With three games remaining in the season, Georgia Tech wide receiver Michael Summers has left the team, coach Paul Johnson said Monday.
“Just said he didn’t want to play anymore,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he had no prior indication of Summers’ plans. Summers, a junior, has started 26 games in his career and is second on the team in receptions with 12. He was the most experienced wide receiver on the roster and had started seven of Tech’s nine games this season, missing two with a clavicle injury. He caught four passes in his final game, the Oct. 31 loss to Virginia. With size, speed and an ability to make plays in the air, Summers was showing indications that he could become a strong No. 1 receiver for the Yellow Jackets.
Tech plays Virginia Tech Thursday night at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
It is another twist in a most unusual season for the Yellow Jackets, one that has included a myriad of injuries, a last-second defeat to Pittsburgh on a 56-yard field goal, a win over Florida State on a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown and the team’s first five-game losing streak since 1994.
Summers is on schedule to graduate in May, Johnson said. With one season of eligibility remaining, it is conceivable he could transfer and play his final season elsewhere as a graduate student.
Tech will now start Ricky Jeune and Brad Stewart at wide receiver. Jeune leads the Jackets with 20 catches for 422 yards and three touchdowns and has caught a pass in all nine games. Stewart, who started in the two games Summers missed, has served as the No. 3 receiver the remainder of the time.
It leaves Tech especially thin at the position. Stewart has shown promise in his first-year freshman season and has five catches in nine games, but is learning on the job. The No. 3 receiver will now likely be Antonio Messick or Brandon Oliver. Messick has played six games this season without a catch, mostly playing on special teams. Oliver has played in eight games, almost exclusively on special teams.
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