Dec. 12, 2003
Georgia Tech true freshmen Reggie Ball and Mansfield Wrotto were named to Freshman All-America teams announced this week by The Sporting News.
Ball, Tech’s starting quarterback and the Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year, was a second-team Freshman All-America, while Wrotto, a starter at defensive tackle, was a third-team selection.
Both players were also named to the magazine’s Freshman All-ACC team.
Ball, from Stone Mountain, Ga. and Stephenson High School, set Tech freshmen records for passing yards (1,980) and total offense (2,372). Ball’s total offense figures ranks as the third-best mark by an ACC freshman signal caller, behind Florida State’s Chris Rix (3,123) and NC State’s Phillip Rivers (2,969). Ball’s passing yardage is fourth, behind Rivers (3,054), Rix (2,734) and Ben Bennett of Duke (1,980).
Wrotto, a 6-3, 300-pounder from Brookwood High in Snellville, Ga., started 11 of 12 games at defensive tackle. He had three tackles for loss, one sack and one fumble recovery.
With fall semester final exams concluded, Tech practiced Friday, the first of nine sessions before Christmas in preparation for the Humanitarian Bowl, in which the Yellow Jackets will face Tulsa Jan. 3 in Boise, Idaho.
Tech will practice daily through Dec. 20 before breaking for the Christmas holiday. The team will return to campus Dec. 27 to continue practicing until departure for Boise on Dec. 30.
said Gailey, who had an opportunity to visit Boise and the famed blue turf at Bronco Stadium on a site visit earlier this week.
Tech (6-6, 4-4 ACC) will be making its seventh consecutive bowl appearance, one of just 12 schools in the nation to do so.
The Jackets and Tulsa (8-4, 6-2 WAC) are meeting for the first time since the 1945 Orange Bowl, which the Golden Hurricane won, 26-12. The previous year the teams squared off in the 1944 Sugar Bowl, with Tech winning, 20-18.
The Jackets have the nation’s third-best winning percentage in bowl games with a 20-11 record (.645), trailing only Oklahoma (23-12-1, .653) and Penn State (23-12-2, .649).
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