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Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

Tackling remains emphasized in practices

ATLANTA — As far as tackling, Dave Wommack had seen better — much better.

“We tackled so poorly in the first half it was unbelievable,” Georgia Tech’s defensive coordinator said following Saturday’s 56-31 win over Vanderbilt. “We had guys looking like they were diving for quarters out in the middle of the field; it was that bad.”

With Vanderbilt receivers and backs sprinting past the Yellow Jackets’ attempts at stopping them, the Commodores struck for 28 points and one of their most prolific offensive outings of the year after just two quarters of play.

But after Georgia Tech’s coaches impressed a sense of tackling urgency at halftime, the Yellow Jackets defense buckled down and held Vanderbilt to just three second-half points.

Still, the tackling issue has rankled head coach Paul Johnson, and it has even caught notice from out-of-state media.

During Wednesday morning’s ACC coaches teleconference, Johnson was asked about the importance of stressing tackling drills in practices. A North Carolina-based reporter phrased the inquiry by also mentioning a story released by The Associated Press on Tuesday that argued NFL tackling is down because professional teams don’t practice it.

“That’s one of the fundamental skills. A lot of people don’t tackle now because of the salary cap,” Washington Redskins safeties coach Steve Jackson said in the article. “You lose a guy because of a tackling drill, you’re the dumbest guy on the planet.”

So do the Yellow Jackets practice it?

Johnson said his staff places an emphasis on tackling in practices but has it slightly altered most days so as not to hurt starters.

“We try to do a tackling circuit on defense about every day, and once you’re into the season, you’re tackling the guys on the scout team,” he said. “It might not be a full-speed, open field tackle, but there’s several different stations that we go through and we try to touch on it every day if we can.”

JERSEY SAGA

Earlier this week, it was reported that Wake Forest planned to wear its white road jerseys when it visited Bobby Dodd Stadium on Saturday.

That might not sound like a big deal, but it does change things a bit for Georgia Tech.

After Georgia Tech officials learned of Wake Forest’s decision, they were forced to dig around for their own team’s dark alternate pants and tops — combinations that have hardly been used.

Only once in the past two seasons — since Russell Athletic designed new Yellow Jackets uniforms — has the team worn a dark-colored jersey. It came during last December’s Chick-fil-A Bowl loss to LSU. Opting to buck national trends and wear all white for home games, the Yellow Jackets have not appeared in any other color during a regular-season game since Johnson took over the program.

“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,’ ” Johnson said.

But the Demon Deacons’ selection throws an unexpected wrinkle into Johnson’s plans this week. Most teams typically submit to Georgia Tech’s home wishes and wear their own dark-colored jerseys when they visit Atlanta.

Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe was asked about his insistence on wearing white uniforms on the road.

“Sometimes my concern, especially playing South, is the black’s hotter than the white jerseys, so I really never know what kind of weather I’m going to get,” Grobe said. “But I really try to stay out of that loop; I just let the players decide.”

No announcement on the gold- or blue-colored uniforms Georgia Tech will wear has been made.

GAINING NOTORIETY

On Sunday, Duke and North Carolina learned that their game at the Tar Heels’ Kenan Stadium was going to be changing channels.

Moved from the Web-only ESPN360.com, the contest will be featured on the television-based ESPNU. ESPN’s college specific station, the switch provides greater access to viewers across the country and could be a sign that both programs — particularly Duke’s — are beginning to gain national attention.

Blue Devils head coach David Cutcliffe seems to think so,and believes this weekend’s switch is just another positive example of how his team is gaining attention.

“That’s a good thing for our conference, our team, North Carolina. Both of us have good records, so I think we earned that opportunity,” Cutcliffe said. “It’s a big deal to our kids because quite frankly, we haven’t had a ton of exposure.”

A program that had a combined eight wins the previous five seasons, Duke has been the ACC’s Cinderella story this season, carrying a 5-3 overall and 3-1 ACC record into this weekend’s game. Georgia Tech’s opponent Nov. 14, Duke is hoping to thwart the Yellow Jackets’ almost probable run to the ACC title game.

QUICK HITS

Georgia Tech leads the ACC in time of possession, retaining the ball an average 35:22 per game. Wake Forest is second in the conference at 32:08. ... The two programs first met in 1917, with the Yellow Jackets leading the all-time series 20-8. ... Johnson is 0-2 to Wake Forest, losing to the Demon Deacons when he coached Navy in 2002 and 2007. ... Under Grobe, Wake Forest is 47-15 when scoring 24 or more points in a game.