Another One for the Masses

I think this is more of an instructional one.

Past It's Relevance but Funny Still

I know that I should allow last season's glory to seep away but I can't. I am still a bit giddy about UGA fall from the top of the college football world. And so it is with great glee that I found this image. Enjoy!

Basketball Team is Top 10

...at producing NBA talent. That's a good thing, but it's kind of disappointing to see the success most of the other teams on the list have had year in and year out while Tech has had only the occasional flash of brilliance.

Of course, this begs the question we all asked when Chan was here: Would you rather be above .500 every year or go to the Final Four/BCS game every once in a while while having a few subpar seasons? Funny enough, the grass is always greener on the other side. With Chan, we all wanted at least an occasional great season, but with Hewitt, everyone begs for some consistency. I can conclude one thing from this: I'm glad I'm just a fan and not the coach.

Back to the list. Here are the top 10 NBA-producing schools (of current NBA talent):

10: Kentucky
9. Texas
8. Florida
7. Georgia Tech
6. Arizona
5. UCLA
4. Kansas
3. UConn
2. North Carolina
1. Duke

The top 5 are very good almost every year. Arizona and Kentucky have seen some tough years (by their standards), but Kentucky hadn't been under .500 for years until this past season. Florida, who's just below Tech on the list, won 2 consecutive national championships (we're still talking about basketball - not football).

Georgia Tech, as we all know, had the Final Four run 5 years ago, but hasn't done a ton since. We've made the tournament two more times and won one game there in 2005. The other three seasons since were sub-.500.

Here's how we made the list:


Morrow, Bynum, and West all being undrafted at least somewhat supports the argument that Hewitt hasn't done enough with his talent. Those are 3 players the NBA feels are worthy of playing in the league, but they didn't see it in them based on their time at Georgia Tech.

The 2006-07 Yellow Jackets had 3 NBA players (West, Young, and Crittenton) and barely squeaked into the tournament as a 10-seed. No, they weren't superstars, and two were freshmen, but find me another team with 3 players that would be on NBA the next year. I'll tell you where to look - the Final Four.

Hewitt's got his best team (talent-wise) in years - maybe ever - this year, so we'll see what he can do. There will be two first-rounders down low, and who knows who else may end up on an NBA roster?

Despite the ranting, it's nice to see Tech on this list. Now if we can just be in the real Top 10 more often... Mark Bradley says we should be this year.

Captian EO - You will be missed.

ACC's Top 30 Players

Heather Dinich finished her countdown of the Top 30 players in the ACC today, and Jonathan Dwyer came in at number 2. Ahead of him was Clemson's C.J. Spiller. The Spiller pick is mostly on potential, and people have been high on he and James Davis for years, but they've failed to produce consistently. This year, Spiller is by himself, so we should see who's better. I'll take Dwyer any day, though.

Here's what she had to say about Dwyer:

Why he's here: The ACC's reigning Player of the Year led the league in rushing last season with 1,395 yards and 12 rushing touchdowns, and he was just scratching the surface in Year 1 of Paul Johnson's offense. Consider this: Dwyer's 107.3 rushing yards per game ranked him 21st nationally, but of the 20 players who were ranked ahead of him, 14 were juniors or seniors. He's got the speed to escape for long runs, and his powerful lower body makes him tough to bring down.

Dwyer's combined rushing and receiving yards (1,604) were the ninth-most in the history of the ACC. He had nine 100-yard rushing performances, tying the school record held by Tashard Choice in 2006. He averaged seven yards per carry and had 19 carries of 20 yards or longer. Dwyer's 1,775 all-purpose yards were the second-most in school history. His 21 career rushing touchdowns are more than any ACC player returning this fall.

Why he's not No. 1: Not yet, anyway. First, let's see Dwyer sustain his success now that defensive coordinators have had an off-season to really key in on him and Georgia Tech's offensive scheme. Dwyer is a more complete pure runner than No. 1, but he's not as versatile.

And here's her whole Top 30:

No. 1 C.J. Spiller, Clemson
No. 2 Jonathan Dwyer, Georgia Tech
No. 3 Russell Wilson, NC State
No. 4 Jason Worilds, Virginia Tech
No. 5 Thomas Austin, Clemson
No. 6 Darren Evans, Virginia Tech
No. 7 Morgan Burnett, Georgia Tech
No. 8 Rodney Hudson, Florida State
No. 9 Willie Young, NC State
No. 10 Derrick Morgan, Georgia Tech
No. 11 Sean Spence, Miami
No. 12 Quan Sturdivant, North Carolina
No. 13 Thaddeus Lewis, Duke
No. 14 Bruce Carter, North Carolina
No. 15 Vince Oghobaase, Duke
No. 16 Stephan Virgil, Virginia Tech
No. 17 Jacoby Ford, Clemson
No. 18 Dekoda Watson, Florida State
No. 19 Nate Irving, NC State
No. 20 Chris Chancellor, Clemson
No. 21 Kam Chancellor, Virginia Tech
No. 22 Christian Ponder, Florida State
No. 23 Anthony Castonzo, Boston College
No. 24 Da'Quan Bowers, Clemson
No. 25 Sergio Render, Virginia Tech
No. 26 John Russell, Wake Forest
No. 27 Riley Skinner, Wake Forest
No. 28 Vic Hall, Virginia
No. 29 Da'Rel Scott, Maryland
No. 30 Matt Bosher, Miami

UPDATE: She just listed all the people she CONSIDERED, and Josh Nesbitt wasn't on there. Seriously? I can't wait until she does her postseason Top 30 and he's on there. Roddy Jones and Bebe Thomas did make the considered list.

