Spring Practice Report for 4/11/09

It was a little chilly this morning, but that didn't keep a sizable crowd from coming out and enjoying the scrimmage. I also counted about a hundred recruits and their parents. It might not have been a hundred, but there sure were a lot of them.

1. The first string offense started against the first string defense. The offense was just on a roll. They were racking up about 5 yards a carry. They even converted two 4th downs. The offensive line was getting a good push on pretty much every run play. On one pass play the offensive line let a linebacker get by and rush after Josh to the left. Bebe saw this and came back to help Josh out by flattening the linebacker. That was one gigantic smack. Later on that same first drive, there was what looked like a minor injury. Jaybo then came in and led the first string offense without missing a beat. Jaybo ran in for the score. The first drive took quite a while and spanned 70 yards. After the first drive, the defense tightened up and held the first string offense to two three and outs. CPJ then made some adjustments and the offense began several epic marches down the field. Jaybo ran in for two more touchdowns. Dwyer played really only on the first drive and did quite well. Watson subbed in for Dwyer and had several really nice carries. Later in the scrimmage, Preston Lyons came in at B-back and had a great day. Mind you, this was with the first string and he was constantly getting upfield and had one 30+ yard run. Preston had just another amazing scrimmage. The A-backs also had a good day and were getting their guys on the ground. There were many times where I saw defensive backs with their legs flying up in the air. Jefferson and Burnett had a great day and were in on many key tackles. Overall the defense did a really nice job of solid tackling and keeping the offense from breaking long plays.

2. The second/third string offense played against the second/third string defense. I can say that the defense had the offense pretty well under control for most of the scrimmage. The defensive line was getting serious penetration and Tevin really didn't have time to do anything. There were times where he would get hit right after taking the snap. Tevin also fumbled several times and lost some of them. Even though he was constantly bogged down by the defense, Tevin did have a couple of really nice runs and scored on one really long one.

3. There were only a couple of field goals attempted today. Blair missed what looked like a pretty easy field goal. Another kicker made his from around the same area. Blair made all his extra point attempts and a backup missed one of his.

I almost forgot that Ron "Giving him the business" Cherry was reffing the scrimmage today.

Spring Practice Report for 4/10/09

Although it was a bit overcast, the temperature was perfect. Not many people showed up today, but I expect a pretty big crowd for tomorrow's scrimmage.

1. I counted 8 people on the beach today. I noticed that Luke Cox was not practicing today. I don't know where he was.

2. During the early part of practice, they worked on kick returns. Let's just say that we still need a lot more practice before we start tearing up the field. I counted a couple of times where the returner either dropped the ball or got hit right after catching it. We got a long way still to go.

3. They did the towel drill again with the receivers and corners. In case you didn't read my earlier reports, this drill involves the coach dropping a towel at the line of scrimmage and then the receiver runs five yards off the line and then tries to keep the corner from getting to the towel. The only consistent receiver out there was Bebe. His guy really never even sniffed the towel. Tyler Melton also did a nice job, but was still a little inconsistent. The rest of the receivers flat out got owned. You could tell that our corners really wanted that towel.

4. The passing game today was the complete opposite of what I saw on Wednesday. Our QBs were just on fire today. I rarely saw a poorly thrown ball and the receivers limited themselves to very few drops. It looked like a real passing offense out there. In the passing drills, it just looked like our QBs were staying cool and delivering the goods. I was very impressed with Josh today.

5. During the first scrimmage, the first string offense came out on fire. They were just ripping the defense apart. The second string offense also faired pretty well. Josh was in complete control and the offensive line was giving the backs some room to run. I didn't see one pass play. The first string defense, though, did manage to tighten up and limit the offense near the end of the first scrimmage.

6. After breaking apart into offense and defense, the team came together for the second and final scrimmage of the day. Once again, the first string offense was a force to reckoned with. The run game was gaining chunks of yardage and even when things went wrong they were still getting about 4 yards a play. The second string offense led by Jaybo and Tevin seemed to struggle a little more in the second scrimmage and fumbled a couple of balls away. I saw about two or three pass plays, and all of them looked pretty good. Josh was just killing them with the quick short yardage throws. The offensive line held relatively good pass coverage and gave Josh a little bit of time to make his throws.

7. There was a little scuffle that broke out in one of the scrimmages. I saw about 4 or so players involved in the fight and several of the players had to be dragged away. CPJ didn't look to happy, but this stuff happens from time to time. It only lasted a couple of minutes and the scrimmage continued uninterrupted.

