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Thursday, June 26, 2008
Earls’ intent, Richt’s predix & Donley’s dilemma
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A couple leftovers from the Pigskin Preview, and a detail or two beyond.
Correy Earls, whom you might remember suffered a frightening head/neck injury trying to throw a block for Taylor Bennett on a crucial fourth down late in the Virginia game last season, is penciled in as a starter at WR. I think you can use pen. He and Demaryius Thomas will be the starting WRs unless something strange happens.
He left the field on a board, and was hospitalized overnight after that. “I still remember the situation very vividly. It’s something that will never be forgotten, but I’m not worried at all,” he said. “It won’t be something that I’ll take to the field with me. If I was put in the same situation, I would probably do the same thing again. It wouldn’t make me think twice.
“It’s all in the game of football. You can’t wonder, What if? You have to just play hard, and leave the rest up to God.”
Another WR, James Johnson, suffered a bunch of injuries last season, and may have taken a shot or two that he can’t forget. He left the sport. To each his own. This is not a ringing endorsement, nor an indictment. Football can be a very unforgiving game, huh? Each person processes his experience differently, sometimes very differently.
“They said it was a minor spinal injury and a concussion. I remember they did tests all through the night. All I remember is they were waking me up every 30 minutes or every hour to make sure this was moving and that was moving,” Earls said.
How would you like that to be one of your dominant memories of a game you love?
Moving on …
Georgia coach Mark Richt, who called in via teleconference from the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., said he’s glad the Bulldogs will play Tech last in the regular season to better get a read on coach Paul Johnson’s offense.
“You don’t know what [approach] is going to work for the talent that he has so we’ll have a good idea of what to prepare for, and we’ll have an open date [before the game] that’s going to help us,” Richt said. “We’ll have a chance to see what they’re going to hang their hat on, and I think that’s going to help.”
And on again …
This will be old news for some of you, but I heard a few days ago that D.J. Donley is back, attending summer school at Tech. He still wants to transfer, and needs to get some academic work done at Tech in order to do so. I do not believe he’s working out with former teammates. I don’t think he’s interested in playing for Tech. Simply put, he does not like Atlanta or Tech the way it was explained to me. No significant problem with the football program exactly, just the city and academic environment. He has work to do to become eligible to transfer. It’s no lock.
Going on vacation Saturday until July 7th or so. Then, practice will be three-plus weeks away. Hard to believe.
Matt
