Bulletin Board Material for Jackets

We opened up 2003 with a loss to BYU. Check out this quote from BYU defensive end Brady Poppinga:

"I wanted that to change this year. This is a team, after all. That's the real nature of competition. Trying to improve your athletic performance and the performance of the people around you. Play as hard as you can. But I want the other guy to be good, too. [Against Georgia Tech], the opponent I was going against on some plays wasn't going hard. I said to him, 'Come on, let's go.' That's the way I want it. It's a positive thing for everybody...."

Holy crap. The kid is saying one of our O-lineman wasn't trying hard. NOTE TO ALL SENIORS: Make sure that EVERYONE understands the concept of playing hard EVERY snap. An opposing playing coaxing on a better performance from an opponent in the name of "betterment of all". Give me a break!!

COACHING PREVIEW AT DUKE
Looking at the Duke coaching staff, including Roof of course, as well as former Jacket coach Glenn Spencer:

Glenn Spencer was a fellow coach with Roof under George O’Leary at Georgia Tech. He comes with a reputation as good teacher and a great recruiter. Many Jacket fans speak highly of Spencer.

GT DOES NOT PARTICIPATE IN ACC ALUMNI CHALLENGE
What a strange mention of GT. Story here. A contest to see how many young ACC alumni they can get to donate back to the ACC schools. GT was the only school that chose not to participate and had this to say:

While the ACC-challenge was originally open to all ACC schools, only 10 out of 11 have chosen to participate. Georgia Tech will not be “challenging” its young alumni. Nottingham said one reason for GT’s lack of enthusiasm about the challenge was they didn’t feel their alumni would be inspired by competition. On the other hand, many of the ACC schools are driven by rivalry.

Huhh. "not inspired by competition"????? Sounds fishy to me. There's obviously more to the GT story here than that.

MISC TEAM NOTES
Some random GT team notes from Michael Lough at the Macon Telegraph. Mention of Reggie Ball, Joe Hamilton and the the 2 suspensions for the Samford game.

PLAYERS WHO GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL EARLY...
...and head to college early are on the rise. There were 35 players who did it this season, including GT's Taylor Bennett. This story highlights where each stand in their football quest.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW - RODNEY WILLIAMS
Williams was waived by the Chiefs. Quote:

P Rodney Williams (6-0, 178) played in 15 games for the N.Y. Giants in 2001, punting 91 times for 3,905 yards (42.9 gross, 35.4 net) with 25 inside the 20-yard line and eight touchbacks. Williams owns the longest punt in Giants history, hitting a 90-yard punt at Denver (9/10/01). He also gained experience with the Rhein Fire of the NFL Europe league in 2001-02. He originally entered the NFL as a seventh-round selection with St. Louis in ’99 before attending training camp with Washington in 2000. The Brooklyn, New York native joined the Giants in 2001 and was released after camp in 2002. He went to camp with Seattle in 2003, but was waived prior to the start of the season.

The Georgia Tech product ended his collegiate career with a school-record 41.4-yard average. Williams ranks fourth on the Yellow Jackets charts with 178 punts for 7,373 yards. He played punter, kicker, defensive back and wide receiver on the football team at Southwest DeKalb High School in Decatur, Georgia