Injured Tech QB could be back by Week 5

By KEN SUGIURA

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia Tech quarterback Jaybo Shaw wore a red jersey to Georgia Tech’s practice Monday, standard attire for injured players.

It doesn’t sound as if the color is any foreshadowing of Shaw’s future, however. Coach Paul Johnson expects Shaw, who broke his collarbone Saturday in practice, to return in six weeks.

On that schedule, he would be available for the Oct. 3 game against Mississippi State, the fifth game of the season. Until then, redshirt freshman Tevin Washington will back up starter Josh Nesbitt, who missed all or significant parts of four games last season due to injury.

“If [Washington] plays, he plays. If he doesn’t play in the first couple games, the other guy [Shaw] will be back by the third game,” said Johnson, perhaps a little optimistic about the timing of Shaw’s recovery. “You don’t worry about it that much. You just play.”

Having Washington rather than Shaw at second string could be a significant drop-off. Shaw played several games last year and has a strong command of Johnson’s option-based spread offense. Washington is still learning.

“There’s a lot of things I would like for him to do better, there’s no doubt,” quarterbacks and B-backs coach Brian Bohannon said of Washington. “He’s got to improve on being consistent at what we do [and] taking care of the football and I’ll feel a lot more comfortable when he does that on a regular basis.”

Washington has struggled to consistently make the correct reads and checks, not turning the ball over and getting the plays going in the correct direction, Bohannon said.

Said Washington, “I’ve still got a long ways to go to be where I want to be to be comfortable with [the offense] and to be where the coaches want me to be.”

True freshman David Sims has moved up to No. 3 QB. Fellow true freshman Jordan Luallen is out with an ankle injury. Johnson mentioned that there are still other options on the roster, like safety/linebacker Cooper Taylor, safety Dominique Reese and wide receiver Quentin Sims, all of whom played quarterback in high school.

Jackson joins workouts

With the start of class Monday, there were 18 new players on the field. The most notable was Chris Jackson, a transfer from Alabama. Jackson, from Henry County High School, committed to Tech two years ago as a wide receiver when Chan Gailey was coach, then switched to Alabama when Johnson was hired. After seeing little playing time in Tuscaloosa, Jackson left Alabama this summer. He’ll be an A-back.

“He’s going to be a scout team player all year,” Johnson said. “We’ll evaluate Chris in the spring.”

Back on the field

The Jackets returned to practice Monday after taking Sunday off. With the season opener, against Jacksonville State Sept. 5 almost three weeks away, Johnson said that Tech is still in training camp mode, meaning the team has not begun specifically preparing for Jacksonville State.

Safety Dominique Reese returned to practice Monday after sitting out several days with a hamstring injury.

School daze

The freshmen had their first day of college classes Monday. A-back Orwin Smith had three of his five classes and found himself hurrying to get to them in the allotted 10 minutes.

Said Smith, “It’s kind of hard. I have to either run or I have to get a moped.”