT’s weakened offense will be stalemated by GT’s improved Defense. And if Beamer wants to try and run that big galoot up the middle again like last year we just might have to introduce him to The Thunder from Down Under!! VT is a program currently in decline, whereas GT is an ascending program that should begin showing what they are really made of this season now that Gailey’s boys are all gone and Johnson’s recruits are no longer all Freshmen. I see a minimum of 9 wins this year with 11 a real possibility (I’m including Charlotte and a bowl game in there). The 2013 and 2014 seasons, I won’t consider anything less than the ACC championship and a BCS Bowl/NCG berth acceptable, because the talent will be there. But even this season I think GT is going to surprise some folks — starting with the emasculated turkeys one week from today!!!
10percenter
August 27th, 2012
6:24 pm
I think we can score against VT. I think we will be able to stop their O…but not Logan Thomas. It’s just too hard to shake the sight of him just walking through our D line like it was not there last year.
GEEZ same old same old
August 27th, 2012
7:05 pm
Paddy and Delbert obviously must be unemployed. God forbid if you had to work and not be able to control the blogs 24/7
1 4 GT
August 27th, 2012
7:10 pm
GEEZ….some of us planned for our retirement and then there was GEEZ!! GEEEEEEZZZZZZ!!!!!!!
Buffalo Bulls
August 27th, 2012
7:15 pm
Hey UGA! We are ranked 139th in the country, so you better bring your A game.
GT GRAD
August 27th, 2012
7:30 pm
I expect we will be better in all areas (especially defense) except for deep passing to the wide receivers.
Go GT!
old tech grad
August 27th, 2012
8:19 pm
GT by 12 in a fairly low scoring game. GT 26 VT 14
LOL
Getting excited.
Tech Fan
August 27th, 2012
9:41 pm
We lose 5 games this year.
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August 27th, 2012
10:02 pm
[...] Ready or not, Jabari Hunt-Days to start vs. Hokies [...]
billyBobjacket
August 27th, 2012
10:02 pm
I’ll bet $100,000,000.00 on Tech to win straight up!
db
August 28th, 2012
12:20 am
Guys,
I am currently sitting in Kauai Hawaii wearing a Hawaiian shirt covered in Hawaiian beers. I am from Atlanta and going fishing tomorrow morning. I am so happy to be heading home in time to see GT vs VT. It will be a great game and I hope GT prevails. Two things:
Are you ready for some football….
and….
Toe meets leather…..
Go Jackets!
230gr Full Metal Jacket
August 28th, 2012
2:04 am
And as a side note, did any of ya’ll catch Seven Hill’s “performance” the other night??? He may have all of the tools, but he STILL has hands of stone!! Sanchez hit him perfectly several times and he kept dropping them (and one for an interception!). Hopefully he learns to catch soon, or he won’t be playing Sundays for long!!
georgianabulltiger
August 28th, 2012
7:06 pm
FORMATION 4 SUCCESS:
I’ve got chill bumps all over me and the hair is standing up on my arms. I think you just may be the next Lombardi.
Wow.
No, really.
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August 30th, 2012
4:36 pm
[...] Ready or not, Jabari Hunt-Days to start vs. Hokies [...]