I'm sorry that this report is coming out a bit late, but I had to grill about 40 steaks tonight.  I have not been writing as detailed practice reports lately or as often due to several reasons.  I have had to go visit family, and sometimes it is really hard to write about practice when you really can't see too many changes.  It might be sudden news to people who don't go to practice, but I see it pretty much everyday and fail to notice big changes sometimes.  I only have about two more reports to write, so I'll try to step up my game.  Also, after the last report, I'll take a question and answer session about practice and the team covering anything you want to know that I failed to write about.  If you have anything you want me to notice or take a look at during practice, let me know and I'll write about it.

There were some nice shaded areas today since it was at 3PM.  The players looked energized and ready to go.  If they were slacking today, I couldn't really notice.  CPJ obviously felt what I didn't when he made the players do sprints after practice reminding them of the LSU game. Ouch.

1. I could about 7 players on the beach.  I didn't see any real injuries today, but it wouldn't surprise me to see one big guy on the beach tomorrow.  I don't think it was anything serious though.

2. The team started off by working on kickoff returns.  They mainly worked on setting blocks and providing a good wedge.  Allen and Wright were the two main returners.  They didn't practice any live returns even though they were all in pads.

3. The team then broke up into position drills.  The WRs and the DBs worked on the towel drill some more.  Bay-Bay's guy has virtually no shot.  Stephen Hill made one really nice block on a DB even when he got his helmet knocked off.  That is the kind of blocking that will get him on the field.  That is the only major thing that usually keeps WRs from not playing in CPJ's system.  Blocking by the WRs is essential.

4. The offense and defense worked on some one on one passing drills.  Nesbitt, Shaw, and Henry worked with the WRs against the DBs.  Nesbitt looked great and put the ball where it needed to go.  The WRs made some nice catches here and there, but once again, there were several major drops.  Jaybo looked like he hadn't missed a beat.  He started off a little hazy, but quickly sharpened up.  Sims and Washington worked with the A-backs against the linebackers.  It was hard to watch both sets of QBs, but I could tell that Sims and Washington were looking fairly good.  Sims has definitely improved over the last couple of practices.  He still overthrows some, but you can see the talent.

5. The offense and defense had a scrimmage.  Hitting was kept to a minimum.  Nesbitt made a correct read every time.  The offensive line provided enough room for Nesbitt to make a couple of nice plays on the ground.  Dwyer looked good even though he was used sparingly.  Preston Lyons showed why he deserves to be the #2 B-back by consistently moving the ball upfield and never stops moving his legs.  Jaybo looked smooth and in control.  I was impressed that he didn't look rusty at all considering he has been out for several days.  Tevin looked fine.  The defense looked in control. 

6. They later did some 7-on-7 drills that looked okay.  Nesbitt threw several picks, but still looked like he was in control and making the right calls.  Jaybo struggled slightly.  They later worked on running the two minute offense.  They first started off without a defense.  Josh looked fine, but Jaybo looked unstoppable.  Jaybo seemed calm and delivered very nice passes.  There was no defense though.

7. The team really ended practice today doing a 80 yard two minute drill.  After Josh threw an interception (which should have been a catch by Bay-Bay, but he popped it up) to Cooper Taylor, he began to get things rolling.  He made several nice completions down the field before finally being stopped down inside the other teams twenty.  Jaybo struggled a little more and his team ran out of downs inside the opponents 30.  The rest of practice involved CPJ yelling at the players and having them run sprints.

I'm sorry for the crappy quality of the reports lately.  Hopefully, I can power through the next couple of days and provide you with some good information and analysis.  I refuse to take notes because I want to watch the complete practice while keeping the big picture in focus.  

I probably shouldn't have waited till after the second practice to write my complete practice report.  This could get quite lengthy, so I will just try and sum up the practices today separately.  I will not be out there tomorrow because I'm heading to my Grandma's for the day.  I will probably be back in time for Wednesday's practice.  

Part I:

There was plenty of shade today and it was actually pretty nice.  The players looked tired, but they still fought hard out there.  Josh looked poised and accurate during passing drills today.  He quickly checked the coverages to see where the ball needed to go and then he put it there.  He really didn't overthrow.  He was calm and collected.  I really haven't seen passing of this kind since I have been at Tech.  Josh really took charge out there in the passing game.  The only incompletions I saw were the receivers dropping his passes.

 Stephen Hill had several great catches in one on one passing drills.  He always seemed to be heavily covered and still managed to grab hold of the ball.  He looked like he had been out there for years.  The other receivers did fairly well but just seemed to drop way too many passes.

