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I have a handful of random tidbits I thought I would throw out today in case you didn't know.
D-RICH DOIN' THE DO
President Daryl Richard continues to excel and give every fan a ridiculous number of reasons to have pride in our student-athletes. Check out what the future Athletic Director is up to these days. Another legacy of Chan Gailey, as he recommended D-Rich get involved. Now he's the Prez......
HOOPS + FOOTBALL - WHO'S THE BEST
Here's Rival.com's ranking of the top 25 best combined football/basketball schools in the country. GT slips in at #19. UGAg nowhere on the list of course. Maryland comes in at #10, BC #22. Here's their math.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW - CURTIS MODKINS
I think you knew, but just in case. One week after accepting the OC job at Colorado State, Modkins bolted to take a job working for his former boss Chan Gailey as the KC Chiefs Running Backs coach. Evidently he saw a position coach job in the NFL as way better than an OC job at the collegiate level. Of course sticking with the horse that brung you is never a bad idea. Chan Gailey is always going to have job security.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW - JARRETT JACK
Is Jack about to be dealt in a three-team deal to the Nets? Check out details.
DURANT BROOKS DAD TAKES TIME OFF
........ to check out his son boom the ball. Durant's dad is a coach by the way:
"I think the key is (the players') understanding of the situation," Reid said. "If they were in the same position with a child doing the things Durant has done, they would want to see him as much as they possibly could. So I think knowing that, they certainly understand why (Coach Brooks) was not here.MARK SOME DATES ON YOUR CALENDAR
"I was more than happy to fill in. Because Coach Brooks has helped me for a number of years when I was coaching the girls team and he was coaching the boys. He is a very good coach. He is one of the finest men I know, and I was glad to be able to help him out."
Per D-Rad:
I, like many of you, am looking forward to spring practice which will culminate with a much-anticipated Spring Football Game on Saturday, April 19. In fact, mark your calendars not only for that date, but keep open Friday evening, April 18 as well. Soon we will release details of a major Georgia Tech event to celebrate our spring weekend and formally welcome Coach Johnson and his new staff to Georgia Tech.
Also, more dates to be aware of per D-Rad:
Our February social calendar is loaded as well, as Georgia Tech will be well-represented at a number of functions. Our signing day celebration on Wednesday February 6th will take place at Opera - a fun and historic midtown club at Crescent and 14th Street, near the Four Seasons Hotel. Festivities run from 6-8 p.m. with Coach Johnson and his assistants filling us in on our 2008 recruiting class. Don't forget our annual baseball leadoff dinner with Chipper Jones as guest speaker will be held February 9th at the Georgia Tech Hotel. I will lead a delegation at the Atlanta Sports Awards banquet on Monday, February 11 at the Fox Theater and again at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame dinner at Cobb Galleria on February 16.
PRANK CALLS
Evidently the conferences are getting a rash of prank calls, like this one recently addressed to Paul Hewitt during an ACC teleconference:
Morrison's recent brush with a similar but unrelated call came from someone posing as a reporter for the Technician, the N.C. State school newspaper. In a serious tone, the caller asked Georgia Tech basketball coach Paul Hewitt if he was concerned that his powerful center, Jeremis Smith, would eat North Carolina All-American Tyler Hansbrough.PYSCO-T
After the caller repeated the question, Hewitt curtly replied, "Next question."
Look, I admire Tyler Hansbrough's game, grit and determination as the next guy. I absolutely like the drive and intensity with which he plays. If our post players consistently played with his level of effort, we might be staring at a few more wins this season.
Having said that, this article is typical of stuff you can read or hear about TH on a regular basis. It's all about his toughness, and how he withstands major abuse from opposing teams on a regular basis:
"How does he not want to throw punches at people?" Sahratian asked. "We played Georgia Tech, and after the game, he looked like he was in a UFC fight. ... He's kind of like a machine. The more you hit him, it feeds him. He channels that anger by getting more points and rebounds."
Listen, GT is a very physical team. We all get that. Don't expect to get too many easy layups against us, ok? We all understand that. But understand this - Tyler Hansbrough initiates contact. He invites contact. He is the aggressor. Just watch one of his games sometime. His game is a physical bruising game - initiated by him - not by his opponents. The guy scraps. The guy pushes. The guy bangs. The guy commits a ton of offensive fouls that don't get called. Why? Well, partly because of the respect he has from everyone. He hustles and he's earned it.
However, he also has good technique. In that game UNC lost to Maryland, I happened to catch one of those offensive fouls that was not called, but resulted in an easy layup for TH. He used his lower body and hip-checked the defender out of the way - even though that defender had perfect, stationary defensive post position. The result was that the defender didn't have that typical "flop" from the upper body down that gets called all the time as an offensive foul. It was more like he had his legs taken out from under him. It worked. A no call and an easy 2 points for UNC.
Again - I respect the heck out of the way he plays. He gets more out of his physical ability than most anyone - and probably works harder at it. But don't sit here and convince me I should be all empathetic about the fact he gets bruised and bloodied. It's the way HE plays the game. Believe me, if we face an opponent who plays the same way, there's a good chance that guy's gonna get hurt too.
JAYBO SHAW - STANDING OUT
GT QB recuit Jaybo Shaw has what one Rivals.com writer calls one one of the best 5 personal high school game performances he saw all season.
This son of a head coach put on a performance against Gainesville on October 12 that Houdini would have been proud of. Down by as many as three touchdowns in the first half, Shaw personally brought his team back for a 49-38 victory. The Gainesville defense had Shaw trapped in the backfield on numerous occasions only to watch him escape time and time again.
Shaw ended the evening with 230 yards rushing and four touchdowns to go along with 170 yards passing and another score. If the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are looking for a player that can make things happen with his mind, body and soul then they have found their quarterback of the future.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW - BILL O'BRIEN
Remember O'Brien when he was at GT? Well, did you know that he is now an "offensive assistant" with the New England Patriots, and is helping prepare for a SuperBowl?
UZZI TO THE PROM?
From the football recruiting world, evidently the only thing missing for recruit O.Uzzi is flowers.
Coaches from Georgia Tech and Virginia used in-school visits on Wednesday to explain to Chamblee offensive lineman Omoregie Uzzi why he should commit to their programs.
“Tech came in the morning and Virginia came in the afternoon,” Chamblee coach Jim Showfety said. “It’s almost funny hearing these sales pitches.
“The guy from Virginia was down in my office and, I tried to stay out of it, but I could hear what he was saying. It’s like a guy trying to convince the girl to go to the prom with him.”