A little later than advertised, but hopefully worth the wait.

1. Hopefully you read the story I wrote for the paper and myajc.com about A-back Deon Hill, who will play his first game after being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and missing the past three games. I probably don't consider this as often as I ought, but I give Hill a lot of credit for being willing to talk about it. For anyone, one’s health can be a very private matter and not something to share with thousands of people, but Hill was upfront and open about it, for which I, and hopefully readers, are appreciative.

The short version – Hill began having severe stomach cramps at the start of camp and was hospitalized after the Elon game, at which point he was diagnosed. Crohn’s is a chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Hill has been taking anti-inflammatory medication and has been cleared to play.

I’ve found Hill to be a cheerful, upbeat person, and the way that he has handled this diagnosis speaks to that.

“My family was more worried than I was, because I know it’s not life-threatening or anything like that,” he said. “So I just took it all in stride. I guess it’s a blessing in disguise. I know God’s got something for me, so it’s all good."

2. Fans going to the game at Sun Life Stadium should know that visitors to the game are under the NFL’s stadium-access rules, which permit a clutch bag the size of a hand and a clear plastic bag. More information here. (You’ll have a hard time believing the following – the NFL was thoughtful enough to sell its own NFL-licensed clear plastic bags.)

3. I had this in the notes in the paper and on myajc.com, but the team voted for captains earlier this week and selected defensive end Jeremiah Attaochu, B-back David Sims and cornerback Jemea Thomas. I asked Johnson about Thomas.

“I tell you what – I’d like to have a boatload of Jemea Thomases. He’s a great football player. He could play a bunch of spot. He’d be great at A-back, he’d be great at corner, at safety. He’s a good football player and he loves to play.”

4. Johnson was also asked about P.J. Davis, the undersized true freshman linebacker who started in place of Quayshawn Nealy last Thursday and was one of Tech’s most effective players that night. (Nealy is expected back for Saturday.)

“He’s kind of got a natural instinct and he’s a good player,” Johnson said. As a prospect, “he didn’t fit the prototypes, but he’s a good player. When we had him in camp, he was one of the best players we had in camp. My take on it is, I believe what I see. I’m not worried about what some dude who assigns stars thinks. Sometimes you’re right, sometimes you’re not. I think on him we were right.”

As for Davis wearing No. 40, Johnson didn’t remember how it happened. I'm told Davis didn’t request No. 40 (Julian Burnett’s old number) – he asked for three numbers that were already taken. So the assignment fell to Johnson.

“There’s a lot of similarities between him and Julian Burnett, no question,” Johnson said.

5. Accurate or not, an oft-repeated criticism of Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson is that he deflects blame onto players and doesn’t take it himself. At his news conference Tuesday, though, he put responsibility for failures to protect quarterback Vad Lee against Virginia Tech’s blitzes squarely on his shoulders.

Johnson said that coaches had spotted tendencies with Virginia Tech’s blitzes and prepared accordingly, by having a play ready that would put Lee in a “max protect” blocking scheme while having receivers run double routes to exploit the man coverage and potentially break a big pass play.

“Looking back, we did (accurately identify the tendencies),” Johnson said. “We knew when they were blitzing.”

However, Johnson said, on the seven times the Hokies ran that blitz, Tech blocked it wrong five times.

“So that comes back to us,” he said. “If they block it wrong once or they get run over, that’s them. But when you’re not blocking the right people, that comes back to me.”

6. Congratulations to Tech player personnel assistant director and former Tech player Saeed Khalif, who will be inducted into the Newark (N.J.) Sports Hall of Fame later this month. Khalif was a team captain All-ACC defensive lineman for Tech in 1986, when he was then known as Kyle Ambrose.

7. The broadcast team calling the game for ESPNU is Anish Shroff (play-by-play), Kelly Stouffer (color) and Niki Noto (sideline). They also did the Tech-Duke game.

8. Safety Jamal Golden and offensive lineman Errin Joe both had season-ending surgery Thursday to repair shoulder injuries. Via Twitter, both reported successful procedures. Joe's tweet read: "Thanks For All Of Your Prayers & Thoughts My, Surgery Was A Success."

9. Tech has 15 players from Florida, although just one player from South Florida – linebacker Nick Menocal. Florida is the second most represented state on the roster, following Georgia (67, at least according to a cursory count). Among other Floridians – punters Sean Poole and Ryan Rodwell, A-back Dennis Andrews, cornerback Lynn Griffin and Nealy.

Four of Tech’s 18 commits for the 2014 class are from Florida, including four-star defensive back Step Durham. Tech’s efforts in Florida may prove more fruitful in years to come with the help of Mike Cassano, an assistant player personnel director who was twice on the Miami coaching staff, most recently in 2010.

Cassano’s knowledge of the state and contacts could help dig up more potential prospects and also make the staff’s recruitment of the state more efficient, as he should have a better handle on who is worth seeing and who isn’t.

10. If Tech wins Saturday, it will be its first road victory over a ranked opponent since Nov. 2008, when the Jackets beat Georgia in Athens. Tech has played five ranked opponents on the road since then, losing each – Miami in 2009, Virginia Tech in 2010, Virginia Tech, Clemson and Georgia in 2012.

11. A story worth reading about Miami’s preparation for Tech’s spread-option offense, from the Palm Beach Post. with this quote from Miami defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio.

“You always run scared,” he said. “Obviously, you continue to work on it and find things. but they do such a good job. They go back to work and find new wrinkles and find new ways to do things. They do an amazing job. I have the utmost respect for them. You run scared, and you do the best you can.”

12. A player with a huge role in Saturday's game? How about kicker Harrison Butker? Miami's Duke Johnson is averaging 31.8 yards per return this season with a long of 95 yards. (His average does drop to 19.2 yards without the 95-yarder.) He averaged 33.0 yards per return last season with two scores. I confess I haven't watched him or Miami a great deal, but found these highlight clips on youtube. Power, speed, vision, quickness - pretty phenomenal.

Butker has had four touchbacks in the last three games on 15 kickoffs (he was 1-for-5 in the North Carolina game, when conditions made it pretty tough to kick off well). It will be incumbent upon Butker to either get touchbacks or pin Johnson to a sideline.

He's not bad out of the backfield also, as the clips show. Overpursuit will kill the Tech defense.

The funniest part - the Virginia cornerback at 1:40. A really, really lamentable tackle attempt and probalby even worse effort at pursuit.

13. With 74 rushing yards, Sims will move into Tech's top 20 all-time leading rushing chart. Sims has 1,616 career yards. No. 10 on the list? David Sims.

No relation, the elder David Sims lettered for Tech 1974-76 and played three seasons for the Seattle Seahawks.

14. Lastly - not a huge deal, but I will not be making the trip down to Miami, as my wife is due with our third child in about a week, and my editor has been gracious enough to let me sit this one out. The very estimable Steve Hummer will be filling in for me Saturday and next week at the BYU game, which is a little like having Freddie Freeman pinch hit for you. I'll be watching from home like most of you and will post some thoughts afterwards. Enjoy the game.