 Tevin looked consistent and Sims continued to struggle.

 After the passing drill, the team went into scrimmage mode.  It started off slow because the first string offensive line had trouble moving things up front, but they quickly got into rhythm.  Nesbitt took charge of the offense and only had about one bad read the entire scrimmage.  He looked relaxed and delivered the ball well to the receivers and A-backs when he did decide to pass.  The pass blocking looked great and gave Nesbitt plenty of time to make his reads and throws.  Dwyer only played a couple of snaps and then had to sit out for the rest of the practice.  He looked good while he was in though.

 Preston Lyons took over and appeared not to lose a beat.  Tevin commanded the second string offense and they looked smooth.  Tevin had several very nice runs out there.  He won't out run you, but he is just so slippery and smooth when he gets into the open field.

 Godhigh gave a devastating block on the edge on one play to give Tevin a huge gap to run through.  The kid basically took out half of the defense with that one block because several defenders were right behind the man Godhigh cut blocked.  It was a thing of beauty.

 After the first scrimmage, the offense later did a 7-on-7 passing drill.  Nesibitt once again shined and showed why he is the clear starter.  Again, the only incompletions I saw were dropped balls on the receivers.  Tevin also had another nice couple of passes and did a great job.

 Sims really should be redshirted and if you watch him in the passing game, you would see why.  He just shows no confidence out there.  He either pulls down the ball and runs with it too early or throws a ball to an area of the field where there is absolutely no receiver.  He has all the tools, but you can just see he doesn't really know how to react to the speed of the game yet.  Tevin was much the same last year.

 The second and last scrimmage of the day saw the emergence of the defense.  Josh didn't quite look so good as he did earlier in the day, and a lot of that had to do with the offensive line.  The pass protection just broke down at times and he was running for his life.  I think a major reason for this was the coaches constantly switching up the lineup on the offensive line.  I think they were just trying to see what combinations worked and the ones that didn't.  Apparently some combinations were better than others.  The coaches were really frustrated with the offensive line.  I don't blame them.

 Tevin had a relatively good scrimmage.  His highlight came on a pass play when Dieke came rushing toward him but Richard Watson came out of nowhere and cut blocked Dieke to the ground.  Tevin quickly ran to his right and let loose a bomb to Stephen Hill streaking down the right sideline.  Hill was covered really well too.  It was a sight to behold.

 The practice ended on 4 straight field goals by Scott Blair that all looked on the money.  You could tell CPJ was unhappy with the attitude out there and made the entire team do a set of up-downs.  

Part II:

What to say.  This practice was really something to see.  It looked like crap.  The players looked exhausted and the effort level was basically non existent.  They mostly worked on red zone passing and nobody really looked anything close to good and consistent (well, they were consistent; consistently bad that is).  Josh had two picks, overthrew guys, and did not look like anything like he was earlier in the day.  The defense maybe looked okay and were the only ones that showed any kind of passion out there.

 Overall, it looked like a useless practice.  They maybe learned some new plays or wrinkles, but besides that, there didn't seem to be anything redeeming.  I hope the effort is up tomorrow and the players realize they only have about 20 something more days till they go to work for real.  I know these boys go through a lot out there, but I agree with CPJ in that there needs to be more effort given and they need to stop going through the motions.  I'm sure this half-ass stuff won't be put up with much longer.  Their hard work will pay dividends down the line, but they have to stay with it.

I will compose a single lengthy report tonight after the team finishes its first two-a-day.  Check back around 8PM for the report.  

I'm back from Memphis, and I was sure glad to make it out to practice today.  It was a helluva show.  I'm going to be careful what I write about because some of the stuff I did see today should stay secret.

Today was a kicking scrimmage inside Bobby Dodd Stadium.  The players were wearing pads and were split into two teams.  One team in blue on the east sideline and one team in white on the west sideline.  There was no offense and defense today.  The teams moved the ball by either punting, kicking a field goal, or faking either of the two.  If a team scored, they kicked off to the other team.  The players were fired up and it appeared they were having a great time out there.

1. I counted 8 players on the beach.  I think most of the injuries are non-serious, and most of the players there were ones that were banged up yesterday.  I hope to see fewer players in red jerseys come Monday or Tuesday.  

2. Dwyer and Roddy spent the whole scrimmage running up and down the sidelines.  Nesbitt was suited up, but he did not participate in any of the drills.  

