Georgia Tech’s newest Hall of Fame class includes six of the most decorated athletes to wear the school’s uniforms. They include football players James Butler and Luke Manget, both two-time first-team All-ACC choices, and Alvin Jones, Tech’s all-time leading shot blocker in basketball. The class was released Thursday.
The other three are NCAA track champion Michael Johnson, former ACC volleyball player of the year Lynnette Moster and two-time first-team All-ACC catcher Bryan Prince. All competed for Tech between 1997 and 2004.
Butler still holds the school record for most tackles in a season by a defensive back, 119 (in the 2003 season). He later won a Super Bowl with the New York Giants in 2007. Manget holds the school record for career points by a kicker, 322, and made all of his 160 point-after tries, tying him with Travis Bell for highest career percentage on point-after attempts. He most notably kicked a game-winning field goal against Georgia in 1999 as a freshman.
Johnson ran a leg of Tech’s 4x400-meter relay that won a national title in 1998 and was a four-time participant at NCAA track championships, indoor and outdoor. Jones was a four-time selection to the ACC’s all-defensive team. His 425 blocks are most in Tech history and fourth most in ACC history.
Moster was a three-time first-team All-American, the 2004 ACC player of the year and led Tech to the elite eight in the NCAA tournament in 2003. Prince was a two-time semifinalist for the Johnny Bench Award, given to the nation’s top catcher. He ranks in the top 10 in school history in hits and RBIs. He is an assistant coach for the Tech baseball team.
The six will be inducted Oct. 10 into the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center.
Tech schedule released: Tech released its nonconference schedule for men's basketball Thursday, which will include home games against Georgia, Vanderbilt and Charlotte. As previously reported, the Georgia game will be the season opener Nov. 14, the earliest date that the two rivals have played.
Tech also will play in the Orlando Classic on Nov. 27-30. The eight-team field includes Kansas, Michigan State and Marquette. Another notable game is Tech’s Dec. 23 game at Dayton, where Tech coach Brian Gregory previously worked before taking the Yellow Jackets job.
In addition to Dayton, the games against Vanderbilt (Dec. 20) and Charlotte (Dec. 30) are the back half of home-and-home series. Tech also will play two teams for the first time, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (Nov. 21) and South Carolina-Upstate (Dec. 6). The Jackets also play at Northwestern in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge (Dec. 3).
Panthers schedule game at Penn State: Georgia State's football team will play at Penn State, according to a copy of a contract between the teams obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through an open-records request.
The teams will play Sept. 16, 2017. The Panthers will receive $1.2 million for the game, tied for the largest pay-to-play amount for the university.
Penn State’s coaching staff, led by James Franklin, were guests at Georgia State’s football camp this summer. Franklin and Panthers coach Trent Miles are longtime friends.
Georgia State will receive 300 tickets and can purchase as many as 3,000 for the game.
Georgia State has played several BCS-level teams in previous seasons, including twice at Alabama, and will take on Clemson ($700,000) and Washington ($900,000) this season. They will also play at Oregon ($900,000) and at Wisconsin ($1.2 million) in 2016.
