Ga. Tech ball-hawking secondary thriving

Dominique Reese and Cooper Taylor, who share the free safety position for Georgia Tech, chatted before Saturday’s game against Gardner-Webb about how it was their turn to get an interception.

Almost every other member of the secondary had one.

Reese didn’t wait long, diving for his first career interception in the first quarter.

“‘Coop’ might have been the first person to congratulate me when I came to the sideline after the pick,” said Reese, a redshirt sophomore who starts. “So it’s just great competition with us. Now we’re trying to get him one.”

Reese made Tech’s eighth interception of the season, three more than the Jackets had all of last year.

Morgan Burnett has three, and Jahi Word-Daniels, Mario Butler, Rashaad Reid and Alex Walker have one each.

Reese got his on a deflection by Butler.

“We were in man-free coverage, I was following my tight end, then I saw Mario break on a slant,” Reese said. “He tipped the ball, so I just dove at the last minute and was able to catch it.”

Reese credited the defensive line as the biggest reason for Tech’s eight interceptions. The Jackets are tied for 25th nationally in interceptions.

“The D-line is getting pressure on ‘em, that’s what gets interceptions,” Reese said. “It’s making it easier on us. You get tipped balls, balls coming out quick. They’re not going to five-step drop on us with the D-line we’ve got.”

Nesbitt says his timing is back

Quarterback Josh Nesbitt said his hamstring felt fine all week. But he hasn’t played since Sept. 20, so how will the layoff affect him?

“While I was out for three weeks, I really stayed in it mentally,” he said. “Now I’m just going back out there and doing it.”

The sophomore insisted it wasn’t hard to get his timing back.

“When I got back out there [Tuesday], I still had the feel for it, the read key, pitching it, because I stayed in the game mentally,” he said.

Nesbitt strained his hamstring just when he was starting to feel comfortable running the offense, according to coach Paul Johnson.

“He’s been in the meetings every day, and he’s been with the quarterbacks,” Johnson said. “It’s not a good as doing it yourself probably, but I think he’s got a grasp on what we’re doing. We’re not going to ask him to reinvent the wheel.”

Watching from the sideline has been tough for Nesbitt, especially when Tech’s offense sputtered Saturday.

He said it hurt to miss one game; he ended up missing nearly three full games.

“It just made me appreciate the game more,” Nesbitt said.

Changes Johnson moved senior guard A.J. Smith into the starting lineup at right guard in place of redshirt freshman Joseph Gilbert. Johnson had said after the line’s disappointing play in last week’s win over Gardner-Webb that he would look at the lineup. It is the first move in the starting lineup for the offensive line this season. Smith backed up at guard in the season opener but only returned to action against Gardner-Webb because of an illness and then an elbow injury. Injury report Sophomore B-back Quincy Kelly will play Saturday after missing the past two games because of a non-football medical issue. He’ll back up Jonathan Dwyer. That will ease the rotation at A-back because A-back Lucas Cox was also backing up Dwyer when Kelly was out. Freshman A-back Embry Peeples will miss his second consecutive game with an ankle injury. Johnson expects him to play next week against Virginia.