Georgia Tech's Offensive Line Takes Cheap Shots at Knees

by Lennie Mac

You will hear this the very first time a defensive lineman goes down or if we start 2-0, whichever comes first. Check out these quotes:

"It's such a hard job on the inside, people are just nipping at you, and they're always at your feet. It's a nasty game and that's the way Navy likes it. They really try to get you distracted. They cut-block tremendously, probably the best that I've ever seen. You really have to work hard at this stuff."

- Greg Schiano, Rutgers

“It’s probably the most important thing about the game,” Thompson said. “You can’t make any tackles from the ground. They’re really good at cutting players.

“We’ve been working pretty much half of camp and about two weeks now on cut-blocking. Florida State cut a lot, but it’s still no comparison to what Navy does.”

- Jim Grobe, Wake Forest

It will not be long before someone brings up that GT chop blocks. Cut blocking is legal in the NCAA and is designed to knock the defender off his feet.

It also has a psychological effect on defensive lineman and linebackers as well. They start thinking about it all week. If you know that someone is coming at your knees you get timid, thinking about protecting yourself.

Chop blocking is illegal. Under NCAA rules, a chop block is an obviously delayed block anywhere on the field at or below the thigh of an opponent (other than the runner) who is (a) in contact with; (b) in the act of disengaging from; or (c) has just disengaged from but is still confronting a blocker’s teammate. A chop block is delayed if it occurs more than one second after a teammate contacts the opponent. Also, a high/low combination block by two nonadjacent linemen with or without a delay between contacts is a chop block. When in question, an illegal delayed block is at or below the thigh of an opponent and, as such, is a chop block (2-3-3, 9-1-2p).

The one question that I would like asked is how GT is practicing this technique in Spring Practice without getting anyone hurt.