8. CPJ continues to introduce new plays and all I can tell you is that we are definitely going to cause some defensive coordinators to lose some sleep. I am amazed at the different ways he makes plays out of the same formations. The defenses we face just won't see it coming.

Hopefully, this wasn't a fluke day for our passing game and we will continue this type of play into the Spring game and fall.

Huge series against UVA

This weekend, the Jackets host a ridiculously huge baseball series against Virginia. The Jackets are currently leading the Coastal Division but that lead is getting paper thin as 4 teams are within a game of each other for the to spot. The Cavaliers are in the 4th place right now, and worse case scenario, we see our division standing switch. Why the nervousness? Because we have not been playing to expectations. Too much inconsistency. Against the other top 4 teams, we are averaging 7.16 runs per game and giving up 6.67 runs per game, virtually a tie. The series this weekend is huge. It is time for us to step up and legitimatize our rankings and take command of the division.

Sorry Pete, I have to agree

When Johnson speaks, people listen

Very good article by Barnhart at the AJC. If you have time to read a couple minutes, read it. It's reassuring knowing that former players are solidly backing CPJ - something Gailey never really had.

And in case you haven't noticed, Mark Teixeira was booed mercilessly by his hometown Orioles fans in the Yankees' first series in Baltimore. I don't really get the anger that Northeastern fans have when it comes to baseball. I understand that he "looked" at a Baltimore deal but the Orioles weren't bringing the dough.

You'd never see Atlanta fans booing an Atlanta native that signs with Mets/Phillies. Plus, every time a former ATL great comes back to Turner Field, he usually receives an ovation for his services rendered. I think the sadder part is that Mark went 0-4 with 5 LOB meaning if he doesn't get his act together, the Yankee fans are gonna boo him, too.

Side note - that 7th inning for the Braves yesterday was terrible. Not quite as terrible as Tech's pounding received by GSU yesterday but still pretty terrible.

Charlton Young to Ga. Southern

The AJC has reported that Tech basketball assistant coach Charlton Young will be leaving the Flats and headed back to the 'Boro to coach the Eagles. Young played basketball for GSU and is a member of their athletic Hall of Fame. This move makes me think and ask all of you:

We needed a coaching shake up but is this how it is done? Losing assistants to go head coach?!

Give us your thoughts and comments.

It's only fair to the teams on our schedule

That's what I told myself for comfort upon hearing that Cooper Taylor, who we just recently lauded for his physical achievements and general badassery, will be out for the rest of Spring Practices. DFJ noticed his absence yesterday in his practice report, and soon enough the AJC explained where exactly he was - out with a knee injury.

This really is a tough time to have Taylor, who is receiving a lot of hype for next season, not getting practice time in at the "Wolf" safety/linebacker hybrid position, which is semi-new for this season (at least, it appears it is going to be our official scheme now). Coop has seen reps at this position at day one, and was officially tapped as the man for the job.

However, there is good news in the second link in this post - our favorite defensive player, the one and only Morgan Burnett, who led the nation in picks last year, is taking a leadership role on D. Hell, if our secondary starts mimicking Morgan this year, we will have the most solid corps I've seen since becoming a Yellow Jacket.

Spring Practice Report for 4/8/09

I'm sorry I didn't post a practice report for Monday, but it was cold and there was really nothing special going on. The only news that came out of Monday was that Dieke and Hill made it back onto the field. The first string offense also got the best of the first string defense about 50% of the time on Monday. Josh looked pretty good. Today was a lot warmer and the baseball game was going on in the background.

1. I counted 7 players on the beach. I noticed Cooper wasn't playing today. I don't know where he was. I also didn't see Earls practicing.

2. Tarrant by far looks like our best bet at punt returner and is probably the favorite going into the end of Spring. He consistently catches the ball, and that will pretty much ensure that he will see the field as a returner.

3. The receivers and the corners had an interesting drill today. The coach would throw down a white hat at the line of scrimmage and it was the receiver's job to keep the corner from scooping it up. The corners consistently got the best of the receivers and the only wideout that stood out was Bebe. When he attacks a corner, that player is no longer involved in the play. I hope the others can follow his example and give us something powerful on the opposite side of the field.

4. Now we come to the passing drills. What can I say, I saw about 40 drops out there today. The QBs were making some decent throws and the receivers and A-backs were consistently dropping them. Sometimes the QBs would make a horrible throw and the receivers would make a great run to get to the ball only to drop it in the end. I don't know what was going on.

I had to leave around 5PM, so I didn't get to see the scrimmage part. I hope it was a lot better than what happened earlier in practice. I'll write more in depth reports on Friday and Saturday when I have more free time.