Who Wears Short Shorts?

We wear short shorts!

The Institute announced today that the basketball team will wear throwback uniforms next year. Like all year. I had to re-read it to make sure they meant all year, and it seems they do. I have mixed feelings about this, and this being a blog with two Georgia Tech fans/graphic designers, you're getting to get an overly-long uniform breakdown! Can't wait? Scroll now!!!

The decision was made to honor previous Tech teams who accomplished something. It looks like they decided not to honor the team that had 4 NBA players on it, but got a 10 seed and lost its first NCAA Tournament game. Probably because that was only one uniform ago. Seriously, though, let's look at what we're getting and honoring.

This year's home uniforms, modeled here by Whitey McWhitenstein, simply say "Tech." I like the retro feel of these; kind of UCLA-like. Although, I don't know what I'll do when we play Virginia Tech. I always have to refrain from yelling "Go Tech!" at those games as it is. I'm assuming the updated version won't be in black and white like they used to be back in the day.

Had we been chosen to participate in this year's Big 10/ACC Challenge (and by "chosen," of course I mean not finish in last place in the conference), we could have played Michigan State and filmed a "Tech vs. State" Allstate commercial at the game.

The uniforms honor the 1960 team, which was Tech's first to make the NCAA Tournament.

For the road uniforms, we'll be wearing the gold uniforms you see on Mark Price here. You also have a nice preview up top of what Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors will look like in them. Intimidating, no? He knocked down a pillar for cryin' out loud! Instead of Lethal Weapon 3, we can call Gani and Favors "Hot Shots Part Deux."

I think these will look alright, but they lack the really retro feel of the home uniforms. Maybe it's because it's only a couple decades ago, but outsiders who don't know Tech is honoring past teams will just think, "Wow, Georgia Tech looks like they haven't updated their uniforms in 20 years."

I know, I know... you don't care what we wear as long as we win. But it's June and there's nothing else better to talk about. Plus, this is pretty interesting - I can't think of another school who wore throwbacks for a whole season. Anyone know of any?

The road uniforms will honor both the 1985 team, which won the ACC and made the Elite 8, and the 1990 team, which won the ACC and made the Final Four. Man, it must have been fun to be Tech student in 1990... football national champs and a Final Four.

So while I like the idea of throwbacks, I don't know if I like doing it for the whole season, especially when anyone that's not a Tech fan will just assume these are our permanent uniforms now/again. Although, I wasn't really a fan of what we wore the last 2 seasons (below, right), so a change isn't a bad thing. I much prefer the Final Four team's uniforms (below, left).


I won't bore you any longer with uniform talk, but let us know what you think of the idea, the choices for which teams to honor, and the how you think the uniforms will look. It'd be totally sweet if they made the shorts as short as the originals.

ACC's Top 30 Players Update

Heather Dinich over at ESPN has continued her Top 30 players in the ACC, and there are finally some Tech players on the list.

Derrick Morgan came in at no. 10:

Why he's here: Morgan has the talent to join his former teammates at the next level. Last year, he led all Tech linemen with 51 tackles, and more will be asked and required of him as the leader of the line this fall. Here's the key, though: Morgan was able to take advantage of the attention his teammates drew last fall, which allowed him to get the edge in a lot of one-on-one matchups. He's good enough, though, that he should still fare well even when the attention is on him.

Morgan ranked second on the team and eighth in the ACC in sacks (7.0), had 9.5 tackles for loss and led the ACC and tied for second nationally in fumble recoveries with four. He recovered a fumble in three consecutive games from Oct. 18-Nov. 1. Morgan also had one blocked field goal and three pass break-ups.

Morgan Burnett came in at no. 7:

Why he's here: He has excellent speed, vision, and no active player in the ACC has more career interceptions than Burnett. He was tied for third nationally last year with seven interceptions and he has 10 in his career. He had more interceptions last season than the entire team had the previous year (five) and more single-season INTs than any Yellow Jacket since 1991 when Willie Clay had nine.

As the last line of defense, Burnett had 24 more tackles than anyone else on the team. He finished 2008 with seven tackles for loss, eight pass break-ups and one forced fumble. He led the Jackets in tackles (93) and solo tackles (62).

All that's left to do now is wait and see where she puts Jonathan Dwyer.

And here's her Georgia Tech edition of reasons for Hope and Concern.

David Duval Defeats Doubters

...and everyone in the U.S. Open field except Lucas Glover. Duval finished tied for 2nd, two strokes back, and mounted a nice almost-comeback near the end with 3 straight birdies after starting the day with an early triple bogey. Hopefully this can start a more permanant comeback for Duval.

Here's a good article about his comeback, and here's a great video about how he's been working on his game (thanks to Javed's previous comment).


Fellow Jacket, Stewart Cink, finished tied for 27th at 6 over.

GT U.S. Open Update

Georgia Tech alum, David Duval, is in contention for the U.S. Open with most of the 4th round left to play on Monday due to rain. He's currently tied for 3rd at 2-under, 5 shots back of the co-leaders.

He's one of the feel-good stories of this year's open. For those who don't know/remember, he was once the number 1 ranked golfer in the world, and he's currently 882nd... I didn't even know they ranked that may players. No doubt, wherever he finishes tomorrow, he'll jump way up in the rankings. It's great to see him playing well again, and it's even better to see him appear friendly. Dude used to be a robot on the course.

Here's a good article about his transformation into nice David Duval while working to get his golf game back.

