Aug. 5, 2003
The play of the Georgia Tech defense continued to be the story of the preaseason as the Yellow Jackets held their fourth workout Tuesday.
The first words from head coach Chan Gailey after Tuesday’s practice were, “The defense flew around.
“They look very sharp for early in practice. We’ve got a lot of speed on the field, and that’s been a very big plus.”
Sophomore strong safety Dawan Landry was one of the standouts of the day with a couple of interceptions. Landry and junior free safety James Butler have stepped into the starting lineup, replacing last year’s graduated starters, Jeremy Muyres and Cory Collins.
“He made a couple of nice plays,” said Gailey of Landry. “Both safeties are athletic, but they’re pretty big and strong, too. I’m pleased to see their progress. They can still work on some things, but they’ve made great progress since they became the starters in spring practice.”
One of the primary emphases of preseason practice is to identify and develop players who can contribute to the team’s depth.
“We’ve got to find guys who not on the first team right now who can play,” said Gailey. “We’re challenging those guys to see if they can step up to the plate and play some snaps for us. Very few times, on defense especially, can every guy go out there and play 70 snaps, so we’re going to have to have some other people play. “
On offense, Gailey says he has been pleased with the effort but not the execution.
“The effort overall is good on both sides,” he said. “I think everybody is flying around. Our execution on offense is not very good.
“Overall, the quarterbacks were more consistent today than yesterday. They did some really good things, especially in seven-on-seven.”
Tech continues preseason drills Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Rose Bowl Field. The first practices in pads are Thursday at 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.
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