DEL.ICIO.USCOLLEGE FOOTBALL: GEORGIA TECH
Tech’s spring game gives hope for fall
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Saturday, April 18, 2009
A year ago, a disaster of a spring preceded one of the more memorable seasons in Georgia Tech’s history.
Said A-back Roddy Jones, “Looking back to last spring, it’s amazing that we won any games.”
Johnny Crawford/jcrawford@ajc.com
Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt (left) sat out the game due to injury. Jaybo Shaw lead the first team offense.
Johnny Crawford/jcrawford@ajc.com
About 8,500 people attended Tech’s spring game.
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Time will tell what sort of autumn awaits the Jackets. The roughly 8,500 fans who attended Tech’s T-Day game Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium ought to have walked away knowing this much: The offense should be better than last season, and last season wasn’t so bad.
After a sloppy first quarter, in which the first- and second-string offenses fumbled five times (there would be three more), both units made enough dynamic plays and executed with enough efficiency to continue to whet appetites for September and beyond.
Said coach Paul Johnson, who observed the game from behind the offenses, “I really felt like we got a lot of things accomplished this spring. I feel like it’s night and day where we are now from where we were a year ago.”
The Gold team, composed of the second-string offense and the first-team defense, defeated the White team (first-string offense, second-string defense) 31-28.
Among notable playmakers were some familiar names, including B-back Jonathan Dwyer, wide receiver Demaryius Thomas and safety Dominique Reese, as well as some names to remember, such as A-backs Embry Peeples and Anthony Allen.
Perhaps the best part of all for Johnson from this blue-sky April afternoon: no injuries. Those who were banged up this spring, including quarterback Josh Nesbitt, who sat out the game with a shoulder injury, should be ready when preseason practice convenes at the beginning of August.
After the shaky start, quarterback Jaybo Shaw directed the first-team offense to two 70-yard touchdown drives in three possessions against the No. 1 defense before the end of the first half. Among the highlights: a clever 26-yard shovel pass from Shaw to A-back Marcus Wright (one of the stars of the spring), a 20-yard Shaw scramble, Shaw getting away from pressure and firing a 25-yard completion to Thomas and a couple of grinding runs up the middle by walk-on B-back Preston Lyons.
Said Shaw: “I want them to trust in me, that I can lead the team.”
Tevin Washington, who redshirted last season, completed 7 of 10 passes, including 63-yarder to Peeples and a 31-yard touchdown to walk-on A-back Paul Reese. Allen, a transfer from Louisville, caught a five-yard pass and turned on the jets for a 20-yard gain.
It was not flawless. Johnson, who devoted most of his attention to watching Shaw and Washington, said neither did well in making the right decisions in his option-based spread offense. The eight fumbles almost matched last year’s nine, though it hasn’t been a problem this spring, and Johnson said he wouldn’t worry about it much.
Further, the kicking game, which has not received much work this spring, looked like that had been the case.
But the team did not resemble the one from last spring, when the Jackets were just learning Johnson and his scheme. In the 2008 T-Day game, the first-team offense found the end zone once.
It bodes well, as Tech’s offense managed to do enough last season with its training wheels on to finish fourth in the country in rushing.
To quarterbacks and B-backs coach Brian Bohannon, the gains from even the end of last season were evident.
“We’re not home yet, but we’ve made a lot of improvement,” he said.
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