March 29, 2005
ATLANTA–After taking a week off for spring break, the Georgia Tech football team resumed spring practice with a Tuesday afternoon workout in pads, the Yellow Jackets sixth session of the spring.
The practice was also the first “full speed” workout for head coach Chan Gailey, following his March 14th heart attack. Gailey returned to practice later that week, but watched one practice from a golf cart and another from the stands. Today, it was business as usual for Tech’s fourth-year head coach, who noted that his Yellow Jackets looked rusty after the layoff.
“It was very sloppy at the start,” said Gailey. “I thought it picked up, especially on the defensive side, as practice went on. We ran the ball better today than we were before we left, and that was a positive.
“We’re a long way from where we need to be. We still have some things to install, and we’ve not worked two-minute or goal-line yet. We’ll be getting those things in over the next four or five practices.”
At quarterback, returning starter Reggie Ball remains the frontrunner as the Tech coaches continue to evaluate Ball as well as redshirt freshmen Taylor Bennett and Kyle Manley.
“It’s still Reggie one, Taylor two, Kyle three, and we’ve seen improvement out of all three,” said Gailey. “I can’t tell you the gap right now between the three. It’s fairly close, but that’s still the ranking right now.”
Tech is making slow progress on the offensive line, where the Jackets graduated three starters. One of the two returning starters, senior Brad Honeycutt, has moved from guard to tackle, and right guard Mansfield Wrotto is making the transition from defensive tackle.
“We’ve got a lot of athletic talent,” said Gailey. “Our athletes are good on the line, but the cohesiveness and the knowledge of assignments is still behind. A couple of people are playing new spots, so we’ve got some work to do there. That’s the position that in my mind is the furthest behind right now.”
The Jackets continue spring drills this week with workouts scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, weather permitting.
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