Georgia Tech football practice report

By Doug Roberson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The shoulder pads were on for the first time, but patience seemed a bit thin after Wednesday’s practice at Georgia Tech, the third of the season.

Coach Paul Johnson was pleased with the tempo of the practice, enough that there was an impromptu 11-on-11 drill at the end of the 2-1/2 hours.

But, he said he wants to see some of the upperclassmen doing what they have been taught. After all, he points out, the first game is less than a month away.

“The thing about the fall is it comes so quickly; if they don’t know where to go and learn what to do, they aren’t going to play,” Johnson said. “There needs to be some urgency with some of those cats picking up their roles and understanding.

“I can understand some of the true freshmen not knowing, but there are guys who have been out here that need to know where to go. Some of them need to do a better job of that.”

Hello, Mr. Reese

At least one person enjoyed doing some hitting Wednesday: cornerback Dominique Reese.

During a seven-on-seven passing drill, quarterback Jordan Luallen led freshman Jeremy Moore a bit too much over the middle, and Reese was happy to introduce himself.

“I was going for the ball,” said Reese, who is listed as a starter on the first depth chart. “I didn’t want to hit him because he’s a freshman. I wanted to hit one of the older guys.”

Reese said that the depth in the secondary is a welcome change from last season.

“I feel like we can go two-deep with anybody,” he said. “It’s exciting knowing that the person beside you knows what to do and is going to play just as hard as you. You can do your job.”

Reese had a funny moment during an interception drill. Assistant coach Giff Smith was throwing the ball from about five yards away to the linebackers and secondary players, in repetitions of three.

After Reese caught his first, he told Smith to give him something challenging. Sure enough, Reese dropped the next one.

“Coach Smith gave me a change-up,” Reese said. “He’s a big baseball fan. He’s watching the Braves too much. I think he can go out and play for those boys.”

Special-teams play

Scott Blair boomed a kickoff over Johnson’s head and out of the practice area during one drill. Johnson didn’t seem too impressed.

“Saw that a lot last year, just not in the games,” he said.

In 60 kickoffs last season, Blair had five touchbacks and the kickoff-return unit was third in the ACC, averaging 44.1 net yards per kick.

Covering kickoffs is about the only area of special-teams play that satisfied assistant coach Jeff Monken, he said.

“Of the four major special-teams areas, kickoff-return coverage is where we did have a relative amount of success,” he said. “The other three, we were in the bottom three out of 12 [in the ACC]. That’s not where you want to be if you are going to count on those teams to win.”

Several players were including in the kickoff-return pool Wednesday, including a few who didn’t return kicks last season: Jerrard Tarrant, Daniel McKayhan and Embry Peeples.

Roddy Jones handled 15 of the team’s 45 returns last season, and averaged 23.6 yards per return, which would have been second in the ACC. As a team, though, Tech averaged 19.6, which was 10th in the ACC.