Behind Dwyer at B-back will be red-shirt sophomore Preston Lyons. He sat out last season after transferring from Colgate University, but has looked very impressive in fall practice. Lyons follows his blockers well and will provide Dwyer with a capable back-up that Tech lacked last year. He is also a decent receiver and has showed that he can be a lethal weapon on screen passes.

The Yellow Jackets have the most depth at any position on the team at A-back. The top returning rusher is red-shirt sophomore, Roddy Jones. Jones seemed to get more and more comfortable with the offense as the season progressed last year and finished with 690 rushing yards on only 81 carries. This amounted to an average of 8.5 yards per carry, which was easily the best in the ACC among the top 20 rushers in the league. Jones picked the best possible time for a break out game last season, galloping for 214 yards against UGA. This is turned out to be the most rushing yards ever by a Tech running back against UGA. Unfortunately, Jones injured his wrist during a freak accident at the start of fall camp and he will not be available for the opening game this year. However, he was able to participate in certain drills during fall practice and should be ready for Tech’s first ACC opponent, Clemson, in a nationally televised Thursday night game.

Jones’ initial absence will give the other projected starter, Anthony Allen, a chance to showcase his talent in the opener. Allen is a red-shirt Junior that sat out last season after transferring from Louisville. He is a running back with game breaking potential and he set a single game rushing record of 275 yards while at Louisville. Allen has shown great vision during fall practices and he also has a large repertoire of jukes and spin moves to choose from. He will make some defenders look silly this year, this is a certainty. Allen also has great hands out of the backfield and I anticipate that he will go for at least 1,000 yards combined rushing and receiving.

The other plug in starter while Jones is injured will be Embry Peeples. Peeples is a very quick running back that gained valuable experience last year in the offense as a true freshman. He will likely see significant playing time this season along with his teammate Marcus Wright. Wright is a very similar back, but with even more speed out of the backfield. He came to Tech as a Parade All-American in high school after rushing for 3,374 yards and 45 touchdowns as a senior! Wright also played last year as a true freshman and will look to build on that effort this season. He is a sneaky option as a pass receiver, often getting wide open down field because the defense has a tough time spotting him coming out of the backfield.
Lucas Cox will be another key reserve at A-back that has a completely different style compared to the other A-backs. Cox is a jack of all trades who at 245 pounds has the size to play B-back, but also the agility to make an impact at A-back. The red-shirt junior was the third leading running back on the team last season with 200 yards rushing on only 26 carries. He also has very good hands and will be a strong option in the passing game. He is also probably the best blocking running back on the team.

The final player that has made a big splash during fall practice is true freshman Orwin Smith. He is not a very flashy runner, but Smith will put his head down and lower the boom on opposing defenders. He had a couple of highlight runs during fall scrimmage and if he shows a little more consistency within the offense, he should see the field at some point this season.

The left tackle position is between returning starter Nick Claytor and senior Brad Sellers. Sellers is a much smaller lineman weighing in a little over 250 pounds compared to Claytor who weighs in a little over 300 pounds. However, CPJ actually prefers quicker lineman that can get down low to make cut blocks on defenders, which can give a smaller lineman the advantage. Sellers looks to have the advantage over Claytor at the moment for the starting nod after a solid fall practice campaign, but both players will see significant playing time. Claytor came to Tech as a nationally ranked offensive lineman out of high school and started the final five games last year as a red-shirt freshman after two of Tech’s starting linemen were injured for the season.

Austin Barrick was the other beneficiary of injuries to Tech’s lineman last season which allowed him to start the final three games of the season at right tackle. Barrick is a red-shirt junior that converted into an offensive lineman after initially starting at tight end in 2007. He will be backed up by red-shirt freshman, Phil Smith. Smith is very athletic for a player his size and will likely blossom into one of Tech’s better lineman in the next couple of years.

The right guard position will be manned by returning starter, Joseph Gilbert. As a red-shirt freshman last season, Gilbert gained valuable experience by starting in all but one game. Behind Gilbert is highly touted freshman, Omoregie Uzzi, who red-shirted last season. Uzzi is another talented young player that will develop into a great player as he gains experience in the offense.

