Great story on Paul Johnson from todays Pigskin Preview

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hiveredtech

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Great story on Paul Johnson & team from todays Pigskin Preview

Football season cannot get her soon enough!!!

Rivals Kelly Quinlan and AJC's Ken Segura were the only ones there today to cover GT football...I guess the stories about the Macon Telegraph dumping GT are true since the festivities were held in Macon!

Anyway...this story is complimentary if you follow the link.

COMING UP OVER THE NEXT 7 DAYS:
- 2-part exclusive interview with Paul Johnson
- Pre-Camp coverage for GT football camp this wkd
- Camp coverage & summaryfor GT football camp this wkd
- Regular recruiting updates

Follow think link to "Johnson Talks Pigskin": http://georgiatech.rivals.com/
 
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TheTaxJacket said:
Good read, kind of encouraging. Thanks for the heads up.
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Another note that Kelly put on the message board that was not in the article was that CPJ confirmed Corey Dennis will start out at WR and Jamal Golden at CB. We also already know that Darren Waller will be starting out at WR (6-5, 225, 4.42).
The article does state that Desmond Smith will start out at QB.
 
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CPJ seemed to put a lot more of last year on his own shoulders than I've heard before.
 
Demon Smith will get a look at QB in the fall?

Maybe I spaced that, but I figured we had him slotted for another position.
 
beej67 said:
Demon Smith will get a look at QB in the fall?

Maybe I space that, but I figured we had him slotted for another position.
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He will end up at DB most likely...eventually.

The big decision will be how much time Vad Lee spends getting ready for our offense...or does he run the scout team. Should Vad not be anywhere close to ready, he could end up running the scout team which would free up Desmond for DB.

Typically 3 QB's prepare for game day and 1 runs scout team.

CCK thinks Desmond can be an outstanding DB.
 
From AJC report:

Tech B-back Preston Lyons on the team’s summer workouts:
“The attitude’s definitely changed. I don’t think anyone has missed a workout or running session the entire summer. We’ve only been going four weeks. Hopefully we can keep it going the next few weeks.”
 
At my age, I barely look at preseason comments from either coaches or players. Too generic..."we are working hard","excited about the upcoming season", " we have identified areas of improvement and are working to fix them", "focus on fundamentals", etc. Regardless of players, coaches, reporters, etc. the content remains the same. Of course I understand why....if you are not positive now, when will you be? I used to mine these articles looking for insight and analysis but not so much anymore. there appears to be zero correlation to offseason comments and actual results come the fall. results vary, offseason comments are a constant.
 
what i took from the article, football is right around the corner and CPJ is still the MAN!
 
B said:
At my age, I barely look at preseason comments from either coaches or players. Too generic..."we are working hard","excited about the upcoming season", " we have identified areas of improvement and are working to fix them", "focus on fundamentals", etc. Regardless of players, coaches, reporters, etc. the content remains the same. Of course I understand why....if you are not positive now, when will you be? I used to mine these articles looking for insight and analysis but not so much anymore. there appears to be zero correlation to offseason comments and actual results come the fall. results vary, offseason comments are a constant.
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I mostly agree with you, but there is one gleeming nugget in this article. We are much improved in attitude, work ethic and chemistry in offseason workouts. Yes these are immeasurable items, but highly underrated ones. If you ask Jeremiah McClary what the biggest factor(s) was in their success in 1990, he'll tell you the items I listed above.
 
dressedcheeseside said:
I mostly agree with you, but there is one gleeming nugget in this article. We are much improved in attitude, work ethic and chemistry in offseason workouts. Yes these are immeasurable items, but highly underrated ones. If you ask Jeremiah McClary what the biggest factor(s) was in their success in 1990, he'll tell you the items I listed above.
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dcs, I am a bit of a naysayer due to my age perhaps. I think players and coaches always attribute poor performance to mental aspects of the game and never to insufficient physical talent. it's a way of saving face maybe, I don't really know.

I don't discount that mental toughness and chemistry aren't a part of the game.i'm saying that I believe these comments based only on the performance in the fall and not from offseason comments.

Have you ever given many performance reviews? people will generally fault external factors for performance issues, never their own abilities (or lack thereof). Even when they have peers with similar tasks and assignments who are performing at a much higher level. Very few people are capable imo of honest and critical self assesment and that would be especially true of young men 18 - 22 who have generally been succesful during their football careers.

I am not saying that people can't improve...I'm saying that 100% of the time they will say they will improve when asked about their previous underperformance and of course that isn't always the case. again, i admit to being a skeptic...whether that has come with age or experience I can't say for sure.
 
Naturally I liked what PJ said since it confirmed what I think about last year. Last year, we were digging our way out of the early season funk and were ready to go when we went to VT. Had Nesbitt completed the VT game and the season, there is a pretty good chance we wind up with wins over VT and uga. We never have a large margin for error, were already undermanned with the loss of the four underclassmen, and then the starting qb goes down with uga, Miami, and half of the VT game to go, two of those on the road. Everybody became a little more tight and timid, and the mistakes and turnovers multiplied. Any doubt that Auburn or uga would have hit the skids if their qb's had gone down at the same point in the season?

Johnson held it together as best he could, was disappointed that some of the team lost focus and motivation at that point, and has worked to instill a better attitude and toughness in the current players. I am convinced the offensive and defensive strategies are where they need to be. The next thing to be developed is the mental toughness and confidence of the players, not always an easy thing to predict as you are dealing with 18-21 year olds, and a fresh crop of 18 year olds each year at that. But Johnson (and Groh) has done it in the past, and will again.
 
dressedcheeseside said:
I mostly agree with you, but there is one gleeming nugget in this article. We are much improved in attitude, work ethic and chemistry in offseason workouts. Yes these are immeasurable items, but highly underrated ones. If you ask Jeremiah McClary what the biggest factor(s) was in their success in 1990, he'll tell you the items I listed above.
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WooHoo!! I expect nothing less than a NC this year!! :hsdance:

I have a little tidbit on Preston Lyons.....his dad told someone I know very well that Preston is the healthiest he has been since sophomore year in high school. Apparently, he has had shoulder issues since then and had an operation to rectify.......I hope he does great.....as he is a really great kid.
 
B said:
dcs, I am a bit of a naysayer due to my age perhaps. I think players and coaches always attribute poor performance to mental aspects of the game and never to insufficient physical talent. it's a way of saving face maybe, I don't really know.

I don't discount that mental toughness and chemistry aren't a part of the game.i'm saying that I believe these comments based only on the performance in the fall and not from offseason comments.

Have you ever given many performance reviews? people will generally fault external factors for performance issues, never their own abilities (or lack thereof). Even when they have peers with similar tasks and assignments who are performing at a much higher level. Very few people are capable imo of honest and critical self assesment and that would be especially true of young men 18 - 22 who have generally been succesful during their football careers.

I am not saying that people can't improve...I'm saying that 100% of the time they will say they will improve when asked about their previous underperformance and of course that isn't always the case. again, i admit to being a skeptic...whether that has come with age or experience I can't say for sure.
Click to expand...

Again, I agree. I didn't say the intangibles were everything or even the biggest thing. If you have good players and coaches, it can be the thing that gets you over the hump, or in our case last year, under it. The loss of very good players before and during the season(Nesbitt) had more to do with it, like you say. The poor attitude, ethic, chemistry was the icing on the cake.
 
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