3. Let me start by making a list of people that had a pretty darn good day: Antonio Wilson, Anthony Allen, Jerrard Tarrant, TJ Barnes, Bay-Bay Thomas (this is the way he signed pictures yesterday), BJ Machen, Derrick Morgan, Chandler Anderson, Morgan Burnett, and Scott Blair (for the most part).  Each one of these guys made a great special teams play.  Antonio Wilson blocked a punt and Derrick Morgan recovered the ball at the offense's one yard line.  Anthony Allen caught a lateral type pass on a fake and took it for the first down.  He also ran for a first down on a fake.  Jerrard Tarrant reversed the ball across the field several times on a special teams play that ended 80 yards down field.  He also plastered Cooper Taylor on a punt return.  Cooper may have gotten one yard.  TJ Barnes blocked a very long field goal.  Bay-Bay caught a pass on a fake for a touchdown.  It was a 30 yard pass and Bay-Bay had to jump over Roderick Sweeting to catch it.  BJ Machen leveled Dan Voss on a punt return by Derrick Morgan.  Yes, I did say Derrick Morgan.  They ran an all linemen punt return several times just for fun.  Derrick Morgan actually had a nice return on that one play.  Chandler Anderson was consistent and impressive all day.  He belted one punt that probably went about 60 yards.  I think Blair can cross one kicking duty off his list.  Anderson just got the job done.  Morgan Burnett swatted a punted ball at the one yard line keeping it from going into the endzone.  He dove and timed it perfectly.  Scott Blair had a pretty decent day kicking field goals.  He missed a couple, but sure looked accurate most of the day even when the team on the opposite sideline was chanting his girlfriend's name and calling him something I can't mention on the blog.  

4. Players that didn't have such a good day: Stephen Hill, Chris Tanner, and Nick McRae.  Stephen Hill does not look like an option on punt returns.  He is too indecisive and tries to make way too many cuts before turning it up the field.  There were several times where he could have just kept running and he would have gotten many more yards, but he ultimately chose to try and shake a player and ended up being stopped because of it.  Chris Tanner is fairly accurate, but today showed me that he has a very weak leg.  He did several kickoffs that barely got inside the 20 yard line.  Nick McRae was sent out there to return a punt.  He tried catching the ball at his own one yard line, but dropped it.  The other team recovered it and fell into the endzone.  I think he should stick to playing on the offensive line.  

I think that pretty much sums up today's happenings.  I could list a lot more, but I don't want to list how the fakes worked and how the punt units lined up.  I feel good about us faking field goals and punts now.  I think we could do it with a pretty good success rate.  Chandler Anderson showed up to play today and I was impressed.  I hope the kicking game continues to get better.

Well, this is going to be a pretty short report today.  There isn't a whole lot new stuff to talk about.  I will be gone tomorrow-Saturday, so I won't be doing any reports on those days.  Hopefully, someone else on this blog will be there or put together some sort of report.  Let's get started, shall we.

Today was the first day in shells.  There was a little more contact involved in drills today because of that.  

1. No one new on the beach.  We need to keep this going.

2. First quarter of practice was devoted purely to special teams.  They worked on punt returns, kickoffs, and field goals.  The kickers and punters all looked pretty good out there.  There were very few kicks to me that stood out as being below average.  They used several returners, but they really didn't do any real returns today because they weren't in full pads.  They basically just went through various drills and alignments.  

3. One on one passing today with the receivers, A-backs, and DBs looked very sharp.  The QBs were putting the ball where the receivers and A-backs could catch them and there were only a few dropped passes early on.  Josh looked settled and seemed to deliver very accurate passes and rarely overthrow his receivers.  Jaybo was also very accurate. Tevin had an occasional pass that fluttered in the air, but about half were tight accurate spirals.  Sims and Luallen looked about the same and had trouble on occasion.  

4. Today marked the first day back with towel drills.  This is my favorite drill and they introduced it in the Spring.  The premise behind it is that the coach holds up a towel behind the receiver and then proceeds to throw it down on the ground.  The DB, who is about 5 yards in front of the receiver, then tries to get to the towel.  It is the receiver's job to keep the corner away from the towel.  It is a lot of fun to watch.  The receivers didn't fair too well today.  It appeared that the DBs were just too hungry and wanted to win the battle more.  Bebe performed the best like expected.