Center is another toss up between returning starter Dan Voss and red-shirt junior Sean Bedford. Voss is a veteran on the team after starting every game last year and the final 7 games from the season prior to that. Nevertheless, the senior has been rotating first string snaps with Bedford, who has played himself into contention. Bedford is a former walk-on that has a legitimate possibility to overtake Voss as the starter even though they will both see a lot of playing time this year.

At the other starting safety spot will be sophomore, Cooper Taylor. As a true freshman last season Taylor showed some serious playmaking ability, especially against FSU which turned out to be a break-out game for him. He demonstrated his athleticism in that game when he alertly picked off a pass and then nearly returned it for a touchdown. Eventually he made the game saving tackle down at the goal line by putting his helmet on the ball in order to force a fumble that ultimately sealed FSU’s fate. He finished the season second best on the team in tackles with 69 total, despite the fact that he only started in 3 games. The coaches could not overlook his talent and experimented with him at the wolf position during fall practice in order to keep both of their starting safeties from last season (Burnett and Reese) in tact. This did not work out as anticipated and Taylor was moved back to his natural safety spot. He has also been clocked as the fastest player on the team and will look to use that speed covering ground on the opposing team.

Dominique Reese started every game last year at safety and had a solid season racking up 44 tackles and 3 interceptions. This year, however, he will start the season on the bench and provide Tech with a more than capable back-up for both the safety and wolf position. He will still see significant playing time and will contribute heavily to the defensive production. The remainder of the back-ups at safety are very inexperienced and true freshman Jemea Thomas has won the other second string position. Thomas came to Tech as an A-back, but quickly switched over to defense and has had an immediate impact. He looked impressive during fall practice and showed off some vicious hitting ability that will be much more useful against the opposing team.

Tech doesn’t have as much talent at cornerback compared to at safety, but does return two starters from last season. Mario Butler is a Junior from Florida that produced last year with 41 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and an interception. He will look to improve upon last season and work to become the true shut-down corner that Tech has been lacking for several seasons now.

Rashaad Reid started on the opposite side last year as a true freshman, but it looks as if Jerrard Tarrant will begin this season as the starter. Tarrant was actually slated to start over Reid last year before he was suspended indefinitely due to a legal issue. Tarrant is a physically stronger player than Reid and he looked like the best cornerback out of everybody during fall practice. He positions himself well and should have a decent amount of opportunities for interceptions this season.

This leaves Reid as the odd man out, but Tech will again have the luxury of rotating an experienced player into the game for nickel packages and also to spell the starters. Reid was named by some publications as a freshman All-American last season after logging 45 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and 3 interceptions. It will be interesting to see how often he is used and who ends up being the starter for the majority of the reps the season. Tech faces a similar predicament as they do at the safety position as there is not much experience beyond the first reserve. Martin Frierson is senior that has never started in a game, but does see game action on special teams. Rod Sweeting is a true freshman that played well during fall practice and has a good chance to overtake Frierson as the other primary back-up by the end of the season.

As it stands, the starting linebackers will be Sedric Griffin and Kyle Jefferson. Griffin played in every game last season and has been making steady progress over his career building up to this, his senior year. He is the hardest hitter on the team and made several bone shattering tackles throughout the course of fall practice that looked like they belonged in the SEC rather than the ACC. Griffin is coming off of a solid season where he garnered 53 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, and 3 sacks. Those totals were all best or second best among the linebackers on the team, but he will need to nearly double his total this season if he expects to achieve his goal of All-ACC.

Jefferson is another solid, hard-hitting linebacker with a lot of potential. He showed some signs of stardom as a true freshman in 2007, but then unfortunately was hit with the injury bug at the beginning of last year, which he never fully recovered from. However, he did demonstrate his play making ability towards the end of last season with strong games against UNC and UGA. This has carried over into spring and fall practices this season and he has emerged as a leader on the defense. Jefferson is a strong candidate for a break out season where he finally realizes his full potential.