Fellow Jacket Stewart Cink is tied for 22nd at 1-over. The announcers on TV were saying today that they think Cink will win a major at some point in his career.

Matt Kuchar missed the cut at 8-over, and Cameron Tringale missed it at 7-over.

Friday Schmorgusboard - 6/19

This is two Friday Schmorgusboards in a row. Looks like we've got ourselves a recurring post! If I post one every day, do you think every day will be Friday? If only...

Onto the schmorgusboardesness!

Football

Former offensive lineman, Andrew Gardner, signed his contract with the Dolphins for $1.65 million over four years with clauses to increase it if he becomes a starter. Good to see him getting that after having to miss the latter part of his senior season for surgery.

Dwyer's not the only one gracing the front pages of websites... Josh Nesbitt is resting comfortably on the front of Yahoo's college football page:


It's fun to see the team getting all this preseason press. Now they've just got to live up to (/exceed) it. Here's the article about Nesbitt. CPJ set a goal of 2,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing for Nesbitt, something only 6 NCAA quarterbacks have ever done. Love it.

Speaking of Nesbitt, here's an AJC blog interview with him. The last question says all he had to.

Heather Dinich at ESPN is rating the top 30 players in the ACC. She's down to #13 and hasn't included a Tech player yet. No doubt, Derrick Morgan, Morgan Burnett, and Jonathan Dwyer are still to come, but I thought Nesbitt had a shot at the list. Maybe Roddy Jones and BeBe Thomas, too. If we passed more, BeBe would definitely be on there.

Sporting News rated Tech's backfield the best in the nation.

Nationalchamps.net rates Tech #12 this season and predicts a 10-2 record. Sounds about right to me.

Basketball

The AJC tells us why Lawal returning will help Derrick Favors. SPOILER ALERT: It's with the ladies. Derrick can't stop making this face:

Bradley's response

Photo Credit: Pouya Dianat - AJC

Yesterday Dwyer popped up on the main college football page of ESPN.com in an article that only subscribed "insiders" could read. If you couldn't read it, you can read Mark Bradley's response in the AJC - LINK

Also Jeff Schultz has a piece about Tech ticket sales. - LINK

In recruiting news Morgan Bailey and Catlin Alford (both OL) and Isaiah Johnson (safety) have committed. - LINK

Coley Harvey gives you Five Keys - LINK

Look who is on ESPN's College Football front page - Again

(click photo to enlarge)
Gotta be an "Insider" to read the story.
LINK

Also check out the latest from Heather Dinich on the Tech Offensive line
LINK

And, check out this rundown from Dr. Saturday
LINK

More News

I haven't done a very good job lately of bringing you the latest and greatest. Steven has done great stepping in and pushing the blog forward with updated information, a novel idea a know. Who would have thought that a blog that updates would be a good thing? More on this later. Lots of news has popped up lately that I wanted to share. Enjoy.

Paul Johnson's Flexbone Meets the Run and Shoot: Delightful
Good article by a blog I haven't seen before.

Tech lands Barry Bostic
QB? DB? Nice 4 star addition.

Johnson predicts “better” Tech team this season
Johnson weary of speculation about offense
Coley's Pigskin Preview with Paul Johnson
Coley Harvey continues to pump out good work over at the Macon Telegraph!

Paul Johnson has high expectations for young Jackets

Johnson's thoughts on the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at the Dome
Coach feels the game helps the teams playing in it, not us.

Nice 1990 tribute video


A Preview of The Georgia Tech 2009 Football Season
I never noticed that the Bleacher Report used the MOTG faux White Out pic. Funny.

Interview with Coach Johnson at the Pigskin Preview.


Jacksonville State game get's 1pm kickoff.
Ugh. Really? If it's not going to be on TV why not have this game at night when it's not so bloody hot.

Johnson talks about rival UGA - WATCH VIDEO
Johnson discusses competition - WATCH VIDEO

Dwyer ranked #9 on the Heisman Hunt
MOTG is looking into possible ways to help promote Dwyer for Heisman. Would you join the Dwyer Brigade? Seriously, would you? Drop us a comment to let us know if you'd be on board.

Richt's whine not fine
I've always enjoyed Adam Van Brimmer's work, but I sure hope the guy doesn't order a cheese burger in Athens anytime soon. The guy has big round brass ones!

Gani Not Gone at All!

Great news for CPH and the basketball program as Gani Lawal pulled his name out of the NBA draft today.

Sounds like he was getting uncomfortably close to the second round and thought one more year of college ball would help his stock. I definitely agree, and if Tech is as good as they can be next year, he'll get a lot more exposure than he did this year. He's got the skill, but he didn't dominate by any stretch last year.

Sharing the post with Derrick Favors will mean fewer touches for Gani around the basket, but it will also mean he doesn't have to do it all himself and will see MUCH fewer double teams than he did last year.

This is great news, and it has got me re-excited for Georgia Tech basketball. A Favors/Lawal combination down low is going to be tough to beat. If Mo Miller can regain what he had going late in his freshman year and Shumpert can mature a little bit, and if the freshmen can step in and contribute, this team could contend next year. Not just conference but nationally. I'm not going out there and saying we'll make the Final Four again, but the pieces are there, and it's time to see what Paul Hewitt can do with a deep, fully returning team.

Also, good luck to Alade Aminu in the draft. Gani just created one more spot for a big man to be drafted.

How do you think Tech stacks up next year with Lawal and Favors down low in addition to everyone else coming back plus the new freshmen?

