Georgia Tech's passing game improving

By Doug Roberson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The five-man group of quarterbacks seemed to have their best day so far during Georgia Tech’s early preseason.

From junior Josh Nesbitt to freshman David Sims, the passes were on the hands of the receivers most of the time in most of the drills.

Jaybo Shaw, a sophomore who passed for 321 yards last season, said the entire group seems more relaxed, particularly Nesbitt, the starter, and redshirt freshman Tevin Washington.

“The guys are relaxing and having fun,” Shaw said. “The whole team knows what they are supposed to do now. We’re excited to prove that we aren’t a one-season fluke.”

The quarterbacks were victimized by a case of the drops during the drills, but coach Paul Johnson and quarterbacks coach Brian Bohannon seem pleased with the progress.

“We’ve gotten better in our pass scale [drill],” Bohannon said. “Obviously there were some drops, and you never want to see that, but I thought we made some improvements in areas today.”

Johnson has made a point in the offseason of saying he wanted to see Tech’s passing game improve from last season, when the Jackets averaged 99.2 yards per game. He had a simple explanation for Thursday’s progress.

“Maybe they got a little better understanding of where to throw it,” he said.

Receivers impress

Two of the players who looked good during passing drills were redshirt freshman Quentin Sims and true freshman Stephen Hill.

Hill made two more leaping catches over defenders in a drill done early in practice, something he has done consistently this week. He also picked one off the ground during an 11-on-11 drill that ended practice.

“He’s got a lot of ability,” Johnson said. “He’s a gifted athlete. He’s going to be a real good player.”

Sims made two good catches on long passes down the sidelines during the early passing drill.

“Quentin’s a guy we need to play well,” Johnson said.

A-back Anthony Allen had a nifty catch and duck to elude linebacker Brad Jefferson during the 11-on-11s, as well.

Etc.

● A day after saying he wanted to see some urgency in practice from his upperclassmen, Johnson said he mostly pleased with the team’s effort Thursday.

“It’s a growing process and you’ve got a lot of young guys and they’ve got to learn the tempo the same way they learn the plays,” Johnson said.

● For the second consecutive day the team ended the 2-1/2 hour session with an 11-on-11 drill. The defense dominated the beginning, but the offense had a couple of big plays during the rest of the time.

“I think it was good work, and the guys worked pretty hard together,” Johnson said. He said he was pleased that they stayed off the ground and avoided injuring each other.

● Offensive lineman Antonio Foster hurt his shoulder Wednesday and was held out of Thursday’s practice.

● Punter Chandler Anderson, competing with incumbent Scott Blair, boomed some kicks during special-teams drills. Anderson said he’s working on trying to get the ball out as quickly as possible, and being more efficient in his steps to the ball.