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Thursday, September 7, 2006
Peppering you with opinions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A compilation of thoughts, some here, some there, some neither …
In my humble, age-addled estimation (turned 43 Wednesday), it’s quite possible Tech has its best football team in quite some time.
Don’t want to get into more second-guessing this call or that call from last Saturday as that’s been done over and over, and we’re four or five days out anyway, but from my vantage point the defense is going to be tight, especially when the D-line rotation grows with the return of Michael Johnson (groin, I think, but don’t know for sure). They clearly tired late the other day, in part because Notre Dame kept converting third downs. The Irish had an edge in time of possession in every quarter, a huge differential in the fourth.
— The secondary looks better than anybody had a right to expect. Pat Clark’s a tough cuss, Scott’s the real deal, and the safeties weren’t bad but need to be a little quicker in run support than they were against ND.
— Philip Wheeler’s a freak. ‘Nuff said.
— The kickoff team had better improve, and fast. At least three true freshmen, and I’m not sure but possibly a fourth, played there last Saturday. That may explain part of what happened, but only part. Gailey’s all over that this week.
— Contrary to what Gailey said last week, Tech didn’t sub in O-linemen and that hurt some. He suggested Tuesday that some of the reserves weren’t ready yet, physically, and I suspect that pertains mostly to Jacob Lonowski, who missed much of summer camp mending his repaired shoulder. Ultimately, I think Tech will be comfortable with seven O-linemen, perhaps including G LeShawn Newberry.
— Nix might wanna think about throwing not only to a tight end now and then, but more to running backs. Zero receptions by TEs, and 1 for 1 yard by a back (Choice)? Talk all you want about searching for balance between Calvin and the other WRs, but for my two cents you gotta throw to the under guys, too. This might help on third downs, too, where Tech converted two of the first five and then failed on the final five. That hurt, especially since Notre Dame starting converting them.
— Speaking of depth at WR, my opinion is that Greg Smith may be considerably better than many of you might think. Gotta find out.
— Reggie’s going to be better this year. Again, it’s my opinion, but I didn’t think he was a problem against the Irish. Sure, he failed to see some open receivers, but so did Quinn. I think he’s more measured by far with his emotions than in his first three years, more likely to remain on an even keel. He hasn’t always been that way, you know. I reserve the right to admit there’s room for error in this prediction.
— On punt returns, I know Tech nearly got a couple punts and chances of blocking one improve when you have 10 guys up and just one back. If it were me, depending on the punter and situation, I’d drop an up back in front of Clark. A couple ND punts coulda been fielded short if there was an upback, but instead bounced for big extra yards.
— Samford’s going to try to wing it all over the place. It’ll be interesting to see how Tenuta structures his blitzes because he’ll have no choice but to have more people back in coverage than against Notre Dame. Bet freshman Laurence Marius sees his first action on defense in this one.
— Getting a big lead and then playing a lot of people would be nice, but I wonder if this team might benefit psychologically more than most from kicking the snot out of Samford, no matter what it takes? Surely, fans would warm to that kind of result.
— On the recruiting front, Tech eagerly awaits the decision of Greene County QB Josh Nesbitt, who I believe will pledge to the Jackets Thursday or more likely Friday. Also, CB/WR Cedric Everson of Detroit is a candidate to commit any day, or, then again, he could wait and wait. Don’t have a strong feeling whether he’s going to pick Tech or UCLA.
— On the basketball scene, I wrote the other day Tech’s been recruiting PG Chris Wright of Washington, D.C. That’s over, and it’s been over, I’ve learned. The Jackets stopped chasing him even before Maurice Miller committed.
Later.
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