Friday Schmorgusboard

Happy Friday. I know I can't wait for the weekend.

There's been a lot of Tech in the press lately considering how little is actually going on this time of year, so here are some snippets:

Football:
Paul Johnson is used to people doubting his offense, and now he just laughs.

"Oh, opponents have another year of film now; they'll be on it this year," Johnson cackles in his best analyst's voice. "Hell, we've been doing it for 25 years. There's 25 years of film out there. No team is ever going to line up in a way we haven't seen in the last 25 years."

I've been meaning to write a 3rd part to the "Triple Option Won't Work in Year 2" posts, and I promise I will. It led to some good discussion, and people had good points and further data to look up, and I'll do that soon...

ESPN did some fantasy matchups they'd like to see in 2009, and Tech made the list twice:

Ohio State vs. Georgia Tech
It's not hard to believe that Woody Hayes and Bobby Dodd never coached against each other, the lack of bowls being what it was in their era. There's one Big Ten-ACC bowl -- the Champs Sports -- but the Buckeyes don't appear as if they'll play in it any time soon.

Texas Tech vs. Georgia Tech
No two coaches live further apart on the offensive spectrum than the Red Raiders' Mike Leach and the Yellow Jackets' Paul Johnson. Leach lives to throw. Johnson remains unconvinced that the forward pass is legal. Would either defense have any idea what to do with the other offense?

Basketball:
Jeremis Smith is running a basketball camp in honor of a friend who was killed.

Also, John Salley is on some awful celebrity reality show, and apparently he said Bobby Cremins "saved his life" by telling him that if he went back to New York to avenge a friend's murder, he would never come back to Georgia Tech.

No new news on Gani Lawal's decision about the NBA Draft.

Baseball:
Matt Wieters mania continues. And he's hitting a little better after a slow start, too.

Four Tech players and five signees for next year's team were drafted in the recent MLB draft. We'll see how many we keep. Apparently, Tech recruits are "notoriously difficult to sign."

Golf:
Four Yellow Jackets will play in the US Open next weekend.

Matt Kuchar and Stewart Cink got 5th and 8th, respectively, in last week's Memorial Tournament.

Horray Friday. Go Jackets!

Wendy B. A-Town Dancer?

I could be wrong, but that looks like our own Wendy B. auditioning for the A-Town dancers. You can vote for the best audition group on the the AJC's website at this LINK. She's in group 8. Good luck Wendy, we hope you make the squad.

Georgia Tech vs. The Fighting Manginos

Baby... the other other white meat

Georgia Tech will play Kansas in 2010 and 2011. It's good to see us branching outside the Southeast. Kansas isn't the most exciting opponent, but it could be worse. They've had a few good years lately.

The 2010 game will be in Lawrence and 2011 in Atlanta. Who's up for a road trip to Kansas next year?! We can, you know... watch the game... and chill at the hotel... and like... come back.

I'm not that worried about Mark Mangino beating Paul Johnson, but I am worried about him eating him...

Interview with Roddy Jones

I didn't interview him, though. Heather Dinich of ESPN did. Check it out:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/acc/0-6-151/Q-A-with-Georgia-Tech-s-Roddy-Jones.html

UPDATE - Here's Part 2:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/acc/0-6-152/Q-A-with-Georgia-Tech-s-Jones-Part-II.html

and welcome to your Golden Years.

They say your musical taste is fully formed by your mid twenties. Is that why all music created after 1998 sounds like crap? You tell me. (Well, except for Butch Walker or course)

Discuss.

Memories - pressed between the pages of my Nintendo owners manual

↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A

Live blogging from the baseball game

Remember my first post where I said I was good luck for tech sports? Not so true...

When I bought my ticket, it was 3-0 tech after 1. The SECOND I walked in, USM hit a 2-run HR that started a 9-run second... Still 9-3.

More to come.

Top of the 4th now. Just dropped strike 3 and overthrew the routine throw to first... Guy got to 2nd.

Enjoying my first baseball game otherwise, though. People are booing the home plate ump like crazy. Weather's nice at least...

Gave up 2 more runs in the 5th... 11-3... Not much to blog about.

3 run dinger in the 6th! 1 out! It's loud again

Promising 7th inning turned to nothing after double play... Running out of time

Not sure exactly what happened, but we were called out at the plate and we got to go back to third. I think a fan may have touched the ball by the fence? 1 run in the bottom of the 8th, 1 out, 2 on base

Nice catch by the USM 2nd baseman to end the inning. Jackets scored 1 more to make it 11-8 going into the 9th..

I hate when I do this. I had this weird feeling he was gonna hit a home run. And he did. And he plays for the other team. I need to stop having those feelings...

12-8 into the bottom of the ninth. Come on jackets.


Double play to end the game. And the season. Good season. Not so good postseason.

Go Jackets.

Gani Not Quite Gone Yet...

With less than a month until the NBA draft, it appears Gani Lawal may be leaning towards coming back to Tech for one more year (or two, technically), or at least Andy Katz of ESPN says so. And because he didn't hire an agent, he can.

The thought of a Lawal/Favors frontcourt is pretty exciting and could be pretty special I think. We could be looking at an 09/10 Tech team with two early draft picks down low. Although, one site has Lawal and Alade Aminu (!) getting drafted, and last year's team won two conference games. But Alade Aminu is no Derrick Favoris, and the combo next year could be pretty unstopable. But enough about the possibilites. Why is Lawal thinking of coming back?

