After two separate suspensions last season, offensive tackle Phil Smith will not play for Georgia Tech in 2012.
“[After] his violation of team rules at the bowl game, I think he and coach [Paul] Johnson decided that it’s probably best for him to concentrate on his studies,” associate athletic director Wayne Hogan said.
Smith, a junior from Tampa, was a starter for the Yellow Jackets in the 2010 and 2011 seasons and started a total of 20 games in his career. He helped the Jackets lead the nation in rushing in 2010 and finish No. 2 this season.
Smith is on track to earn his management degree this semester and would be immediately eligible to play his senior season at another FBS school if he enrolled in its graduate school.
Johnson suspended Smith for the first two games of the 2011 season for violating team rules. He also sent him home from the Sun Bowl for breaking team rules in El Paso, Texas.
Smith split snaps with tackles Tyler Kidney and Ray Beno this past season. Those two players will return, along with every other offensive lineman on the roster.
Labor Day game
Tech is in discussions with the ACC to play a nationally televised Labor Day night game for its season opener, Hogan said. The league has interest in moving Tech’s game against Coastal Division-rival Virginia Tech in Blacksburg to that Sept. 3 date. The game would give the Jackets a national platform on a day and in a time slot in which it would have little, if any, competition.
However, the preference of Tech, which has opened the past four seasons with home games against FCS opponents, would be to play the Hokies later in the season. The next most attractive matchup, against defending ACC champion Clemson, would not work because the Tigers are to play Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game at the Georgia Dome earlier that weekend.
“We’re moderately interested in it, not crazy about it, but it’s got some interest to us,” Hogan said. “It’s just a question of what makes sense.”
The ACC schedule is due to be released early next month.
