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Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009

Injury bug’s sting could affect Tech o-line

ATLANTA — After 10 straight weeks of knocking around opposing linemen, the grind of a long season has seemed to catch up with some Georgia Tech players.

With bumps and bruises mounting, members of the Yellow Jackets’ offensive line are starting to see more time in the trainer’s room than on the sidelines at the Rose Bowl practice fields.

“We met (Tuesday) morning trying to piece together two (offensive line) groups for practice,” Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson said. “We’re going to have to move some guys around and all of that.”

The unit was the victim of a barrage of minor injuries following Saturday’s physical 56-31 win over Vanderbilt.

While many of the starters are expected to return, some still have a question mark next to their names entering this weekend’s home contest against Wake Forest, Johnson said. For that reason, he and assistants are finding practice and preparation time to be a difficult juggle.

We’re going to have a lot of guys missing practice this week,” Johnson said. “We’ll know later on in the week how many of those guys might miss the game.”

At one point during last week’s win, senior guard Cord Howard left the game with an unspecified injury before returning later on. His was the only readily visible injury during the game.

Johnson went to add that several other players are beat up from having played so many games without a bye week. A scheduling tactic that he isn’t necessarily quick to rethink, Johnson said his teams at Georgia Southern often did not have a bye until the final week of the season because they were trying to catch their rest in time for the FCS playoffs.

“Any time you play 11 straight games, it’s going to be tough and we’re working on No. 10 this week — 10 without a break,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a lot of guys beat up, so it’s a concern.”

UNIFORM UPDATE

There is no real update on what exactly the 10th-ranked Yellow Jackets will be wearing Saturday, per se, but there is an update on what they will not be sporting.

That gold helmet, gold jersey, gold pants combination fans are thinking of? Scrap it. Johnson will not go for it.

“And look like a giant french fry?” he said Tuesday morning, joking when asked about the all-gold setup. “No.”

The uniform question became an issue earlier this week when it was revealed that Wake Forest had requested to wear its white road jerseys for this weekend’s game against the ACC’s Coastal Division-leading Yellow Jackets.

Georgia Tech — which has held the stance of donning white jerseys and white pants for home games since Johnson arrived in Atlanta last season — obliged the Demon Deacons’ request and has since been forced to come up with an alternate. It will mark the first time the team has worn a color other than white for a home contest during Johnson’s tenure.

“I can remember when I was watching Georgia Tech, they always wore white. So when I came here, I thought, ‘We’ll just wear white,’ ” he said. “It seemed to suit everybody, and plus, I won’t have to field any questions about it.”

So just what will Georgia Tech wear? Johnson did not answer that query. Fans will just have to wait to see what the players choose.

“We’ll have one. (But) honestly, I could care less,” Johnson said. “I’ll let the players pick it out. It’s either going to be gold or blue — that’s all we got.”

The Yellow Jackets last wore the blue tops with gold pants last December in their 38-3 Chick-fil-A Bowl blowout loss to LSU. Before that, they wore them against Wake Forest in the 2006 ACC championship game — another loss.

NESBITT FOR HEISMAN?

Johnson was also asked Tuesday whether he felt Georgia Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt was a worthy Heisman Trophy candidate.

Some fans and pundits have suggested that the mobile signal-caller ought to be a late-season entry into the race for one of college football’s highest honors.

“Well he’s played awfully good for us,” Johnson said. “For some of the names that you see thrown out there, that would be great. And I think if he can finish off the year strong and come back then certainly, his name would be there for the next year.”

In nine games, the junior has passed for 1,172 yards, and is responsible for 19 touchdowns — both rushing and passing. Less than 300 yards shy of surpassing the 1,000-yard rushing plateau, Nesbitt may become the first player in Georgia Tech history to rush and pass for more than 1,000 yards in one season.

QUICK HITS

During Georgia Tech’s current six-game winning streak, Nesbitt has averaged 91.7 rushing yards per game and scored 12 touchdowns. ... In that same span, Dwyer has rushed for 736 yards and six touchdowns, including a career-high 186 yards against Vanderbilt last week. ... Georgia Tech ranks first in the ACC in third-down conversions, while Wake Forest ranks third.