He used to be projected as a lottery pick, but his stats weren't the same against ACC teams, and he's now fallen to a late first round projection. Gani says if he's projected in the 25-35 range, he would "have to do [his] homework, because that's cutting it close. That would be a crapshoot." Only first round picks are guaranteed money, so I don't blame him for not wanting to leave early if he may not get a contract. Especially with the players Tech has coming in.

Here's where various sites have Gani going:
25 - Oklahoma City (ESPN)
30 - Cleveland (Sporting News)
24 - Portland (nbadraft.net)
23 - Sacramento (Draft Express)
24 - Portland (Inside Hoops)
20 - Utah (My NBA Draft)

They've all got him in the first round, but 30's cutting it close. Like the last pick in the first round close.

You want what's best for the kid, but I would definitely love to see him stick around for another year. I really think if you add Gani to who we have returning plus who we have coming in, it could be another miracle one-year run of sorts. As for what's after that, who knows, but I'd like to see it happen.

Gani has until June 15 to remove his name from the draft, which is on June 25. More to come in two weeks...

In Atlanta? Go to the baseball game tonight!

Baseball coach Danny Hall and the Tech players weren't very happy with the Tech fans' turnout as they won a double header yesterday.

Of 1,300 fans at the game, about 600 were cheering for Southern Miss, and apparently much louder.

I live in Atlanta and have never been to a Tech baseball game, but I'm going to try to go tonight. Let's give the team someone to win their third straight game in front of.

See you there.

2 Down, 1 To Go

The crane will not help you in baseball.

Well, the Jackets won 2 of the 3 games they need to win to win the regional today. One more game against Southern Miss tomorrow night to decide who moves on. This will be the third game against the Golden Eagles in as many days. First, though...

Tech had to beat Elon this afternoon to play Southern Miss, and did so 8-4. Relief pitcher, Mark Pope, had a great game, striking out a career-high 7 batters and allowing only 1 run and 4 base runners in the last 5 innings.

The Jackets then had to turn around and play Southern Miss again. This time, there weren't 5 errors to deal with, and the Jackets won 10-3.

The regional championship game is Monday night at 7.

Let's go Jackets!

Win (3) or Stay Home

Well, Tech has to win the next 3 games or their season is over after falling 10-7 to Southern Miss tonight.

I don't watch a ton of baseball, but I know 5 errors are not good. No grand slam to save us this time.

Tech must now beat Elon tomorrow to have a second shot at Southern Miss tomorrow night. Win the double header, and there's a rubber match against Southern Miss Monday night for the regional championship.

Crazier things have happened, but it sure would have been an easier road having won tonight. Tech is 1-6 in elimination games since 2000.

Here's to moving that to 4-6.

In other college baseball news, the state of Georgia, while well-represented in the tournament, went 0-4 today, with Tech, uga, Georgia State, and Georgia Southern all losing. Tech and uga still have one loss remaining.

And as I write this, overall top seed Texas and Boston College are entering the 25th inning. Crazy. And reliever Austin Wood pitched 13 innings, giving up no runs and over a full game's worth of a no-hitter. Amazing. Oh, and he pitched last night, too...

UPDATE: Texas ended up winning 3-2 in the 25th in the longest college baseball game in history (7+ hours). Boston College has to play at 1 pm tomorrow... good luck with all that.

Tech Beats State

Most generic headline ever. Sounds like one of those Allstate football-related commercials. But it's true - Tech beat Georgia State 9-3 tonight, thanks to a 5-run fifth inning that included a grand slam by Matt Skole.

Tomorrow night, Tech plays Southern Miss, who beat Elon 17-15 (!).

Oh, and Matt Wieters went 0-4 in his Major League debut. Sad face. Gotta feel for the guy. That's not the way he wanted to get started. Can't feel too bad for him, though. He's a millionaire who plays baseball for a living and will no doubt be a star soon enough.

Play Ball!

Tech takes the field today in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Coach Danny Hall has elected to start newly-named First-Team All-American, Deck McGuire, against Georgia State today. Here's a preview. And another.

Also, former Tech player, Matt Weiters, will make his much-anticipated Major League debut tonight for the Orioles.

"Even his intangibles are tangible."

It would be an understatement to say fans were looking forward to his debut. See here.

Go Jackets and Go Matt Weiters!

Happy Friday.

UPDATE: Check this out: http://www.mattwietersfacts.com/

Poor guys has a lot of hype to live up to.

And here's another.

USC, Oklahoma, and... Georgia Tech?

Ok, that's not the preseason Top 3, but it's pretty good company to be in regarding anything football-related.

Head over to ESPN's college football page and check out the header image.

ESPN's Top 3 teams for 2009 (I can dream, can't I?)

The article (or lack thereof) is about teams with a certain position that's loaded. Our deep backfield is what got us on the front page.

Our secondary got a shoutout as well. Tech and USC are the only teams that had two units listed. Nice.

Don't forget - Dwyer for Heisman!

Get to Know Your Tech Players

It's a busy couple of days, so we'll let someone else do the work for us.

I'm not sure how I feel about the new Tech blogger at the AJC so far, but one thing I have liked are the player interviews. It's always nice to learn more about them than what they do on the field/court.

Check these out to kill some time this afternoon. Almost Friday...

Q and A with Tech basketball player D’Andre Bell
Scott Blair on Bob Marley, the hedges, and Miami
Roddy Jones on ziti, The Run, and espanol.

D’Andre Bell Back to Make More Funny Faces

Good news for the basketball team as D'Andre Bell was medically cleared to return for his final season of eligibility after surgery to correct a spinal condition last season.

