By Jack Williams
| Quarterback George (Goose) Godsey has 1,553 passing yards, 15 touchdown tosses-and five victories-this season. |
All the doubters have been thrown for a 15-yard loss. Georgia Tech quarterback George (Goose) Godsey has stepped out of Joe Hamilton’s shadow into the spotlight. He has 1,553 passing yards, 15 touchdown tosses-and five victories-to prove it.
The Yellow Jacket red-shirt junior from Tampa, Fla., hopes to work some more of that kind of magic this Saturday when Tech gets a severe test against unbeaten and fifth-ranked Clemson at Death Valley (3:30 p.m., ABC).
Win or lose, however, Godsey has made a distinctive mark for himself. He is not likely to again hear the question: How can George Godsey possibly replace a guy who was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy?
“A lot of people built that up,” the Jacket leader said. “They should have been looking at the team. Joe would be the first to tell you that a lot of other people on the Tech team helped him get the job done. Now, that’s the case with me. A quarterback can’t win games by himself.
“Actually, I stopped hearing the Hamilton-Godsey talk after our opening win over Central Florida. The nature of that game proved a lot to people-the way we came from behind at the end to win. We had a team that showed a lot of heart and I had a good game overall.”
Godsey is one of Hamilton’s biggest fans and best friends and says he learned a lot about the game of football in his time as a backup to him.
“I like to think of myself as a good competitor, but no one enjoys competition more than Joe,” Godsey said. “He thrives on competition and it was exciting being around him. Joe was a great leader on the Tech team. If I was having problems with a certain thing, Joe always was there to help. Many times, he went into depth, explaining every play, every situation to me.”
Despite his success so far this year, Godsey admits that a “new season” starts at Clemson Saturday. “Coach (George) O’Leary stresses the point all the time that each week, each game is a one-game season,” he said. “You can’t rely on last week’s performance to help win the next game.”
The Tech quarterback sees the Clemson game as a great opportunity for the Jackets. “In order to get respect, you need to beat a top team,” he said. “This is our chance to be recognized. Everybody wants to play a team ranked in the Top 5. It’s a challenge. That is what college football is all about.”
Godsey has been with a Tech team to Death Valley before and knows well all the mystique that is involved there. “They have great fans, it’s very loud, and I know about the traditions,” he said. “But I don’t know how much all that has to do with hitting people and playing football. Once the game starts, you have to stay focused on your assignments. We do not need any extra incentive. You have no trouble getting fired up to play a team ranked fifth in the country.”
After seven games, Godsey is proud that the Tech offense has shown vast improvement during the course of this season. “We are getting so much more proficient at running the ball and that opens up things for the pass,” he said. “As the offense gets better, so am I getting better.
“It’s not like this is my first year here, even though some people look at it that way. I’ve been on the team for four years. It’s difficult for a quarterback to play early in his career. There are so many things to learn. A lot of things I didn’t know at the start are second nature to me now. Each game, I learn something new. In fact, each game and each practice, I come across something new. Coach (Ralph) Friedgen has been patient and that has helped.”
Godsey says the game of football has been rewarding to him in many ways.
“In the big scheme of things, I have learned a lot of things that will help me throughout my life,” he said. “I am fortunate to play on a team that has great chemistry. When a defensive leader like Felipe Claybrooks comes up to you on the sidelines and says, ‘Nice pass,’ that really means a lot.”
While Godsey has shaken off all the doubters with his superlative play, he remains just as modest as he was coming into the season.
A reporter asked him recently how he thinks he ranks athletically compared to the other two Tech quarterbacks-Andy Hall and Jermaine Crenshaw?
“I suppose Jermaine would rank first,” Godsey answered. “If you are talking about how the word athlete is defined nowadays, then maybe I would be third. Surely, that would be the case if you’re talking about speed or running the hurdles. The truth is I would have trouble making a play by myself. I have to have help from my teammates, and I’ve had a lot of that.
“But it’s not like I have no athletic ability. I was a top 100 baseball pitcher in high school and a basketball player, too. So I am an athlete.”
That’s really an understatement. Godsey was such an outstanding baseball prospect as a pitcher and outfielder at Jesuit High in Tampa that he was invited to the Team One National Showcase Competition in Cincinnati as one of the country’s top prospects. He played on the same team with one of Tech’s current stars, Jason Basil.
In basketball, Godsey averaged better than 10 rebounds a game. It was football, however, that he always liked best. He quarterbacked three high school teams that posted a combined record of 24-6.
He comes from a very athletic family. George’s father, John, played football at Alabama. George’s older brother, Greg, was a linebacker at Air Force Academy and his younger brother, Gary, started two games at quarterback for Notre Dame this season.
Godsey got the nickname, Goose, in a most unusual way. “It all came from a time when I was in the eighth grade and had my name (Godsey) spelled out on the back of my baseball uniform,” he said. “On a jersey that flaps over, the letter D sometimes turns out to look like an O. It appeared to some my name was Goosey. That’s how it started.
“It’s a nickname that has really stuck. Most of my friends and teammates call me Goose. I even catch my dad calling me Goose sometimes.”
Incidentally, Godsey has been scoring a lot of points in the classroom, too. Majoring in industrial and systems engineering, he had a grade point average of 3.0 or better throughout last school year.
One of his proudest moments came last football season when he was named the winner of Homer Rice Scholarship which goes to a Tech student, based on scholarship, athletic ability and community involvement.
Godsey’s hobby is computers-and he’s star in that department, too. In fact, he has worked during the summer as a computer technician in the Tech athletic department. It was Godsey who installed the computer on which this column was written.
And believe me, if he’s talented enough to lead a poor man like me who has no technical skills into the world of computerization, he really is a special person. Good gracious, maybe even Joe Hamilton could take a few tips from this guy.
