ATLANTA (April 8) – The frontrunners in Georgia Tech’s quarterback battle, junior George Godsey (Tampa, Fla.) and redshirt freshman Andy Hall (Cheraw, S.C.), both performed well, but the Tech defense also had its moments in the Yellow Jackets’ Springfest scrimmage Saturday morning before of crowd of approximately 1,500 fans who braved the rain, cold and wind at Bobby Dodd Stadium/Grant Field.
Hall completed his first six passes and finished nine-for-16 for 228 yards and two touchdowns, while Godsey completed seven of 10 passes for 69 yards and one touchdown.
“I was happy to see Hall make some plays,” said Georgia Tech head coach George O’Leary. “He can take a bad play and make it a good play. Defensively, we had some good series. I was happy to see them come on and strike a blow and deliver a blow.”
Junior all-America candidate Kelly Campbell (Atlanta, Ga.) electrified the crowd with an 80-yard touchdown catch on the fifth play of the scrimmage. The speedy junior caught a short pass from Hall, eluded a tackler and then outran the defense for the score. Campbell finished with three catches for 146 yards, while senior Jon Muyres (Stone Mountain, Ga.) caught five passes for 104 yards, including a 39-yard touchdown from Hall and a 33-yard completion down to the one-yard line. Godsey tossed a four-yard scoring pass to tight end Russell Matvay (Coram, N.Y.), who also scored on a pitch from Hall.
“The quarterbacks found the open guy and they made good catches,” said O’Leary. “That’s the name of the game. We have receivers with big play potential, and they made big plays today.
“Godsey is not making any mistakes. He’s not going to get you in a bad situation. Hall is going to make some mistakes, but I think he showed today that he has the ability to take a play and something out of it, which is the key to being a good quarterback.
“I would say the starter will come out of the two we have working, Godsey and Hall. We’ll get a good look at today’s film and then hopefully make a decision. We want to solidify the timing, especially with some of the things we’re running.”
On defense, Tech’s ends made some big plays. Junior Nick Rogers (East Point, Ga.) had two fumble recoveries and one sack, senior Felipe Claybrooks (Decatur, Ga.) had two tackles for loss, and sophomore Fred Wright (Lehigh Acres, Fla.) contributed two sacks.
“I’ve seen the defense really mature,” said O’Leary. “They’re still making some mistakes we’d like to correct, but they’re maturing. I see them making a lot more plays upfront, which is the key to good defense.”
Sophomore placekicker Luke Manget (Conyers, Ga.) made four of his five field goal tries, hitting from 27, 37, 45 and 50 yards.