Kyle Jackson’s presence will be missed, especially if he is out for an extended period of time. Jackson was the third best tackler on the team last year with 61 tackles and his average of 5.1 tackles per game was the second best in the ACC among freshman linebackers. His talent cannot be ignored and he will push Jefferson or Griffin for the starting job when he is back to full speed. If anything, depending on the performance of the wolf position, he might force the coaches to make a defensive adjustment in order to include him on the field at the same time along with Jefferson and Griffin. Regardless, when healthy he is a very capable back-up to Jefferson or Griffin.

Steven Sylvester is another young linebacker that contributed as a back-up last year as a true freshman. He made some good plays in fall practice and is a player that will be waiting in the wings for his opportunity to shine. If not this year, he will be a force to reckon with in his junior season after Griffin graduates. BJ Machen and Malcolm Munroe are two highly touted, athletic red-shirt freshmen that will be grooming their skills for the future.

The wolf position is a hybrid linebacker that also has the ability to play safety in pass coverage if needed. Linebacker Anthony Barnes and Safety Dominique Reese will rotate in and out of the position. Barnes is much stronger and will likely play the majority of the snaps, unless it is a passing situation, where Reese will be on the field. Barnes is another player that showed some potential as a red-shirt freshman before a sophomore season last year that was riddled with injuries. He has since slimmed down and spent a lot of time working on his pass defense so that he can play the wolf position effectively.

Reese is a returning starter at safety that looked to be slotted to start again this year until an injury during fall practice set him back. That combined with a failed experiment with Cooper Taylor at the wolf position eventually led to Taylor’s promotion to starting safety in Reese’s absence. As a result, Reese will be a back-up safety and a situational starter. His position has been referred to by teammates as the “husky” because he isn’t quite strong enough to be a wolf. He could also be identified as the 12th starter, because he started every game last year and will be the first person off of the bench on most occasions.

Behind Barnes will be former Virginia Tech transfer, Mario Edwards and trailing Reese will be Rashaad Reid. Edwards was a key-back up last year and his role will remain the same this season. He is a versatile player that can play the wolf position or in the secondary. Reid is a player that started last year as a true freshman and will likely play a much more significant role as a back-up or starting cornerback.

Overall I think that our linebackers are in good shape. Injuries do concern me though as both Jefferson and Barnes missed significant time last season and of course Jackson is injured at the moment. The secondary would be stretched very thin if Reese, Edwards, or Reid were forced into significant action at the wolf position. It will also be interesting to see how the role of the wolf position develops as the season roles along. Nevertheless, if Jefferson and Griffin are able to stay healthy they should lead the team in tackles. It’s hard to imagine both of our safeties leading the team in tackles again this year like Morgan Burnett and Cooper Taylor did last season.

Tech will see its biggest losses along the defensive line, where they lose 3 out of their 4 starters. Last year Georgia Tech benefited from an experienced defensive line that was widely regarded as one of the best in the nation. Michael Johnson was an All-American and Darryl Richard and Vance Walker were named to the All-ACC team and all three players were also drafted into the NFL. The new defense will be tasked to replace a combined output of 36 tackles for loss, 16 sacks, and 4 forced fumbles by those three players alone!

Luckily, the lone returning starter is Derrick Morgan, who had a great season in his own right, but did not get the publicity that the other three players did. He looks to build an outstanding sophomore season where he finished with 9.5 tackles for loss, 7 sacks, 4 fumble recoveries, and a blocked kick. Don’t forget that the blocked kick came as the clock expired against Gardner-Webb to seal the victory for Tech. Morgan will see double teams this season that he did not face last year, but he is still primed for a huge year and by the end of the season he will be discussed as a potential candidate for the NFL draft. He showed impressive quickness, agility, and lateral speed for a defensive end during fall practice and he also has one of those motors that just doesn’t quit.

At the other defensive end spot will be red-shirt junior, Robert Hall, who gained valuable experience last season by playing and contributing in every game. Hall is more than capable of holding his own and will be expected to step up and produce this year, especially since he will likely only have one blocker to beat in order to get into the backfield.

Junior Anthony Egbuniwe and true freshman Izaan Cross will back up Morgan and Hall. Egbuniwe has limited playing experience, but looked impressive during fall practice and plays with the type of passion and emotion that gets the crowd fired up. Cross has been arguably the most impressive freshman from this year’s class and his strong play has secured him the other reserve spot. Cross has a very mature body and attitude for someone his age. He will see significant playing time this season and have an immediate impact on the defense.

