AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2007 > January > 18
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Clinch can practice; Young sick
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thaddeus Young is sick, Lewis Clinch is back, and Michael Vick could be gone, but before I get to all that … SoCalDawg, you’re on a roll. Why stop now? Please continue regaling us with your wisdom, and unparalleled foresight. Just please make sure you check our recruiting blog while you’re slinking around the AJC’s website. Days behind? Man, you’re like Jim Gaffigan, comedian extraordinaire. I love humor, dude.
Hey, this Gailey thing is absurd, and bizarre, although it’s a good thing we can all count on the London Daily Mail to kick everyone’s butt. So we all have that going for us, at least. The Daily Mail rocks. It’s always a good thing when you beat the entire world on a story, especially when you beat everybody by hours and hours and hours and hours and … when does this finally go from scoop to suspicious guess? Hey, the Mail could still be right, and then they’ll say they knew it all along. That’s nailing it.
No, seriously, no, nevermind. I don’t want to talk any more about Gailey.
Back to basketball …
A couple of items: Thaddeus Young is sick, and I don’t mean in a figurative way. He’s ill, the owner of a fever, and draped in sweats and all that. He looked like a forest rider when he came in for practice tonight. He didn’t practice at all yesterday, and was going to try some limited work tonight. Paul Hewitt said he took intravenous fluids today, and is better than yesterday. He anticipates Young being ready to go in practice tomorrow, and quite well by Saturday.
I’d wonder, though, about his stamina in Chapel Hill.
Also, positive news about Lewis Clinch, who is of course not eligible to play this semester for Tech after violating the school’s honor code last semester. He can practice!
The first step after resolving his eligibility was to determine if he was going to be allowed to remain in school. That worked out well, but Hewitt was initially under the impression he would not be allowed to practice with the team.
Hewitt later learned that Clinch can practice with the team, but the coach decided he will participate sparingly so as to dedicate more time to academics, particularly in the early part of the semester. Clinch, though, practiced Monday, a holiday, and Paul said he might practice tonight. Mostly, he’s working out, but getting some individual work in and occasionally will work in team drills.
Changing topics yet again …
Whither Michael Vick? What in the world was he not thinking? I can’t take a water bottle through security, you can’t take a water bottle through security, and Mike, you can’t either.
Nevermind for a moment the possibility that something was hidden in that trick bottle. The bottle itself was contraband. There are big signs. There were news stories months ago everywhere, on TV and in newspapers, explaining this to U.S. travelers … and I mean EVERYWHERE!
OK, so if the Falcons keep Michael Vick, which would be a lot, lot, lot easier on the salary cap than jettisoning him via trade or release, who thinks teammates can look to him for leadership? Raise your hands.
Now, there are different kinds of leadership, vocal, by example, by speaking up in critical moments, and more. What kind of leadership can Michael Vick be? If you were his teammate, and you’d watched team officials coddle him for the past three years, or from about the time management decided to let Mike call most of the shots with regards to how he would be made available to the media rather than dictating that decision themselves, what do you think of him now?
Do you want to be like him, or anything but like him. Do you want to bust tail for him? Do you trust that he will bust tail for you? Do you want to take shots for him? Do you trust that he’ll take shots for you, as in get up in front of microphones and take one for the team, as most front-line quarterbacks so often do? Can you follow someone you tell your kids not to imitate? Someone who flipped off fans?
It’s a tough call, but for only one reason, I think. The salary cap ramifications.
If you haven’t already read it, check Jeff Schultz’s column on the matter.
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Life with, or without, Gailey
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I feel like I’m stuck in a plane, circling overhead, waiting for weather to break. When is this Chan Gailey business going to happen, whatever’s going to happen?
Good grief. What are the Dolphins doing, interviewing 13 candidates or something like that? Shouldn’t you go into a coaching search with a pretty well-defined idea of what you’re looking for?
At least we know Giff Smith is staying at Tech as the recruiting coordinator. He was contacted by some intermediaries from Georgia Southern, but did not get an interview. I have no idea why, and must admit that surprises me. He’s not only an alum, but a former All-America at GSU, and proving to be an outstanding recruiter. Chris Hatcher is not a GSU guy, but what do I know?
For my two cents, if Gailey stays, there’s no damage to recruiting at all, present or future. If he gets and takes the Miami job, two different things, I wouldn’t be surprised if Tech lost one or two recruits, Morgan Bennett being a possibility, but no more. I wouldn’t be surprised, either, if nobody reneged. That would depend on who Tech hired as coach.
If it’s somebody with whom recruits are familiar, perhaps there would be no effect. If it’s somebody from outside the organization, the landscape changes. Depending on who it is, and how much of the staff he changes, you never know. Impossible to predict. You know other schools are recruiting these Tech commits hard. Derrick Morgan told me that Penn State kept calling him almost right up until he left to enroll at Tech Jan. 8.
Onto another sport … North Carolina kicked Clemson’s butt last night, although the Tigers couldn’t have shot the ball worse, I don’t think. That’s not their forte, anyway, but combined a terrible shooting performance and a UNC team possessed, and it was ugly.
Tech has to start reasonably well in Chapel Hill Saturday night, and Ra’Sean Dickey has to slow down Hansbrough, who’s not going to be in a good mood. Last year, Dickey got in foul trouble fast, and Hansbrough went for 40. Still, Tech was blowing doors, hitting 9 of 10 3-pointers in the first half, and then 0 for 7 in the second half. I’ve never seen two halves so completely different.
Tech can win. The Jackets have got to bust tail for 40 mins, and run only when it’s obvious they’ve got a big advantage. The ‘Heels are deep, and athletic, and if Tech goes 40 minutes of run and gun, this is one team against whom the Jackets’ athleticism is not enough to win out.