5. The highlight of the day came in the 7-on-7 passing drill.  The coaches were very vocal today in teaching the QBs.  There were at least a couple of really frustrated yells.  Nesbitt looked like a starting QB for the first real time today.  He made his fair share of mistakes, but he showed some amazing passing skills today that I didn't really think he had.  He managed to thread a couple of passes into tight coverage that not many QBs can make, period.  I was thoroughly surprised.  He only got chewed out once by CPJ, when he failed to see a wide open receiver and threw the ball into triple coverage instead.  Jaybo had a up and down day.  He looked amazing at times and plain stupid in others.  The rest of the QBs were much the same way.  Luallen probably had the worst day of them all.  He had several passes intercepted and just stared down his receivers sometimes.  The defense had a couple of really nice breakups.  They were fired up and swarmed to the football every time the ball was in the air.  Morgan Burnett chest bumped the hell out of Lucas Cox on one play where Lucas caught a pass up the middle and then turned around to go up field.  This only fired up the defense even more.  One play that probably stood out the most today was a catch by Jamal Paige.  He was working a route over the center of the field with tight coverage when a QB threw him the ball.  He caught the pass but was immediately leveled by a linebacker.  Amazingly, he held onto the ball.  All the other receivers and A-backs looked pretty good today.  

I said this was going to be short, but I guess there was more to write about then I thought.  If you leave any comments, it might take me a day or two to get back to you since I'm traveling.  

Sorry I took so long to post this.  I was hungry and needed some water.  There is not a whole lot of new stuff to talk about, but let's get down to business.

It was another scorcher out there today.  There was an occasional breeze and small area of shade, but that never lasted very long.  Players were vocal and ready to start practice.  They were still just wearing helmets and shorts.

1. No one new was on the beach today.  This is always good news.  

2. They started off with punt returns again today, and the punting looked a lot better than it was yesterday.  It was hard to tell who was punting, but the whole unit looked pretty solid in putting the ball about 40 yards down field.  They really didn't work on doing an returns.  They just worked on formations and reads.  Shortly after punt returns, they began to work on timing for kickoffs.  Scott Blair had no trouble consistently putting the ball down inside the 10 yard line.  I think this is his real specialty.

3. Today involved just as much passing as yesterday, if not more.  The QBs started off with one on one passing to the A-backs and receivers with the DBs in coverage.  The QBs looked pretty sharp at times and were consistent.  Stephen Hill looked very impressive.  He was making some spectacular grabs out there.  He would occasionally out jump a DB to go up and make the catch.  He is going to push for playing time immediately (well, if his blocking is good enough).  I still noticed a lot of drops today.  Bebe and Anthony Allen were the two that come to mind.  Hopefully it was just them having a bad day.  Bebe looks like a giant among men out there.  

4. The real fun today came during 7-on-7 passing drills.  There is no easy way to say this; it started off like a nightmare.  The QBs (all of them) were repeatedly sailing passes over the A-backs and receivers.  There were even a couple of interceptions early on.  Even if the QB placed the ball near the receiver or A-back, they would find a way to drop it.  Then something changed.  I don't know if it was a little word of advice from the coaches or if the QBs just needed time to settle in, but things started to take off.  Nesbitt calmed down and made some amazing passes right on the money.  He hit Marcus Wright in a narrow window surrounded by 4 defenders.  He had to thread a needle to find little Marcus, but he did it.  Josh also hit Bebe on a beautifully timed, perfect, flag route.  It couldn't have looked any better.  Jaybo's passes looked sharp on short routes, but he seemed to be off when dealing with longer routes.  One receiver popped one of Jaybo's passes in the air and it got intercepted.  Both Sims and Luallen showed moments of brilliance, but they couldn't seem to get any consistency.  One play Luallen simply chucked the ball in the air, and got a couple of hot words from the coaches.  He should have just pulled down the ball and ran with it.  Sims at times looked lost in what was going on in the secondary (he was being a freshmen).  Our DBs came away with several interceptions and pass break ups.  I'm not worried at all about their athleticism and coverage skills.  

5. The last part of practice involved the offense and defense splitting up and doing team drills.  The defense worked on play recognition and getting to the ball carrier.  The entire offense worked on running option plays with a couple of pass plays thrown in.  I counted about 4 fumbles today from the offense in just running simple option plays.  You would think that they would all be from the freshmen, but the starters had a couple of mishaps that looked pretty bad.  I'm sure that they were just timing issues and bad snaps.  These kinks will get worked out before Fall practice ends (at least I hope).  

Overall, today showed a lot of promise.  Our passing game looked horrible at some points, but at other times, I was simply blown away with it.  Tomorrow the team will be wearing shells so we will probably see a little more contact, and be able to draw out some more info about where the team is progressing or falling.

