March 22, 2003
“I thought the defense flew around really well, and that’s what we’ve got to have,” said Georgia Tech head football coach Chan Gailey after his squad scrimmaged for approximately 80 plays Saturday morning at Bobby Dodd Stadium/Grant Field.
“Our two defensive ends, Tony Hargrove and Eric Henderson, are playing well right now.” continued Gailey following the Jackets’ fifth practice of the spring.
Hargrove, who had two sacks, and Henderson, who recovered a fumble, are among the eight starters returning on a Tech defensive unit that performed well most of last season. Other big plays by the defense included sacks by Keyaron Fox, Chris Reis and Travis Parker, fumble recoveries by Omar Billy and Ather Brown, and an interception returned for a touchdown by cornerback I-Perfection Harris.
“The defense is way ahead of the offense,” Gailey said. “The second offense moved the ball on the second defense, but the first offense could not move the ball on the first defense, and that was disappointing. There were a couple of short drives, but we didn’t finish drives, and that’s something we’ve got to improve on.”
Sophomore quarterback Damarius Bilbo worked exclusively with the first team offense, while A.J. Suggs, Al Pena and Brian Camp each took turns with the second unit.
“I thought we were very erratic at the quarterback position overall,” said Gailey. “The thing that has been hurting us is inconsistency, and that showed today.”
Bilbo was 5-for-10 for 34 yards, including a four-yard touchdown pass to tight end George Cooper in the goal-line drill and had a couple of nice runs, but he was sacked three times. Suggs was 4-for-6 for 34 yards. Pena was 4-for-5 for 28 yards with a four-yard touchdown pass to Brian Johnson in the goal-line session, but his incompletion was an interception returned for a score. Camp hit three of five passes for 23 yards.
On the positive side, running backs P.J. Daniels, Michael Sampson and Ajenavi “Ace” Eziemefe continue to perform well. Daniels was the leading rusher as he carried 12 times for 71 yards, including an 11-yard touchdown run, and then added two short touchdown runs in the goal-line segment.
“P.J. Daniels did some nice things, and so did Michael Sampson,” noted Gailey. “Ace did okay early before he got a little banged up, but I really thought P.J. and Michael played well.”
Lending to Tech’s offensive inconsistency is the absence of two starting offensive linemen in left guard Leon Robinson (hand) and left tackle Nat Dorsey (shoulder), both recovering from offseason surgery.
“The pass protection is the thing that hurts the most,” said Gailey. “We’re not giving our defensive line a realistic look sometimes. We don’t have all of our protections in to help, so we’re not able to throw the ball down the field as much as we’d like. “
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