AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2008 > December > 09
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Tech’s toughest opponents this season
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sorry for the delay. Computer issues.
Anyway, Tech is not practicing until Friday of this week, but Dean Buchan, the sports information director, was nice enough to bring in a few players to the office to talk to some other reporters and myself. Among them were Josh Nesbitt, Morgan Burnett and Dan Voss.
Before I forget, Voss said that he is having an MRI on his left shoulder on Thursday. He said it had popped out of the socket against Mississippi State and then subluxed (a partial dislocation) another time. But it hasn’t come out again, so he’s played with it. But after the MRI, he said he’ll decide (with the help of doctors and his parents) whether or not to have surgery or to let it heal naturally.
Anyway, the question came up to Burnett and Voss about the best players they’d faced this season, which I thought was interesting.
Voss said Boston College defensive tackles B.J. Raji and Ron Brace. If you don’t remember, they’re the two stout tackles (647 pounds combined officially and probably more than that). Raji was first-team all-ACC (along with Vance Walker) and Brace was second team (with Darryl Richard).
“Those two, because they’re such similar players,” he said. “I didn’t get a break going from one side to the other, as opposed to one of them was good, one of them wasn’t. They just wear you down.”
He also mentioned Georgia linebacker Rennie Curran, saying that he was athletic and hard to get to the ground with cut blocks.
Burnett mentioned a lot of players — Florida State wide receiver Greg Carr, Clemson running back James Davis, Virginia running back Cedric Peerman and three players from Georgia, quarterback Matthew Stafford, running back Knowshon Moreno and wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi.
I asked him to pick one or two, and naturally he said Josh Nesbitt and Jonathan Dwyer. Then I asked him to pick players he’d played on Saturday. He picked Stafford.
“He did some big things against us, throwing for 407 yards,” he said. “He was just clicking, making the right throws and the right reads, and then we just caught him on one play, we got good pressure from Brad Jefferson up the middle and I got the interception and was lucky enough to score. But he was making good reads and it was like he was throwing the ball right on the money, perfect timing.”
Interesting thoughts from both, I thought.
Personally, I’d say Cedric Peerman had the best game against Tech this season. He was hard to bring down and made a lot of big plays. I don’t think I can remember anyone hurting Georgia Tech like he did this season.
Who would you say was the best player Tech faced this season?
