Aug. 29, 2001
ATLANTA– – Georgia Tech quarterback George Godsey is among the 20 candidates announced Wednesday for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award as the nation’s top senior quarterback.
In his first action of the 2001 season, Godsey completed 15 of 24 passes for 244 yards in the Yellow Jackets’ 13-7 win over Syracuse in the Kickoff Classic. The Tampa, Fla., native and Tech graduate student passed for 2,906 yards and 23 touchdowns in 2000 to earn second-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference honors.
The Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award is presented annually by the Golden Arm Educational Foundation of Louisville, Ky. The list will be narrowed to five finalists on Oct. 24, with the winner announced Nov. 20. Other nominees for this year’s award include Major Applewhite (Texas), Dusty Bonner (Valdosta State), Eric Crouch (Nebraska), Ronald Curry (North Carolina), Woodrow Dantzler (Clemson), Rohan Davey (LSU), Kurt Kittner (Illinois), Zak Kustok (Northwestern), and Phil Petty (South Carolina).
Godsey, also a preseason nominee for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award, and the 11th-ranked Yellow Jackets open their home slate by hosting The Citadel Saturday in a 6 p.m. game at Bobby Dodd Stadium/Grant Field.
For the second time this week, Tech dodged inclement weather at practice as Wednesday’s workout was delayed approximately 30 minutes by lightning. Monday’s practice was cancelled due to lightning.
“Any time you’re dealing with lightning, you can’t take any chances, so we had about a half delay,” said Tech head coach George O’Leary after Wednesday’s practice. “We had a heckuva practice going [before the lightning], and when you go back out there, you have to get the motor running again, but we were able to accomplish what I wanted to today.”
O’Leary said he would like to work more players into the lineup this week, but that would be determined by performance in practice.
“We played about 50, but that’s counting special teams,” said O’Leary. “I would like to have played more running backs, but they dictate who we play. I tell them that all the time the during the week, if you want to get on the field, you have to practice and play the same way.
“Depth has to be good depth. If they don’t practice well, they’re not going to see the field.” –30–
