EL PASO, Texas — Georgia Tech will be without a second starter in the Sun Bowl as offensive tackle Phil Smith was suspended Wednesday for the game for violating team rules. He was sent home.
Coach Paul Johnson did not comment further or explain what rule Smith broke. Cornerback Louis Young also won’t play for disciplinary reasons and did not make the trip to El Paso.
It is the second suspension for Smith this season. He missed the first two games of the season, also for violating team rules. Smith started eight games this season and split snaps in a rotation with tackles Ray Beno and Tyler Kidney. A likely possibility is that Beno and Kidney will take all or most of the snaps Saturday against Utah.
“It’s hard to see him go,” said center Jay Finch, a close friend of Smith’s.
Clearing the air
Johnson is treating the subject of the elevation of El Paso (about 3,800 feet) in an unsurprising manner. He’s not bringing it up. It was the same way when Johnson coached at Navy and the Midshipmen played Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo., (about 6,000 feet) and won two of three times there. Utah’s campus in Salt Lake City is at about 4,300 feet.
“That’s not something we really focus on, really make much of a big deal on,” said A-backs coach Lamar Owens, who played for Johnson at Navy.
The team didn’t do any extra conditioning to prepare for the elevation change. Johnson joked that “we went to the highest water tower we could find in Atlanta” and ran around it.
“I noticed it a little bit [Tuesday], but it’s not as bad as everybody says it is,” A-back Roddy Jones said.
Burnett’s admirer
Inside linebacker Julian Burnett has a fan in Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, who called him “a tackling machine” and said he reminded him of undersized linebackers such as seven-time All-Pro linebacker Zach Thomas, as well as another undersized linebacker who was the 1981 WAC defensive player of the year.
“He reminds me of me,” Whittingham said, “as far as undersized, out to prove something. [But] he’s more talented than I ever was. He’s a talented kid.”
Said Burnett, named second-team All-ACC after leading Tech for the second consecutive season with 113 tackles, “Coming from the opponent’s coach, that’s a lot of respect.”
Practice report
Tech held its second on-site practice Wednesday morning. Skill-position players lifted weights following the practice at Texas-El Paso.
“We actually had a pretty good practice,” Johnson said. “I thought it was better.”
In the afternoon, the team went to Fort Bliss in El Paso, where players visited troops, tried out the marksmanship center and delivered Sun Bowl tickets purchased by Tech fans to be donated to the troops.
Undecided
Guard Omoregie Uzzi, who requested a draft evaluation from the NFL, said he has not seen the review and, as such, has not made a final decision on whether he’ll return. Uzzi has said he’s leaning strongly toward staying. The deadline for underclassman entry into the draft is Jan. 15 and players have until Jan. 18 to withdraw.
Tech in boots
A popular souvenir among players and the Tech traveling party is cowboy boots.
“Everybody came back with like ostrich skin, lizard, gator, all of that,” said Finch, who passed on making a purchase after hearing the boots sell for around $250. “I was impressed.”
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