Georgia Tech's starting quarterback and best offensive lineman were on the sidelines Wednesday, their shoulders taped, their jerseys off.

Seeing two of Tech's best players sidelined — even for just a practice or two — serves as a reminder of how fragile a season can be.

Elissa Eubanks / AJC (ENLARGE)

Quarterback Josh Nesbitt says he has a mild arm 'stinger.'

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While the Jackets have had their share of nagging injuries this summer, they've escaped hearing those three horrible words that so many other schools have heard over the past week: season-ending injury.

But don't for a minute think coach Paul Johnson is second-guessing his hard-hitting, aggressive style of practicing.

For starters, you can't teach the option-based spread offense and not have your quarterback take a few hits. Secondly, Johnson is trying to instill a toughness in his players that can't be learned while simulating hits.

"What do they do over at Georgia?" Johnson asked rhetorically, knowing that Georgia's quarterbacks are not hit in practices. "And they just lost one."

Johnson was speaking of Georgia left tackle Trinton Sturdivant, whose season ended earlier this week when he tore ligaments in his left knee.

"We've practiced 17 days, and this is the first time a quarterback has been bruised," Johnson said.

"I've never lost a quarterback in practice in my 28 years. Drop-back guys get hit [in bad ways] more often than these guys do.

"Now, once the season starts, we're not going to let the quarterbacks get tattooed every play, but watch the tape of our scrimmage Saturday and tell me that the quarterback gets hit every play. That's a misconception of this offense. Our quarterback was on the ground twice during the scrimmage."

Quarterback Josh Nesbitt went down with a stinger to his right shoulder Wednesday morning. In the afternoon practice, Nesbitt wore a red jersey, meaning he was on the field but not allowed to participate.

Offensive tackle Andrew Gardner had a similar injury Tuesday. He, too, is fine and would have played had Wednesday been a game day.

Still, hearing of all the season-ending injuries and watching Tech go so hard can make weaker-stomached fans a little queasy.

Nesbitt and his backup, Jaybo Shaw, are always running sweeps or quarterback draws, sometimes pitching the ball and getting hit; sometimes keeping it and getting hit.

Nesbitt agreed with Johnson's style, and said putting a noncontact jersey on the quarterbacks would be foolish in this offense.

"This gives you some intensity," he said. "We're getting a little more game-ready every day."

Shaw, who's been told he's No. 2 on the quarterback depth chart, said when he came to Tech he was told he'd get a hit a lot — even in practice.

"You have to get hit in practice to get used to what it's going to be like running this offense in games," Shaw said.

Linemen are going to get hurt from time to time, no matter what. Running backs can twist a knee without contact about as easily as they can when taking a hit. That's where depth becomes critical.

Johnson doesn't know how deep on the depth chart he can go and trust he'll get good results. Young players know they will play and will have to play well, Johnson said.

Shaw is providing some assurance at quarterback that Tech can go two-deep and not take a big hit.

"If they redshirt me, I'll be fine with whatever the coach wants to do," Shaw said.

He knows now that's not likely to happen.