Tech’s Joshua Nesbitt: The most valuable collegiate player?
It takes at least four Hokies to handle Joshua Nesbitt. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
Ankle surgery having precluded his participation in spring practice, Joshua Nesbitt had the chance to study Georgia Tech from the sideline. And what he saw, he said, was a team just as talented as last season’s ACC champs. Which is, not to put too fine a point on it, a big ol’ fib.
Because the Jackets with Nesbitt on the sideline aren’t one-tenth as impressive as Tech is when he’s on the field. He’s not quite the best player in college football, but no one means more to a program than this quarterback does to his.
Paul Johnson’s stylized option-based spread starts with Nesbitt, and often it ends there. He has to make every read, every pitch, every throw. He also has to take 30 hits a game, and therein lies the issue. With backup Jaybo Shaw having transferred to Georgia Southern, Tech can’t afford to lose Nesbitt for a single snap. But even a man as conspicuously robust as this — he appears bigger than his listed 217 pounds — is going to feel some pain.
The good news: Nesbitt said last week he feels better than he has “since high school.” The bad: Every Tech opponent won’t be so concerned with defending the option this season as with simply smacking Nesbitt.
But here’s the thing: Nesbitt is capable of smacking back. He has a linebacker’s approach to playing quarterback. If you come hard at him, he’ll come harder at you. Apologies in advance for again using the I-word — “indomitable” — but with Nesbitt no other adjective is half as applicable.
Said Nesbitt, speaking of Tech: “We understand what it means to fight until the clock says zero.”
Much of this comes from Pugnacious Paul, the head coach. Nearly as much emanates from the quarterback he inherited on arrival, a young man after PJ’s fighting heart.
And these Jackets, picked to finish third in the ACC Coastal Division, figure to need all the orneriness they can muster. They lost four gifted juniors to the NFL, and their road schedule — trips to Kansas, North Carolina, Clemson, Virginia Tech and Georgia — is a fright. Or it would be, were Nesbitt the sort to get nettled.
“People are looking for us not to be the same team,” Nesbitt said. “We know we’ve got a bull’s eye on us. … We need to prove everybody wrong.”
Someone asked if Johnson imparts that very message to his players. “Only every time we talk,” Nesbitt said, and then he laughed.
Another source of some amusement: The two letters at the shank of his first name. He was born Joshua Leonard Nesbitt, but for 21 years he answered to Josh. He and his mother decided to ask Tech to list his name as Joshua for his senior season: “More businesslike,” he said.
Which isn’t to say everyone has gotten the memo. Heck, sometimes his mom even slips and forgets the “u” and the “a.” “It doesn’t faze me,” said Nesbitt, who isn’t easily fazed.
And what does Tech’s coach call his quarterback? “He can call me whatever he likes.”
We know Johnson has the utmost faith in his offense — he should; he designed the thing — but even a man as proud as PJ will acknowledge that an option cannot run itself. Somebody has to take the ball from center and send it the right way and absorb those hits, and there’s nobody on Tech’s campus who can do it the way Nesbitt does.
Still, the cult of Joshua hasn’t yet found national traction. We saw it again this week when the assembled ACC media voted him sixth in its preseason player-of-the-year balloting. Yeah, that’s part of being an option quarterback in 21st century football, but still … sixth!
Maybe his low standing had something to do with Nesbitt skipping the ACC’s media days in Greensboro. Both Tech and conference officials implored him to come, but he was adamant. He had to attend a family reunion in Miami. (And no, it wasn’t an agent-funded soiree.)
And there’s just another reason to like Joshua Nesbitt. In an age where hype knows no restraints — hello, LeBron James — the most valuable Jacket had better things to do than talk about himself. Talk about a throwback.
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555 comments Add your comment
gtfanfrom1951
July 28th, 2010
11:44 pm
On a pass three things can happen and two are bad so the less you have to pass the ball the better off you are. Coach Dodd, Coach Dooley, Woody Hayes..etc all new how to win and its not by passing.
JCH
July 28th, 2010
11:55 pm
Kevin- calling Focus on the Family as an “oppressive organization” just has so little credence, it alarms us to what mental facilities you may actually not be in control of.
