Fed up with repeated minor violations of team rules, Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson has upped his disciplinary measures. That’s evidently the reason why B-back KirVonte Benson, safety Charlie Thomas and linebacker Quez Jackson will be held out of the first quarter of Saturday’s season opener against Alcorn State.
Johnson said that the penalty for indiscretions such as missing class or not coming to a mandatory breakfast (for players with classes before 10 a.m.) used to be running at 6 a.m.
“I’m through running at 6,” Johnson said at his Tuesday news conference. “It doesn’t seem to register, so we just won’t play. We’ll see if that registers. It’s things that we need to do that’s not hard to do. And if we can’t do it, then we’ll watch from the side a little bit and let somebody else try that can do it.”
Johnson announced the suspensions for Benson, Jackson and Thomas on Monday night on his radio show. Johnson said that it isn’t a widespread problem but an application of “the 90/10 rule. Ten percent of the guys cause 90 percent of the problems.”
Johnson clarified that players running afoul of criminal statutes is not a problem “as a general rule because of the type of player that you get (at Tech).”
But he also asserted his belief that “little things are important. And the more I can teach the fact that little things are important, I think that has a lot to do with whether or not you win close games or whether or not you do all those things. And you just need to be accountable.”
Johnson said Monday that redshirt freshman B-back Jordan Mason would start in place of Benson, but said that would be pending an academic meeting Tuesday.
“He’s going to play,” Johnson said of Mason. “I just don’t know if he’s going to start.”
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