Also, there was some mildly exciting news. One certain corner jumped over this other corner on the depth chart. I think you all can guess who was who.

Tech practice facility

Tech is building an 8.5 million dollar practice facility. I don't really understand the article when it says that the teams were strapped for practice time/locations when the Freshmen Gym is also within the AMC structure. Seems like AMC and the Freshmen Gym provide ample space for both teams practicing schedules. I think this may be moreso a recruiting tool and a means to preserve the AMC floor.

The dig against Tech and for Georgia in the article is slightly unfair in that Tech doesn't have millions of acres of cow pastures to build on. Land is limited in REAL cities. Speaking of Georgia...

Tech travels to Athens in softball today. Tech is undefeated under Coach Perkins against the Dogs, going 4-0 in Perkins' four attempts. Tech has also won 6 of the last 7 against the bullgirls. Game starts at 4:50pm and will be broadcast off of ramblinwreck.com.

Thoughts on the practice facility or GTAA expenditures are welcome.

Miami: Georgia Tech's BITCH since 2004

Georgia Tech Football in human form

A friend of mine sent this to me from a Miami Hurricanes message board last night:

This may just be me but I associate rivals with pure, unadulterated hate. When I see someone wearing a rival's gear, I have to remind myself about appropriate social conduct to keep me from tripping said rival and spitting in their face. And I know a team is a rival when I know just as much about their football team and history as my own. <-- Just in case we get into an argument about which school is superior (which UM always is ). As for Ga. Tech, I don't know anything about them except that their coach is Paul Johnson, they run some crazy ass offense, and their guys make my guys eat grass with just one stiff arm. Also, if I were to see someone wearing GT gear walk past me, I think my inclination would be to hang my head down in shame and think "(sigh) .. maybe next year." So, by my definition of what a rival is, no, GT is not a rival. They are our pimp and we are their bitch. And it'll stay this way till we beat them and then beat them over and over again. It's unacceptable that we haven't beat GT since joining the ACC. They own us right now. It's not a rivalry when you can't beat the other team.

I agree with this poster for the most part. It's not a rivalry when you can't beat the other team....except for IN-STATE rivalries. In-state rivalries are in complete leagues of their own. In-state rivalries reek of hatred no matter the long or short term series record. You will hear about your team losting at work, at church, and at your kid's sports game. The sight of your rivals logo makes you want to vomit. That is a rivalry. Simply not being able to beat a team makes you frustrated. We should know, we played Florida State.

This is not just because Ga. Tech was on the side that couldn't win. Just ask furrer4heisman over at Gobbler Country what we're talking about here. VT has won 5 in a row and 9 of the past 10. Is it a rivalry? Hell yeah it is. There is enough hate to keep that rivalry going.

MONDAY PRACTICE REPORT

Since DFJ didn't post something, I'll let you know how practice was.

It was ****ing cold.

This has been your practice report from Dane.

A practice report of similar length can be found at the AJC.

Coley Harvey is a braver soul than I, and also wrote a good bit more.

Day 8: College BBall is Over

I started my day listening to Mike/Mike. It was fine until missed the carpool and in the chaos of driving alone down Highway 52, spilled my soda right into my lap. I survived the spill but the Michigan State Spartans didn't.

Last night was a classic beatdown. State didn't have the horses. Hell, no one had the horses to run with UNC. The best nonbasketball point made in post-game wrap ups was this morning by Andy Katz. He pointed out that Michigan State saved the Final Four. Instead of being the worst attended Final Four (due to poor ticket sales from the other 3), the games set records for attendance because of MSU's proximity to Ford Field. 70,000+ in attendance.

I found it interesting, at least. Imagine a Final Four 50 miles from Tech with Tech in it (more like 3 miles from Tech)...that'd be sweet.

Another interesting tidbit from this weekend was Will Bynum's effort for the Pistons on Sunday. Pretty crazy that he's still doin' it in the NBA and arguably having the best career of the Final Four guys.

Final Conference Roundup
ACC: 9-6 (60.0%)
Big East: 17-7 (70.8%)
Big 10: 9-7 (56.3%)
Big 12: 10-7 (58.8%)
SEC: 1-3 (25.0%)
PAC 10: 6-6 (50.0%)
Other: 12-28 (30.0%)

NCAA Championship thoughts are welcome. Any musings about life in general are welcome.

Weekend Update and Link Blitz

In actuality it was a slow weekend.

Baseball
Carolina won the rubber match yesterday for baseball and we ate some humble pie.
Football
Macon Telegraph's Weekend Practice Report

AJC's Weekend Practice Report