The team missed his defense last year, but most of all they missed all the funny pictures that were taken when he played:

"Oooooh! There's a spider on the ball! Someone get it off!" | "Did it go in?! I can't look! Someone tell me if I made it!"

He's no John Scheyer, but funny nonetheless.

Adding Bell back to the lineup will definitely help all the newbies. His experience and defense will be much needed. The AJC has a nice interview with Bell about coming back. He's a well-spoken kid and a good representative of the Institute.

Welcome back, D'Andre!

White Out Part Deux

Word on the street is that the Clemson game this year is a whiteout. The AA got it right this time around. The whiteout last year against Miami was somewhat successful, but it was at the end of the year and cold, and not many people own white outerwear.

The Clemson game is our first ACC game, it's on national TV, and it's a night game. Not many stadiums look better than Bobby Dodd at night with the skyline lit up. Add to it a sea of white, and it should look pretty sweet. Assuming the team takes care of business, it could be some nice early-season, prime-time, national attention for the Jackets.

No excuses this time. Everyone owns a white t-shirt.

In other news related both to Georgia Tech football and white, wide receiver Willie White has left Tech.

Tech Hosting Baseball Regional

Losing 4 of the last 5 cost Tech a national seed in the NCAA Tournament, but the Jackets are still hosting a regional this weekend. Here's a look at the Atlanta Region:

1) Georgia Tech
2) Elon
3) Southern Miss
4) Georgia State

Tech opens with Georgia State Friday night. The two teams played twice this season, each blowing the other out once. The regional is double elimination.

If we were to win our region, we would play the winner of Florida's region. The good news is Florida is the lowest of the 8 national seeds. Miami is the no. 2 in Florida's region.

Let's wipe that bad taste out of our mouths and make a trip to Omaha.

Here's more on the regional and on the matchup with State.

In other games-involving-bats-and-balls-related news, the softball team's season ended at the hands of no. 3 Washington. Congrats to the team, who were ACC Champs and made it further in the NCAA Tournament than ever before.

Dwyer for Heisman

I am now officially starting the Dwyer for Heisman 2010 campaign. I want to enlist all of the Mash on the Gas Empire to aid me in doing whatever possible to bring this trophy home to Georgia Tech. As many of you know, the Heisman was named after the most famous of college coaches, John Heisman. And who did Heisman coach for so long and so successfully?

Say it with me now! GEORGIA TECH!

Oh and Doug Roberson of the Atlanta Journal Constitution agrees with me, now READ IT!

UPDATE: Rivals has done an initial ranking of all position players in college football POST spring practice and see who is #2 for Running Backs - READ IT!

I think it would be a tremendous national story. Think about how blogs all over the world would glow about:

The Resurgence of the Yellow Jacket Nation
The Success of the Program under Second Year Coach Paul Johnson
Turning of the Tide Against the Hated Rival the University of Georgia

and finally....the awarding of the Heisman Trophy

Can't you just smell the awesomeness?

So now I am seeking your suggestions in how we can make our opinions known, I thought that the Pro-Choice shirts for Tashard were fantastic and something along those lines would be great and could even be added to the Student section garb for home games. So place your ideas in the comments section (and put your name so that we can give you props).

And Now, Your Weekly Ridiculous AJC UGA Vent of the Week:
Dawgs - last year is gone ... forget it and know you can win it all in '09.

Bo Knows How It Feels

Stephen Hill, a WR coming to the Flats this fall, has been given permission by the man, CPJ, to play for CPH on the court once he's done with football for the season. I had heard the rumor, but I didn't want to post anything until I had seen it from a source more credible than a message board (which doesn't really narrow it down, but I'll take it.)

Now, this doesn't mean he will play basketball. It means CPJ has given him permission. With the recruiting class coming in (the ones that were actually recruited to play basketball), there's probably no way he'd ever see the floor. But he may be given a free spot as a walk-on since he already has a football scholarship and is an athletic freak. (apparently there's a rule against that sorta thing)

It sounds like he's great at football and track, and pretty good at basketball just by virtue of being a freakish athlete. People have compared that aspect of him to Isma'il Muhammad from the Final Four team. In case you've forgotten:



I seriously doubt he'd have much of an impact, but it would be fun to have a two-sport athlete around. Stephen is actually the high school teammate of highly-touted basketball commit, Mfon Udofia.

Advance Screening - Movie Review

Terminator Salvation
It's been awhile. In fact, I don't think I've brought you a movie review since The Dark Knight last summer. Sadly I think I just lost my inspiration once Henry Jones jumped the shark (nuked the fridge) in the final installment of the adventures of my childhood hero. It took months of therapy but I think I'm finally back and I was lucky enough to catch an advance screening of the new post-apocalyptic John Connor thrill ride, T4. Also known as Terminator Salvation. Let me start off by saying there are many things that T4 does well, the sound is incredible, the rework of the score by Danny Elfman is quite nice, the effects are top notch work by ILM (greatly inspired by Transformers) and the film makes a valiant attempt to pay homage to the earlier films (I specifically enjoyed the Guns n' Roses nod) and bring you the most bag for your buck. But there are areas where Salvation falls flat. In the end, the film lacks emotion. The characters are dry and at no point to do you really get a feeling that these bands of resistance are fighting for the survival of humanity.

Bale was a good choice as the great John Connor, but he plays it too much like a caped crusader we all know. Also, the Terminator series has always championed strong women but the one chance T4 has to fill this void is oddly absent. Bryce Dallas Howard takes over the role as Kate Bruster Connor, wife of John and 2nd in command (eventually). But the character seems vacant, and the fact that she's pregnant is completely ignored. (Apparently Claire Danes who played Kate in T3 turned down the part.)