JCH
July 29th, 2010
12:02 am
ok, everyone from Tech’s corner seems to blindly support Fleabiscuit as “the man”, We All shall be Vindicated once the Season gets underway, and Tech’s prize pony gets a taste of a Full Season of Gettin Busted a few times by somebody bigger than the FSU cornerback he outweighed by 30 lbs.
supersize that order, mutt
July 29th, 2010
12:09 am
JCH, at least we agree on Focus on the Family. But as far as Nesbitt goes (I can only assume from the topic of this blog that by “Fleabiscuit” you mean him), he got busted quite a few times last year by big men, and he got up and walked away. I look for more of the same this year.
col foot
July 29th, 2010
12:16 am
most valuable collegian, are you kidding..what a joke!!!
Henry Huggins
July 29th, 2010
12:20 am
UG drunks are like Dems. “I know you are, but what am I” The distortion, excuses and outright lies from Georgia morons is deafening this year. Look for a .500 season from the Bullfrogs, and mass suicides.
supersize that order, mutt
July 29th, 2010
12:22 am
so, col foot, who would you say in this country is more valuable to the success of their team than Nesbitt is to the success of Georgia Tech? THAT is what a MVP is all about.
How the mighty have fallen
July 29th, 2010
12:26 am
J E A L O U S of GT and every article written about them. I realize beating GT in 09 is all you got. How the mighty have fallen when you were preranked number one in the nation in 2008 and go on to lose to GT and then lose 5 more in 09 including Kentucky all of people. Before, you would fall back on bragging about the SEC but my God, besides Fl and Bama who in the name of God is there to brag about? Your schedule is sad. Why recruit 5 stars to play this powder puff line up, Idaho State really? No Bama or LSU and bet 99% were hoping nobody noticed that. Congrats to the 1% of your fans that wants to play the big boys year in and year out. Do not any of you think your robbing your players of their college careers? They only get 12 games and do they not deserve better? So you jump on the GT blogs because I realize it is all you got. Try and come up with new material because it is pitiful the dogpoops have sunk this low. And do you not have any shame at all about your players in jail or your AD weaving all over the road drunk and driving with panties between his legs? God help that outhouse of a school you call college.
Trevor Becker
July 29th, 2010
4:14 am
Nesbitt is tough, but the schedule (N.C., Miami, VT,) plus no Dwyer or D. Thomas DOES NOT bode well for GT.
Go Big Time
July 29th, 2010
4:16 am
Josh Nesbitt has had injuries with his ankle every year since 2008. He’s been out the Spring again in 2010. Injury prone.
Another casualty of the triple option. Yet another reason why no NFL team runs the triple option exclusively.
Nesbitt’s ankle won’t hold up for the whole season.
Trevor Becker
July 29th, 2010
4:17 am
Oh and I’ll bet my car that Nesbitt isnt even an acc hon mention at QB or Heisman finalist.
Mark PRicht
July 29th, 2010
7:34 am
Well at least he’s not in jail or anything so CPJ didn’t have to kick him off the team. He will get to play on Saturday’s, that’s more than I can say for my thugs…..Joshua you my man have class
reality
July 29th, 2010
7:44 am
Nesbitt will be a finalist for the Heisman. VT, Clemson and UNC will be tough road games. Kansas and UGA should be pretty easy road games.
DawgFan1987
July 29th, 2010
7:53 am
I know I’ll probably get killed by the Bulldog Nation, BUT Tech’s offense is intriguing and VERY entertaining to watch. Although Nesbitt’s arm is a bit suspect….he does run PJ’s offense soundly. It amazes that teams KNOWS what’s coming and can’t stop it. I’ve always liked and respected Coach Johnson……but he’s no Mark Richt. We came to Tech and THRASHED them with their own game plan. King and Ealy are a dynamic duo. I love ALL GA teams……but Glory Glroy to Georgia and the H**L with Geor-gia Tech!!!!!!!!!!
NYJacket
July 29th, 2010
8:04 am
All you Dawgs who think Joshua is not for real, just think about what would have happened last year if the first receiver taken in the NFL draft later in the year had not dropped a strike thrown his way. Talk about dodging a bullet!
Joshua is a great young man and a tremendous competitor.
GT
July 29th, 2010
8:46 am
It is not that PJ is proud as much as it is the insistent downgrades of the football world on a offense that for years has been productive for far less talented teams. PJ’s worse teams at Tech have all been competitive from the start. How anyone thinks this team is any less that the rest with a new defense and that offense that is interchangeable personnel wise is beyond me. But you know something in this SEC rich and over hyped environment it is refreshing to see a team and coach well behind the enemy lines reminding the pretty boys, talk is cheap you still have to play the game.
