Johnson waiting to see about judging his Georgia Tech team

Georgia Tech worked out for the first time in pads Tuesday, meaning it won’t be long until the coaching staff is able to evaluate players and sort out the depth chart.

“We’ll find out once we put the pads on,” head coach Paul Johnson said.

As an example, he pointed out how a year ago the coaching staff had a feeling that Dedrick Mills might be pretty good. That was proven once the true freshman got in full pads and the coaching staff could see his full ability.

“There’s only so much you can do in shells,” Johnson said.

There was more emphasis on throwing the first four days of practice; none of the four quarterback candidates have a great deal of passing experience. But Johnson said that should not be construed as an indication the Yellow Jackets will go to the air more often.

Matthew Jordan remains the No. 1 quarterback. He has shown no physical limitations from his offseason foot surgery, and he has shown good speed. On Tuesday, Jordan completed a screen pass to B-back Kirvonte Benson for big yardage.

But redshirt freshman Lucas Johnson made some big plays, too. He connected with Alan Bussoletti for a long pass completing and broke an option off the right side for a long touchdown.

“They’re competing,” Johnson said. “We’ll start to find out.”

Depending on the progress made by Johnson and Jay Jones, the other redshirt freshman quarterback, the Yellow Jackets could move TaQuon Marshall back to A-back. Marshall played there some as a freshman before shifting back to his natural position of quarterback. That decision would likely be several weeks away.

“We’ve got to make sure we have the right quarterback before we do anything,” Johnson said.

Marshall would add depth to a pretty solid group of A-backs. The starters will be Qua Searcy, Clinton Lynch and J.J. Green, with Nathan Cottrell finally healthy and able to contribute. Omahri Jarrett is the next man up there.

“Nathan had an OK spring,” Johnson said. “He was a little behind, but now he’s to point where he understands and can play full speed. He’s got good speed. He can run.”

Cottrell seemed headed for significant playing time as a freshman when he suffered a knee injury on the eve of the 2015 season. He came back last year and played in 11 games, mostly on special teams, and was the primary kickoff returner for the final six games.

Fan Day

The annual Fan Day will be held Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Admission is free. The event starts at noon with Wreckfest at Callaway Plaza. The North tunnel of the stadium opens at 1 p.m. for fans to enter and concludes at 2:30 p.m.

Fans may request autographs but are asked to limit their request to one per athlete or coach. Officials ask that any item of clothing should be carried and not worn and that any autographs are for personal use only. Parking is available to the Peters Deck, at McCamish Pavilion and on Fowler Street (ER51).

Season opener tickets

The Chick-fil-A Kickoff game between Georgia Tech and Tennessee is officially sold out. But Georgia Tech has a very limited number of tickets from its allotment for the game on Labor Day at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The Yellow Jackets sold its allotment of 30,000 and requested 5,000 additional tickets to meet its demand. A few of those were held back so they could be included in season ticket packages. The remaining tickets for the Tennessee game are only available to those who purchase season tickets, which begin at $300 and include the game against Georgia on Nov. 25.

This story was originally published August 9, 2017 at 7:43 PM with the headline "Johnson waiting to see about judging his Georgia Tech team."