Discussion Time: Spring Practice

Question of the Day

Oh, what to do about Spring Practice? Practices are fun because it's a relaxed atmosphere and you get to see the potential we have for the Fall. But can't we get MORE? F4H brought up the issue a few weeks back and Holly wrote about it over on Dr. Saturday. If you ruled the CFB world, What would you change about the spring season of college football?

Monday Practice Cancelled

Since the weather is all crappy and windy today, practice has been moved to tomorrow at the Rose Bowl Field at 3:30. Wednesdays practice is still on for it's its normal time.

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.

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.

Why you would be happy if Cooper Taylor knocked up your daughter

As if this wouldn't be reason enough



A quick trip down memory lane: I was sitting against the endzone wall on the other end of the field, so my depth perception at this point is almost nothing. Every run looks like its probably going to be a touchdown. However, on this play, I see the ball pop into the air. I bury my head in my hands, and bend down - I can't watch. Winfield grabs me and starts shaking me screaming "WE GOT IT! WE GOT IT!" Celebration ensued.

Cooper Taylor kind of stood out his true freshmen year. Of course, the above video was clearly his highlight of the season, but all in all, he played well and got alot of love from everyone.

Let just sit and thing about that play for one more second. Think about it - that play is now part of Georgia Tech legend...

Now, Taylor has gone and outdone himself, at least as far as getting ready to make an impact on the next season goes. The 6'4", 195 lbs. true sophomore clocked in with a 4.38 second 40 yard dash - the fastest on the team. To make things even better he has the highest vertical leap on the team as well, slapping at 38.5 inches. While 4.38 seconds pales in comparison to times posted at some other programs, its great to see that a young standout player like Cooper is back and ready to roll for next season.

You may scowl as you stand there in your tux, cradling a shotgun inside the house of God as you force your daughter's hand away in marraige, but deep down inside, you'd be happy you have a little Taylor grandbaby on the way.


Heads up! Look for DFJ's Spring Practice Report soon!

No Weekend Practice Reports

This weekend there will be very little practice report information due to the weather. The rain has moved the team to the Falcons training facility in Flowery Branch for both today and Saturday. So, to get all the information that you crave, check out the AJC Tech Beat and Coley Harvey's Beat at the Macon Telegraph.

Subversion, sedition, sabotage

There is a serious problem with Georgia Tech athletics.

Everyone knows too much.

You see, all of the Spring Practices are TECHNICALLY open to the public, but we know of course that this is really only a courtesy, and only complete assholes would ever weasel their way into the Rose Bowl to get an early glimpse at our team. To make matters worse, when people are watching these "open" practices, they are actually committing them to memory, and furthermore, to written word! These so called fans have the audacity to barge onto the sides of practice like mangy, rabid dogs, who later regurgitate this information for others to see.

I was shocked when I first learned of these travesties, but upon further investigation, I realize that it simply wasn't blog posts that were relaying this secret information. In fact, message boards are actually being used to further break down this sensitive information, allowing any passersby to snatch said valuable data and run. The backstabbing didn't end there, with respected publications doling out information like slingers trying to get the kiddies hooked.

I was appalled at the widespread amount of whoring our kind were capable of, but I considered ending my fanhood and my own life when I discovered that the security leak wasn't a leak at all. That's right, it goes all the way to the top, with both the GTAA and our own Coach Paul Johnson freely providing our top secrets to everyone! The subversion has even infected this website, with DFJ plastering his football espionage all over the place! HAS THIS WORLD NO LOYALTY? NO DECENCY? WE MIGHT AS WELL CANCEL THE NEXT SEASON! WE'VE PUT ALL OUR PLAYERS AND PLANS IN THE LINE OF FIRE, AND THERE'S NO WAY TO STOP IT!

Unless of course you realize that simply reporting on spring practice, where most of the passes aren't caught, where you're happy to see only a handful of fumbles, and where coaches are more concerned with a player's fundamentals than any trick play hurts our chances to win this season about as much as your attendance at the games does. (Sorry, none of us are that important)

Why do I care enough to write this post? Mainly because of the doucher comments on this post on the North Avenue Bulletin. No, videos are not allowed. Neither are pictures. That's why you won't see any on this blog. A more appropriate way of dealing with the problem (if you really have a problem with NAB post...?), is to politely remind anyone you see at Spring Practice with a camera that pictures and video are not allowed. Of course, that would require you to not be completely anonymous (in other words, to have a pair and actually be able to communicate outside of the internet). I care because we are linked to the North Avenue Bulletin, so I can only imagine said doucher comments will soon spill over onto our blog (actually, we've had a few in the past, mostly mutts though). I'd really, really like to avoid that if at all possible.

We will do our best to bring you good, legitimately obtained info about everything that goes on in Georgia Tech athletics, especially football. We will not be posting pictures of practice. We will not be posting videos of practice. I'm sure as hell not lugging my laptop out to the Rose Bowl. We may report how crowded the beach is, but we won't name names. As much as we'd like to be powerful enough to unravel a major CFB team's plans with a 1 minute video (where the most intense thing is Butler backpedaling 5 steps), we are pretty sure that Coach Johnson and every other college football coach probably is way ahead of that game. To any grad assistant looking on here for insider information, to hell with whatever team you are working for, you are wasting your time, and you can probably get alot more information out of the insider subscription services that are out there. Seriously, you could probably register at at every ACC team's insider boards for less than Friedgen's weekly lunch budget.

However, if you are irate with anything we or anyone else ever posts about spring practices, somebody on this website can probably help you. Please, please spend the time you would leave writing a dickheaded comment and send an email first. If you are still feeling unsatisfied, well, I can't stop you from commenting. We are all ears, unless you aren't very nice. Then we will just make fun of you.

If you are from the GTAA and you ever have a problem with anything we post about anything, from spring practices to jersey color (ha!) to why I really like Will Muschamp, please, please contact us at thelegacyx4 AT gmail. We will be more than happy to do our best to satisfy any of your requests.

Can't get enough of Spring Practice?

Here are a few GT Spring Practice reports, each with it's own unique angle.

1. Coley Harvey @ the Macon Telegraph has his Tech Talk up. I saw him yesterday, at the Rose Bowl, he is one of the few writers who truly seems into what he writes about and isn't in the business just to "churn out" a story. Plus, he is trying to establish a readership, so you see the effort.

2. The North Avenue Bulletin: a new GT blog that wants to consistently write stuff. Here's his Day 1 report.

3. The AJC's Ken Sugiura and Larry Harstein tag team a write up.