A four-pack of Georgia Tech tidbits heading into the weekend.
Notable quote
Freshman B-back Jerry Howard, on what he experienced running 65 yards for a touchdown Saturday against Jacksonville State in his first college game:
“It can’t be real.”
Howard’s run was the longest by a Tech freshman since Jonathan Dwyer also hit a 65-yarder against Samford in 2007.
Under the same Roof
Linebacker T.D. Roof had an impressive showing late in the fourth quarter of the win over Jacksonville State, with two sacks on the Gamecocks’ final drive. The broadcast on Fox Sports South caught defensive coordinator Ted Roof, T.D.’s father, evidently tickled by his son’s play, smiling up in the coaches box above the field.
His son had a more reserved response about playing for his father.
“Yeah, obviously, he’s my dad, but at the same time, I’m not looking at it that way,” T.D. said. “When I’m here and on the field, he’s my coach, and that’s the relationship we have. We have a business relationship when we’re at work.”
(Tyler Duke has more on Howard, Roof and other Yellow Jackets newcomers with noteworthy performances against Jacksonville State.)
On the television
With no Tech game Saturday, Yellow Jackets fans looking for a game to watch could do worse than the North Texas-Iowa game, which starts at 3:30 p.m. and will be on ESPN2. The appeal is twofold: Former Tech captain Roddy Jones will be the sideline reporter on the broadcast, having joined ESPN after two years with the ACC Network. And two-time All-ACC running back Tashard Choice is on the North Texas staff. Choice joined the team this past summer as a quality control assistant for the offense.
Since Choice’s NFL career ended in 2014, he was an assistant coach at a high school south of Dallas (where Choice played for the Cowboys) and then returned to the Cowboys in 2016 to be a part of the NFL’s minority coaching fellowship program.
Also new on the sidelines
Choice is not the only former Tech player to get his start in college coaching this year. Former safety Jamal Golden is at Georgia Southern as a grad assistant. Former offensive tackle Errin Joe, who like Golden was a part of the 2014 Orange Bowl championship team, is a quality-control assistant at Florida International.
Joe has been working with special teams, which has been an education, since his interaction with the kicking game as a player was on the field-goal team.
“It’s been crazy,” Joe said last month. “I’ve been learning so much.”
Joe’s hope is to get into the operations or video-production side of the game.
Last academic year, Joe taught ninth-grade English at his alma mater, Lake Gibson High in Lakeland, Fla.
“It was fun,” he said. “It was a very rewarding experience.”
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