DawgFan1987
July 29th, 2010
8:50 am
To NYJacket:
Of course he’s a great young man and an excellent athletic competitor (I will not argue with that), but do you think he has what it takes to start at QB on the NFL level?
DawgFan1987
July 29th, 2010
9:11 am
I never said he wouldn’t make it, but they don’t need Gadget QB’s in the NFL and Miami is the only team that runs an unconventional offense and you see where it has gotten them. He must learn to throw and do it efficently and at a high level if he wants to be a starter……just ask Tebow! I wish him well and would like to see him develop some QB skills…..these college coaches are doing HORRIBLE jobs preparing these young men for the next level (CPJ and Urban Meyers), it’s all about making money for themselves and the schools and the student athletes are getting the short end of the sticks!!!!!!
CALHOUN ALUM
July 29th, 2010
9:19 am
georgia fan’s are ajoke no class at all!
DDDF's
July 29th, 2010
9:25 am
Any truth to the rumor that Vandy is trying to lock up UGA as the annual Vandy homecoming opponent? Next great college football rivalry will be between Florida and Tech over who gets to lay the worst beating on the dogs annually. UF has the advantage of getting first shot every year, but we get the pleasure of administering the death blow every November. Trust me, once we get our boot on your throats, you will never get up. Stay down and we may leave you enough healthy players for your mid December trip to Shreveport.
oledawg
July 29th, 2010
9:57 am
Again the question begs answering————-why would any high school QB with a desire to play in the NFL, ever want to go to Tech? Nesbitt,and every future QB coming to Tech is going to get pounded and pounded again. And for what? At least running backs that take it each week and go pro, will get compensated. But they all pay the price. Talk to Earl Campbell,Larry Csonka, etc,etc. My point is Paul Johnson doesn’t give a damn—–he’ll win some games with that high school offense, and that will mollify the geek following, but he refuses to switch to a college/pro offense, because he is clueless. But then all that matters to the geeks is that Tech “outscore” their opponent.The hell with the players.
oledawg
July 29th, 2010
10:00 am
Nesbitt is also the other team’s MVP
DawgFan1987
July 29th, 2010
10:06 am
To DDF’S:
Are you that oblivious to the record book? Do your research and then rejoin the discussion once you have been enlightened!!!!!
Mark PRicht
July 29th, 2010
10:13 am
hey oledawg me and Evans, we develope our guys for jail….I am the one that dont care…you are either completely blind or completely stupid…UGA has went downhill since they charged the field against Florida, your dumb coach has tried every gimmick in the book to try and make the score matter
DDDF's
July 29th, 2010
10:17 am
Research what? I’m making future predictions about the pending irrelevance of the NE GA agricultural school. No research needed to a record book, just sit back and watch the decline. I know the concept of the future scares you mutts, since all of your glory lies in the last 15 years, but the times are changing. Will any of us live long enough to see another UGA nc? Of course not, no one will live that long.
DDDF's
July 29th, 2010
10:18 am
Maybe wearing black helmets and storming the field after a touchdown will work, nothing else seems to be doing any good.
DDDF's
July 29th, 2010
10:19 am
Sorry, maybe you guys should change that to storming the field after a field goal.
Mark PRicht
July 29th, 2010
10:22 am
maybe they should chage storming to stumbling
Jim
July 29th, 2010
10:25 am
If you look at Nesbitt’s porblems with injuries, every year, his ankle has caused to miss playing time. You can’t do much in the triple option with a bum ankle. Troble for Georgia Tech.
Nesbitt is injury-prone, and running so much with Paul Johnson’s high school offense, you have to think, teams will ankle tackle Nesbitt every time, knowing about that right ankle.
So, the ankle Nesbitt’s been trying to rehab all Spring, that has given him trouble since 2008, will be targeted by teams every time Nesbitt runs the ball. Not goog, not good at all.
supersize that order, mutt
July 29th, 2010
10:36 am
oledawg, who says that every QB coming out of HS is capable, or even desirous, of going pro after college? That doesn’t mean that they aren’t any good, often better, in fact, at what they do, then the pro-worthy ones are at what they do. CPJ gives those QBs a shot at a free college education, the opportunity to keep playing football (which I assume they love) for 4 years after HS, and get a good degree which will help them get a good job after graduation. It’s not ALL about going pro. After all, what percentage of all college football players end up making it in the pros? Not a very high one, I would imagine. So if CPJ goes after the best of the non-pro-worthy QBs and wins with them, then to hell with everybody else.