The defensive tackles will more than likely be Tech’s biggest weakness on defense. Both starters, Ben Anderson and Jason Peters, did not play very much last season and are undersized for the position, weighing in at 274 pounds and 272 pounds respectively. Most offensive lineman that they face will have at least a 30 pound mass advantage. Jason Peters came in as a freshman as a highly ranked defensive end, but may struggle some this season adjusting to the switch to defensive tackle.

Tech does have some decent back-ups at the position in Logan Walls and TJ Barnes, who will both likely play just as much time as the starters. Barnes is an absolute monster, standing at 6’-7” and 353 pounds, but has never played a down in a college football game. He red-shirted as a freshman last season due to the depth along the defensive line, but still was able to practice with the team. In doing so, he caused huge problems for the running game of the offense while participating on the defensive scout team. I look for him to do more of the same this season during live game situations and opposing teams will have an extreme difficulty time moving him off of the ball. Barnes can also be beneficial in the passing game by deflecting passes at the line of scrimmage with his huge reach. Barnes should start by the end of the season and the only flaw in his game ironically is his size itself, as he is easily fatigued and needs to sit out more than other players.

Our defensive line will do well this season getting pressure on the opposing quarterbacks due to the experience and talent that we retained at defensive end. Stopping the run will be another story and I worry about the defensive tackles being pushed around by some of the monster offensive lineman that they will face. However, TJ Barnes will be in the mix and he can probably play both defensive tackle positions by himself. Therefore, the biggest concern with this unit is actually depth – or lack there of. If any of the starters goes down for an extended period of time, there is not much experience to speak of behind them. The second string defensive line has a lot of potential, but nothing to back it up with as of yet. Nonetheless, I think that having an impact player like Derrick Morgan terrorizing the opponent’s quarterback is a key to every solid defense. Throw in a monster like TJ Barnes to clog up the middle and that is a formula for success.

The first unit started off well by gaining a first down after three consecutive run plays. Nesbitt then scampered for 15 yards after he could not find a receiver open, including a great cutback to elude Jefferson. Nesbitt called his own number on a triple option play, gaining 20 yards to move the ball all the way to the 20 yard line. A toss sweep to Peeples went for 10 yards and another first down before the defense decided that they had taken enough abuse. Jefferson stood Dwyer up for a short gain up the middle followed by another short gain by Nesbitt down to the 5 yard line. Nesbitt rolled to his left on a third and goal passing play, but the play was defended well by the secondary. He eventually ran out of space along the sidelines before accepting a 5 yard loss. Blair came in on 4th down to nail a 27 yard field goal.

The second unit came out with authority after Marcus Wright took a toss sweep around the right side for a tough 8 yard gain. It took nearly 3 defenders to stop his momentum, but the little guy still would not go down. He finished the play by shouldering Martin Frierson to the…

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Drills began today with some punt returns on special teams. It didn’t take long for Coach Monken to tear into the blockers for running too slow ahead of the punt returner. At one point Tarrant ran ahead of both of his blockers and coach asked his blockers who they could possibly be blocking behind the return man. He stressed not looking at the ball while the punter was receiving it, but instead looking up the field for whom to block. In one on one drills Bay-Bay performed well today including a nice deep over the shoulder catch. Cone made a nice catch from Tevin and Peeples also caught one deep down the field after beating the linebacker.

In the first scrimmage of the day, Watson started things off with a big run up the center of the field. Lyons was not to be outdone, however, as he followed suit with a nice run of his own up the middle, including a quick cut back move in the hole to give himself an open lane to run through. Jaybo made an excellent read on a pass down the sidelines that had the cornerback completely fooled on the play for an easy touchdown. Dwyer had his first highlight in awhile on a pitch play where he was able to turn the corner due to a nice block by Peeples. The defense made some plays too, but the story of this segment was the run blocking of the offensive line. Cox was also able to find a big hole up the middle followed by an easy Nesbitt run for a long gain.