I'm not going to give any of the story away, but it does assume you've seen the other 3 films and doesn't make the effort to bring others "up to speed." Which is fine, but I do wish it did more to fill in the blanks of the on-going story; something I feel like The Sarah Connor Chronicles has done well. (Sadly and recently canceled by the way) Don't expect TSCC and T4 to link up in any way, they are treated independent of each other and It's difficult to say more about the story without giving too much away.

I'm not sure why McG was tapped to direct T4 since he brought us such wonderful hits as Charlie's Angles 1 and 2. I won't fault his directing of T4, he does some nice stuff, but the film suffers from the lack of a refined story and character development as it over emphasizes the action. The Terminator series has always had some interesting subject matter to play with on a philosophical level. The effect of technology on society, the blurring of the lines between man and machine and of course the always interesting time travel paradoxes. Where T4 misses the mark is the discussion of these themes, it makes a small effort, especially on point number two, but it's just that, a small effort. With that said, the film is still fun to watch, and hits the bulls eye of nonstop action you've come to expect from a summer blockbuster.

Terminator Salvation opens tomorrow, or you can catch a midnight screening this evening.

Terminator Salvation Trailer
Uploaded by dreadcentral. - Watch feature films and entire TV shows.

Star Trek
There is a deleted scene from Pulp Fiction in which Mia Wallace makes the point that the world is made up of two types of people, Elvis people and Beatles people. I've often felt that way about the universal struggle between Star Trek vs. Star Wars. I grew up a Star Wars fan and if Mrs. Wallace is correct Star Wars was the 68 Comeback Special, complete with Elvis decked out in cool black leather. Where Star Trek was, well, Yellow Submarine, maybe with some St. Pepper thrown in for flavor.

That's not a knock on ST, I've enjoyed the films and variations there of, I'm just not a purest. So keep that in mind.

Some things are a gamble in every way. When I heard that J.J. Abrams (LOST, Cloverfield) felt the need to reboot the Star Trek franchise I have to admit, I was worried. You run a huge risk, like an American Idol contestant singing a Whitney song. If you don't pull it off better, or at least as good as the original, then you basically crash and burn. There have been a lot of remakes in the last few years, many were so bad I won't even mention. But ever so often you get something that improves on the past, and that is what Star Trek has done.

Now, like I said. I'm no purest and there are those of you that may hate every moment the film that is projected on screen, but my gut tells me that even Star Trek fans will be pleasantly surprised. What's good? The visual effects and sound were superb, the casting was near perfect and although the story could get a tad confusing, the over all idea of a Trek prequel was a great call. When leaving the theater Tiffany made the statement, "well that explains so much." And with that in mind I believe that even those who aren't fans of Trek, or even of sci-fi will have a blast at this film.

You get a nice intro to each character, with more time being placed on Spock and James T as the headliners. My personal favorite was Bones (Karl Urban), who has a habit of stealing every scene he's in. ST does well what T4 lacked, character development. It also did a great job of remembering the past without it coming off as forced cheesy one-liners.

Zachary Quinto (Heroes) is perfect as Spock, Eric Bana is always underrated as the villain even though the villains are secondary, and it’s nice to see Bruce Greenwood get to play something other than JFK. Anton Yelchin has been busy lately as he plays both Kyle Reese in T4 and Chekov in ST. And if you ever need a little bit of trivia, go grab a copy of Spielberg's The Terminal, where Zoe Saldana (Uhura) plays a customs agents who is also a Trekkie. Chris Pine (Kirk) has been around awhile, but I dare you to remember anything he's done. Either way, he inhabits the young James.

If you were on the fence worried that the new Star Trek was going to be much like watching the revamped Dukes of Hazard, you can relax and purchase a ticket because I'm confident you'll have a good time.

Star Trek - Full Trailer
Uploaded by hawkbcn. - Up-to-the minute news videos.

ESPN Poll Results

The ESPN poll we mentioned yesterday concluded, and while I can't find the final results on the SportsNation site (anyone who can gets a cookie), I took a screenshot at about 1 am last night. Here's how it played out:

Why did they have to give us red then them navy?
Click to see larger.

Turns out 52% of the country is smart. The state of Georgia swung back in our favor, which really surprised me actually. I'd like to think our blog generated so much traffic to the poll that Tech took a commanding lead. But really, this state is so full of bandwagon ugagers, I'm surprised we were close, let alone in the lead. Maybe they don't have internet in the rest of Georgia yet. Or maybe they just went with the team with the red bar.

In all honestly, and as non-biased as I can be, I'd have to say it makes sense to select Tech here. I'm not saying it's guaranteed that we have a better season, but we're coming off equally successful seasons in which we beat them and we get almost all of our starters back and they lose the "best" QB and RB in the country.

As with all ESPN polls, I expected SEC states to pick ugag and ACC states to pick Tech. It's the rest that's interesting. I would suspect the large amount of blue states out west are just going on the past success of ugag and the bigger name of their program. I think the funniest is the huge Tech bias in Nebraska. Those people really love option football.

As always, Go Jackets and To Hell With Georgia!

Will the Offensive Line be Offensive?

As things progress gradually towards the start of the college football season, Tech has been getting some good press coverage regarding both the skill positions and the defensive line. I can understand the reasons for these two areas of the team getting the coverage that they have.