DDDF's
July 29th, 2010
10:38 am
Of course the coaching staff will have to hand out maps on how to get to the end zone, and of course show films of what it looks like to kick a field goal. Imagine the UGA placekicker finally gets a field goal in the 6th or 7th game of the season and all of these black helmeted leghumpers just standing there, thinking “do we go now”? Gonna get a million hits on youtube, except in Athens, where Comcast is still trying to get the trailers wired up for broadband. “Sir, we can be there between 8am Tuesday and 2018, will someone be at home?”
supersize that order, mutt
July 29th, 2010
10:38 am
Jim, Nesbitt is injury prone??? He missed playing time for one quarter last season, and that was after UGAG mugged him. His ankle surgery this winter was not because of an injury; it was because of a buildup of scar tissue or something on one of his ankles. Sure that comes from wear and tear, but I’d still say he did pretty damn good last year to have taken all the hits (SMASH hits) he did and only miss one quarter of playing time.
cobbjacket
July 29th, 2010
10:39 am
Excellent points supersize, not to mention that college football coaches jobs are to win college football games, not stock NFL rosters.
supersize that order, mutt
July 29th, 2010
10:40 am
exactly right, cobbjacket
cobbjacket
July 29th, 2010
10:45 am
Getting players into the NFL certainly looks good to both the coaches and the school, but bottom line is, these guys are there to win college games and generate revenue. Unfortunately, the lure of NFL money will continue to dilute and harm the college game. Considering the millions being made by the schools and the sometimes desperate situations that a lot of these players come from, perhaps the NCAA should reconsider the whole compensation to players issue.
Dawgs Rule
July 29th, 2010
10:46 am
supersize and POAD are the 2 dumbest bloggers ever…oh wait, jacket brave is there too. POAD, you say Clemson has wanted to schedule UGA evry year and UGA runs? Check the facts dipsh!t. They will play each other again, home and home, just like they have several times (BTW, Georgia has beaten the snot out of them including a 30-0 beat down in Death Valley). Clearly the gnats are coming out of the woodwork afyter an Orange Bowl appearance (wow, you finally made it to a BCS bowl game…prior to that you all thought BCS stood for “before calculus starts”). Where were all of you before? Playing D&D? You clowns will soon head back into the woodwork and your Warcraft games. UGA will beat that Nerd a$$ bad this year…Book it!!!
Also, all of you idiots claiming gimmicks by our coach for uniform changes: look at yourself in the mirror. I have seen EVERY college team try new uniform color combos in the past few years. Man Boobs wanting to punch UGA fans…now that is a stupid gimmick that will certainly get your a$$es kicked!!
Dawgs Rule
July 29th, 2010
10:50 am
funny how the Nerds block out true blogs and only let a select few, useless bloggers (POAD, superdumb, DDT) spew their point of view. Funny thing is, they all now the truth!! Back to the woodwork bees, after the humiliatiomn in Athens and Man Boobs punching one of his players in the face during a game!!
Yech
July 29th, 2010
10:51 am
Way to be onesided with the edits, NERDS!!
supersize that order, mutt
July 29th, 2010
10:56 am
cobbjacket, I hear what you’re saying, but remember, they ARE getting a free education, and that doesn’t come cheap. Sadly, however, too many of them aren’t interested in the education; they just want the money.
DawgFan1987
July 29th, 2010
11:00 am
You Tech fans are so jealous of the success of UGA. They are perennial winners….GET OVER IT!!!! I love any team from the state, but let’s be real…..UGA owns the football scene and Tech owns the basketball scene. The sooner you come to grips with reality….the sooner you can start to realize that Tech just ISN’T A FOOTBALL SCHOOL!!!!! We appreciate the engineering services you provide ….thanks
supersize that order, mutt
July 29th, 2010
11:03 am
DawwFan1987, Tech is not a football school, and yet 3 of the top 100 teams of the past 100 years are Tech teams (1952,1955,1956). No UGAG team appears on the list at all. So tell me, along with Tech’s 4 national championships and 16 conference championships (to UGAG’s 2 and 12) has the richer football tradition? Tides turn, and Tech appears to be on the way back up, while UGAG seems recently just to be languishing in mediocrity, even within the SEC.
supersize that order, mutt
July 29th, 2010
11:04 am
that should have read “tell me…which school has the richer football tradition?”