Tevin and Jaybo were very efficient during seven on seven drills, but for the second straight day a lot of good throws were wasted by 6 dropped passes. One great thing to watch was the chemistry between Nesbitt and Bay-Bay. All four of Nesbitt’s completions went to Bay-Bay on a variety of short to intermediate routes. His best highlight came on a perfectly thrown sideline pass where Bay-Bay was able to secure the ball along the sidelines and then have the awareness to drag his foot in bounds. Sims did not have his best of days and his body language reflected this as he was slow in getting the offense to the line of scrimmage. CPJ noticed and became angry about half way through, yelling, “Break the huddle and run to the line!” This seemed to light a fire under Sims, who responded with two of his best long passes to date. The first was dropped by Moore, but on the second Godhigh made a spectacular over the shoulder catch deep down the field for a touchdown. The defense was not to be outshined during this drill. They had several highlights, including a nice break-up by none other than The Predator, Morgan Burnett. Coop also showed some great closing speed on a ball over the middle that he almost anticipated soon enough to intercept. Jemea Thomas made a nice play on Hill to slap the ball out of his hands before he could tuck it to his body. On the last play of the drill, Thomas had an opportunity to level Jamal Paige over the middle, but this time wisely held up. Thomas is another freshman in the secondary that has looked impressive and his aggressive play should result in some playing time at some point this season.

During the final scrimmage of the day there was once again solid play on both sides of the ball. Bay-Bay continued to have a stellar practice on the receiving end, making a great catch on a deep ball down the sidelines from Nesbitt. Osahon Tongo then made a great play on defense to get his hands up at the line of scrimmage to bat down an attempted pass. Nesbitt countered with a great pass to Cone on a timing route along the sidelines. B.J. Machen read the next play well and had great containment to earn the sack on Nesbitt. The defensive line sitting out the play could be heard yelling at freshman Emmanuel Dieke to inform him what to look for based on the offensive set. Dieke, who inherited Michael Johnson’s old jersey number of 93, has also apparently acquired the nickname “Too Tall” due to his height (6’-6”). It’s great to see this camaraderie and leadership on the field amongst players, especially between veterans and freshmen. Nesbitt made a great read on another crossing route to Cox where the blocking opened things up nicely for a long gain. Nesbitt forced one bad pass at the end of the scrimmage that was picked by The Predator, but overall he looked pretty good.

The drill that I watched today was one for the defensive lineman. They had to weave between a serious of blocking pads lined up on the ground and then at the end swipe the ball out of the quarterback’s throwing hand. I enjoyed this drill because the quarterback should fumble every single time when he is sacked from the blind side and this needs to be drilled into the defensive lineman’s head. In the towel drill today, Stephen Hill performed well with some aggressive blocking on the cornerback. Bay-Bay stood out during one on one drills by once again driving the cornerback about 5 yards off of him before breaking back to the ball for the easy reception. He also caught a long pass where he was able to position his body well to shield the cornerback and then make the tough over the shoulder grab.

Jaybo returned to practice today and made his presence known during the first scrimmage of the day with a nice touchdown pass to Jonathan Malone. The offensive line looked good and bad, opening up a huge hole for Nesbitt on one play for long yards, but then the center bumped into Nesbitt on another play for a loss of yards. Lyons had a nice tough run up the middle where he dragged the linebacker for 5 extra yards. Quentin Sims made a nice juke move on an end around to avoid a potentially big loss after Egbuniwe read the play well. Tevin fumbled a snap from center that was recovered by the defense, which always frustrates me more than anything. Orwin Smith caught a pitch around the right side and showed nice cutting ability to gain some extra yards on the play. He is a pretty good looking freshman with the ball in his hands, but my guess is that he will red shirt due to the depth that we already have at A-back.