If you just started reading this blog, I would like to welcome you to my Fall practice reports.  I have been writing reports for the past two years and like to think I know quite a bit about Georgia Tech football.  I will be doing practice reports for the next couple of weeks until they become closed and off limits.  I will try to give as much accurate information about the players and events as humanly possible (so I don't get yelled at by someone in the AA).  Now that you kind of know what to expect from me, let's get started.  

Today is the official start to Georgia Tech football 2009!  It was pretty nice when I first got out to Rose Bowl Field, but it quickly heated up.  All the players looked energized and ready to go.  The players were wearing helmets and shorts.

1. There was only one player that was visibly not playing (beached).  Kyle Jackson was standing in street clothes with a boot on.  (NOTE: I'm telling everyone this since it has already been reported in the AJC that he was not going to practice; this will probably not be the case going forward with all injuries that occur during practice.  I can really only report the number of individuals injured.)  Roddy practiced in a yellow jersey with a cast on his arm.  He did not participate in passing drills but did catch several pitches that were flung his way.

2. The team first started off with punt return practice.  The whole group of punters looked pretty darn bad.  I didn't see one punt over 35 yards!  I couldn't really tell who was punting from where I was, but it looked like the rotated through the whole group and none of them looked even halfway decent.  They had Stephen Hill in the group doing the returning along with the favorites, Roddy and Tarrant.  I couldn't really tell if he looked good returning punts, since half the time the ball landed about 15 yards in front of him.

3. The QBs and centers worked on snaps together while the other players were doing the punt returns.  I didn't see any fumbles right away on the center-to-QB exchange, which is always a good sign.  David Sims and Jordan Luallen both looked impressive in size and build.  Sims has a build very similar to Josh.  Josh looked just like a beast, as usual.  Jaybo, on the other hand, still seems to be way too small and skinny.  He might have put on 10 pounds of muscle, but it is really hard to tell.  He might have just reached his maximum size because I can't see him getting any bigger the next year or two.  When they did get the entire offense to practice later, the freshmen QBs really showed their age.  I saw Luallen fumble quite a bit and Sims didn't fair too much better.  They looked a lot like Josh and Jaybo last year when they were first learning the offense.  

4. I didn't see any real surprises in the depth chart today.  The same players that were starting in the Spring, were starting today.  One thing was very interesting though.  Jemea Thomas was not on offense.  Word was he was recruited as an A-back and would start off there.  I personally thought and still think that Thomas is a perfect fit for the defensive backfield and needs to stay where he was today.  I hope the coaches don't change their minds again and move him to the offensive side.  

5. Some players have definitely slimmed down over the Summer.  TJ Barnes is the best example.  He is still probably too big to play every down, but he doesn't have that overhanging gut anymore.  We really needed him to slim down to be able to play more snaps.  I really hope he weighed in around 330 instead of the 353 he was in the Spring.  Dwyer also has appeared to have lost some weight.  I know he had a pretty good sized belly in the Spring, but now, he looks a lot like he did coming out of his freshmen year.  He looks lean and mean.  Some of the freshmen really surprised me when I first saw them out there.  Drummond looks ready physically, along with JC Lanier and Julian Burnett.  Those kids just look college ready.  

6. I wasn't able to stay the whole time (I know, shame on me.  I was dehydrated!), but I did see enough to tell where our offense was in terms of being ready.  The offense did some one on one passing drills at the beginning of practice and everything looked fine.  The freshmen QBs, Sims and Luallen, both had great touch on long passes and some beautiful spirals.  Josh looked like he couldn't miss and Jaybo and Tevin both looked like they had improved over the Summer.  Tevin, especially.  Stephen Hill and Kevin Cone looked really good catching the ball.  Hill is just so physical and fast.  The offense then did some passing scrimmages with the defense about a 2/3 of the way through practice.  Things quickly fell apart.  I only saw a handful of completed pass, most for a short gain.  I don't know if the coverage was all that great or if the QBs were simply off target.  It looked like a mixture of both.  Occasionally, the QBs would over through an open receiver or simply put it into the ground.  This was much different than earlier in practice.  I also noticed quite a bit of drops from the receivers and A-backs.  I will just count the whole scrimmage as "knocking off the rust".  Morgan Burnett was flying around in the secondary and the ball just somehow always gravitates toward him.  

That is about all I can think of to write for today.  My reports will get more in depth when the players start practicing in full pads and actually hit each other.  They won't start wearing full pads until Friday.  If you have any questions about the practices, feel free to ask me on this blog or on www.bbuzzoff.com.