DawgFan1987
July 29th, 2010
11:05 am
supersize:
Everyone isn’t cut out for school. Alot of these young men come from poverty and have an opporunity to take care of thoer family with their athletic talents. I am all for education 100%……but some people just aren’t cut out for school. Besides….we rack up collegiate debt just to earn $50k a year, whilst they EARN their scholarship (it isn’t free) and go on to make millions……seems to me like they have the right idea!!
DawgFan1987
July 29th, 2010
11:09 am
I grew up a dawg fan but I enjoy both schools so really as long the state stays relevant, I’m good. BTW….Mediocrity in the SEC will still get u in the Top 25. These wussy schools like Boise State and Utah wouldnt last in the SEC, and UGA would destroy their conference….Hawaii knows how tough UGA and the SEC is!!!!! Anyhow I can’t argue with facts because it’s all bout National Championships so….touche, I tip my hat to u
Mark PRicht
July 29th, 2010
11:16 am
DawgFan1987
AND WE APPRECIATE THE FRIES AND PIZZA THAT UGA PROVIDES….SO WE ARE EVEN
supersize that order, mutt
July 29th, 2010
11:21 am
DawgFan, I understand what you are saying about Boise State and Utah, but remember one thing, if they WERE in the SEC, or any other big-time conference (Utah soon will be), their recruiting stock would go way up. They would get bigger and better athletes, probably run the same system, and ultimately succeed. Just think how Tech would have been if Dodd hadn’t pulled us out of the SEC. We pretty much owned the state of Georgia then, had far more national recognition, had the larger stadium, far more money in our coffers, and a helluva lot more success on the field. I don’t think that would have ended. I am no longer much of an SEC fan, but I’m not stupid; I know what being in the SEC could have (and I think would have) meant to Tech.
supersize that order, mutt
July 29th, 2010
11:24 am
I think that it was knowing what Tech had been and could easily be again was the reason Dooley successfully lobbied against allowing Tech back in the SEC in the 80s, and it’s why the powers that be in Athens indicated a total lack of support for allowing us back in this past winter, had conference expansion plans proceeded.
DawgFan1987
July 29th, 2010
11:40 am
Pricht: how bout u design a bridge and jump off it……..
Supersize: I have a question…..we kno about Tech’s past dominance, but why are they struggling to dominate the ACC? I feel as if their only adversaries nowadays are themselves because FSU has tailed, The “U” is a thing of the past, and VT is starting to decline…..the ACC is theirs for the taking…..can they continue taking it?
supersize that order, mutt
July 29th, 2010
11:47 am
DawgFan, I think with CPJ coaching the sky’s the limit. They struggled under Gailey, because Gailey, in spite of being a good man, just is not a very good college coach. You know, I heard Gailey speak twice at alumni functions, and I was totally impressed with his knowledge of the game of football. But for whatever reason, he couldn’t translate that knowledge into consistency on the field. CPJ know what it takes to produce a winner, and he doesn’t settle for anything but 100% effort. If the addition of Al Groh to the staff does what I think it’s going to do, then watch out. I’m not predicting that it will happen, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Tech back in Miami again in January. I just hope we don’t have another one of those breakdowns against the mutts this year. That, although not as devastating as some of you mutts want to believe, certainly put a blemish on an otherwise fantastic season last year.
Wreckbone
July 29th, 2010
12:06 pm
Hey guys who are bashing Joshua. Hes the only college quarterback I’ll bet who can power clean over 300 lbs. Probably over 350 by now. I’ll look for the stats. So talking smack about how tough he is and his arms…..you are hilarious. You guys talking that smack probably never hit the gym regularly. Joshua is the man and the Jackets will do great this year! We have a Defensive Coordinator. Howie sent his son to learn from this guy.
I was talking to my brother a UNC alum about football and he was excited about their defense. I then told him about our hire from UVA. That stunned him. “Oh, Wow. I didn’t kknow that” I think thats gonna catch quite a few more people off guard this year on the other side of the field.
Go Jackets!!