Nesbitt performed well during seven on seven drills and if it weren’t for two dropped passes, he would have almost been perfect on the drill. Marcus Wright looked good today, disappearing behind the linebackers for two easy receptions from Nesbitt. Wright also got wide open down the field for a potential touchdown but Nesbitt overthrew him by just one or two steps. Nesbitt did, however, throw 3 absolutely perfect deep passes, two of which were dropped by Bay-Bay and Cone respectively. Cone did avenge this drop to a certain degree by catching the other deep pass that Nesbitt completed. Jaybo looked a little rusty during this drill, which was to be expected in his first day back on the field since Saturday. Tevin looked about average during the drill. He didn’t do anything special but at the same time he didn’t make any bad decisions either. Tevin had one nice pass over the middle to Godhigh, who made a nice grab on the play. Sims had his best performance yet in this drill, only missing on one of his pass attempts. He threw great tight spiral on a deep ball that was caught by Daniel McKayhan for the touchdown. Hill also got himself open for an easy catch and was seen getting some instruction from Coach Preston on his route running. The biggest play of the drill came when Orwin Smith made a nice catch over the middle but was then leveled by Jemea Thomas to knock the ball loose. The defenders are not supposed to knock anybody to the ground during this drill and after the play was over Thomas was lectured by Coach Wommack.

The final scrimmage was slightly different today as they lined up on the astro turf field for two minute drills. The offense started from their own 30 and had two minutes to go down the field and score. Nesbitt lead the first unit onto the field, but was picked off on a pass that was a little bit high and went off of the fingertips of the intended receiver and into the waiting arms of Cooper. Nesbitt started over and this time managed to get a first down on a good catch by Sims on third and long. Nesbitt followed this up with a great 30 yard completion to Peeples down to the 20 yard line. Sims then caught a 15 yard pass down to the 5 and managed to get out of bounds. Dwyer was then stopped short, followed by a spike of the football to stop the clock, and then another incompletion to set up 4th and goal. Nesbitt did a great job to avoid a sack on 4th down and delivered a good ball to Sims, who tipped the pass in the air to himself and then eventually dropped the easy touchdown.

Jaybo then brought the second unit on the field and was sacked on his first play, but managed to set up a third and 2 after a good pass to MacKayhan along the sidelines. Hill dropped a first down pass, but on fourth down Lyons broke one up the middle for a 30 yard gain. Jaybo then moved then chains on two completions, but eventually was sacked for a huge loss of yards. The offense did not recover and turned the ball over on downs.

Nesbitt, Tevin, and Sims all looked good during seven on seven drills today. Nesbitt did force one bad pass into triple coverage that was intercepted by Jemea Thomas, but otherwise he was very efficient. His best highlight was a touch pass delivered perfectly to Dwyer that was placed directly over the linebacker’s head. Dwyer caught the pass and then it was a footrace to the end zone which we all know that JD does not lose. Cone also had a nice over the shoulder catch on a deep pass from Nesbitt. On another play, Bay-Bay once again was able to get about a 5 yard cushion for the reception and then turn and make a few moves in order to get additional yardage. That is something that we will see a lot of this season. Tevin was flawless during this drill and did not throw a single incompletion (I missed one play but I’ll just assume he completed it). Hill had a nice catch and turn followed by Orwin Smith, who would have made Sportscenter with an outstanding one-handed grab. Sims made great reads again today and he looks better by leaps and bounds when compared to his first few practices. On the defensive side of the ball, Sweeting stood out in passing drills by breaking up a couple of passes. The freshman has stood out so far in practice and he is competing for a second string spot.

The quarterbacks then moved into tighter quarters inside of the red zone and things suddenly did not look so good. Nesbitt threw two interceptions, but one of them wasn’t his fault after it went through Cone’s hands and into Reid’s gloves for the pick. The other was an under thrown pass where Michael Peterson found himself in ideal position for the turnover. One of the only highlights for the offense on this drill was a TD pass from Tevin to Paul Reese. Wright also made a nice catch while taking a hit from the defender on the play.

In the only scrimmage of the day the defense dominated initially, but the offense rebounded to finish strong. Derrick Morgan started things off with a sack on Nesbitt. Barnes got great penetration on the next play which forced Tevin to roll directly into the path of a blitzing Brad Jefferson. Steven Powers and Egbuniwe had two more sacks before the offense was finally able to re-organize. Nesbitt started things off with a perfect pass to Marcus Wright. Hill then caught a pass from Tevin after he was able to get a nice cushion from the defender. Hill then turned, and if it weren’t for the sidelines, would have broken a short gain into a touchdown after a nice stiff arm on the cornerback. Hill would get his touchdown reception only a few plays later after he burned Reid for an easy wide-open grab. Nesbitt’s best pass of the day was also his final pass of the day after he connected with Peeples streaking down the field for a touchdown.