First, the defensive line produced THREE NFL draftees, which is pretty good no matter what your team of choice may be. Second, the skill players (quarterback, wide receivers and running backs) really shocked a lot of people last season with their production. No one really expected Nesbitt to be successful in the option nor did they expect Roddy "Smith" Jones and Jonathan Dwyer to totally OWN the games they played.

With the new season coming up and the new recruits coming into spring training, press coverage is looking into these two areas again, but this time for all new reasons. The skills positions have gotten better and deeper so defenses can't really rest when the second string players are on the field. The defensive line is coming along slowly with three new players, two specifically at defensive tackle (although I consider anyone 6'7" and 325 lbs. to be counted as TWO people). Although both these areas should be covered and analyzed, I want to focus on the offensive line, the most unheralded but important of football positions.

The offensive line is now said to be the weakest link on the team and by looking at the data, this viewpoint can be justified. Several of our senior players have moved on and the incoming recruits, while substantial, are very young and will require a lot of coaching. Knowing our coaching staff, I am sure that they are up to the task. The one issue that bloggers and columnists have been pushing out is the fact that the more senior players on the line have been having a good deal of injuries.

Here is the brief list of significant injuries:
Cord Howard - Missed MOST of the Spring practice
Dan Voss - Miss ALL of Spring practice with a shoulder injury requiring surgery
Nick Claytor - Missed MOST of Spring practice with a back surgery

While there are only THREE players who have been dealing with injuries, the biggest concern is that these players have the most experience and provide solid leadership to the remaining players, especially with so many Freshmen and Sophomore players being utilized. Experts would point to this as a major flaw but I tend to disagree, which would make me NOT an expert (I guess). I see the pushing of the younger players into action as being truly a blessing. Too often teams will want to use only the upper year players until graduation, which then causes them to use the younger players who often do not have the experience to be integrated so quickly.

If you want to read the information yourself, try HERE or HERE, or even HERE. As always, READ IT!!

However with the Offensive line now in its current position of depletion and competition, I see this as nothing but a HUGE plus for us as the year progresses. The experimentation and repetitions that this group will face will provide the coaching staff with plenty of data in which to determine the best groups of starters.

Ladies and Gentlemen - Your Georgia Tech Offensive Line Players!

Raymond Beno - OL 6-1 270lbs. Freshman
Nick Claytor - OT 6-6 304lbs. Sophomore
Jay Finch - OL 6-4 255lbs. Freshman
Antonio Foster - OL 6-4 280lbs. Freshman
Zach Fraysier - OL 6-3 275lbs. Freshman
Joseph Gilbert - OG 6-4 288lbs. Sophomore
Cordaro Howard - OG 6-5 310lbs. Senior
Chase Hudson - OG 6-2 268lbs. Sophomore
Will Jackson - OL 6-4 275lbs. Freshman
Mike Johnson - OL 6-4 300lbs. Freshman
Jeff Lentz - OT 6-5 252lbs. Junior
Brad Sellers - OT 6-2 252lbs. Senior
Phil Smith - OT 6-6 290lbs. Freshman
Omoregie Uzzi - OG 6-3 291lbs. Freshman
Dan Voss - C 6-4 294.lbs. Senior
Clyde Yandell - OT 6-5 296lbs. Sophomore

I decided to highlight the Freshmen in red just to show that this side of the football is indeed very young. The flip side of this stat is that in a year or two, Tech should have one of the deepest, most experienced offensive lines in college football. Even looking at the individual player information, this recruiting class is going to be a strong one with the average offensive line player being 6-3 and 280lbs. I fully understand that this size is not in the line of the Oklahoma's and the USC's of the world, but the Triple Option is predicated on the usage of fast, agile and nasty linemen.

Conclusion:
There could be some early season issues with regards to meshing and leadership, but as the season progresses and the line becomes a more cohesive unit, I see a strong offensive line for the next two seasons. You can only imagine how strong the lines will become as this recruiting class alone matures and the next classes arrive on campus.

Ridiculous UGA AJC Vent of the Week:
Paul Johnson is a great coach and GT will have a great offense, but this is big boy football. GT's defense will its downfall.

Diamond Notes

The Jackets' baseball and softball teams are in the midst of the postseason, and since football practice gets more press than baseball and softball playoffs, let's check in on them.

The softball team won the ACC Tournament a week ago and then rolled through the regional they hosted this week in the NCAA Tournament. They host a super regional (3-game series) this weekend against no. 3 Washington. The Jackets are ranked no. 14, but get to host because we have lights (thanks to this year's new stadium). Win and they're in the Women's College World Series.

The baseball team was briefly in first place in a crowded ACC and then lost 2 of 3 to Duke, dropping them all the way to 4th place for this week's ACC Tournament. They're in a bracket with Miami (5th seed), Boston College (8), and Florida State (1). Everybody plays the other three teams once, and then the team with the best record will face the winner of the other bracket for the championship on Sunday. Tech was 5-2 against their half this season.

Also, Jackets pitcher, Deck McGuire, was named the ACC’s Pitcher of the Year. He's the first Tech player to win the award. He was 10-0 on the season and held opponents to a .210 batting average. Congrats! The Jackets also had 3 other players named to All-Conference teams.

Get Out There and Vote!

Check it out. For the time being, the ESPN College Football page's SportsNation poll is:

Which team will have a better season? Georgia or Georgia Tech?

At 10:13 am, it's still 50/50 after 8,503 votes. The ACC states favor the Jackets, and the SEC states (including Georgia... shocker!) favor the mutts.

Vote now!
http://espn.go.com/college-football/