The first scrimmage of the day consisted almost entirely of running plays and the defensive line ate the offensive line’s lunch.  All of the defensive linemen that participated in this drill, including: Barnes, Morgan, Hall, Walls, Tongo, Rocker, Cross, Egbuniwe, Wilson, Lanier, Dieke, Powers, and Crenshaw proved to be immovable objects.  The linebackers also did a great job including a nice play by Cooper to avoid a cut block by Allen to make a play on the running back.  Cooper is a very athletic player that shows good lateral speed, length (6’4” and large wingspan), and natural instincts.  Cooper got some valuable experience last year as a freshman and he is poised to make some game changing plays on defense this season.  Tevin had one decent run and another decent pitch to Malone, but for the most part there was no room to operate as the offensive line got abused.

 The quarterbacks rebounded today and they looked good during seven on seven drills.  The only problem, however, was 7 dropped passes by wide receivers.  Most of the drops were on very catch able balls that just went right through the receiver’s hands.  One ball dropped by Moore was then intercepted by Malcolm Munroe on an amazing shoestring grab.  He didn’t even participate in the tip drill earlier, but that situation is exactly why it is practiced!  Tevin and Nesbitt both threw absolutely perfect deep balls to Fisher and Melton respectively, but both receivers let the ball slip through their hands as it came over their shoulders.  Both plays drew groans from the frustrated crowd in attendance.  Nevertheless, both Fisher and Melton redeemed themselves later in the drill by making two catches on deep passes.  On one of the plays, Coach Preston yelled out to Fisher, “That’s Marietta’s finest on that play!”  Bay-Bay continued to have a great practice receiving the ball, including one play where he burned the corner and then made and amazing cut to stay in bounds and juke the safety for a touchdown.  Cone piggy backed on yesterday’s performance by making another nice grab on a ball thrown high over the middle.  Nesbitt, Tevin, and Sims all made good decisions today and there were only a few passes that were slightly inaccurate.  Nesbitt threw one high to Marcus Wright, which has happened a few times throughout the week.  Wright is so small that the defenders have trouble finding him down the field, but unfortunately our quarterback can’t find him either.  Sims was yelled at for holding the ball too long at one point, but to me he looked better than in previous days.  In other practices he would take off running every other play because he was too scared to look downfield.  At least now he is gaining enough confidence to keep his eyes downfield to look for a receiver.  Tevin had a great pass in traffic where he was able to thread the needle to Quentin Sims, which is the first time I have seen him make that type of tight throw that requires some decent arm strength.

The final scrimmage of the day consisted of mostly passing plays and the offensive line did a great job in pass protection.  This was my first glimpse of how a lethal passing attack might look out of the wishbone and it looked pretty good.  Nesbitt and Bay-Bay continued to be on the same page together as their timing was perfect.  Nesbitt and Allen have also shown pretty good repoire in the passing game.  Today, Allen caught a ball and then immediately made a sweet spin move on the defender.  Allen is one of those players that you design in video games, who has all the moves in his arsenal and somehow knows exactly the right situation to use them.  Tevin got into the zone about mid-way through the scrimmage and it seemed like every decision that he made was the correct one.  Tevin dropped back to pass and could not find anybody so he simply tucked it and scampered up the middle of the field for first down yardage on two consecutive plays.  The defense stayed honest on the next play so he threw right over the top on a great throw to Moore.  Then on the next play Tevin rolled to his right and just before he might have been sacked, he threw the ball back across his body to the only spot that Moore could catch it between two defenders.  The defense did make a few plays including a good deflection by Derrick Morgan on a quick pass into the flat.  Butler also made a textbook one on one defensive play on a deep pass, where he read the receiver’s body language and got his head around just in time to break up the pass.  Antonio Wilson had the only sack during this part of practice.

The practice only lasted less than 2 hours today and CPJ was happy with their performance.  The team should not be as worn out as they were on Monday and I look for them to follow up this morning with a strong practice this evening.