Technical Tidbits 7/31

Georgia Tech guard Bernard Woodside has a lot of work to do on the Flats if he hopes to live up to the exceptionally high athletic standards set by the rest of his family; if there ever was a family with sports in their genes, it would be the Woodside family. Bernard is a non-scholarship player for Brian Gregory's Yellow Jackets this season, hailing from Tampa Preparatory High School where he played alongside current Yellow Jacket Josh Heath. His family, which includes the likes of former Texas A&M and Green Bay Packers running back Keith Woodside, Alabama coach Anthony Grant, and NBA legend Connie Hawkins, will watch from the sidelines as the southpaw-shooting Bernard fights for minutes in what will be a competitive Georgia Tech back-court. High pressure? Absolutely, but nothing a Tech guy can't handle.

Jeremiah Attaochu can't help but be the center of attention for people watching Chargers training camp; he's just a really good football player. The latest evidence of this is the comments made by longtime Colt and seven time Pro-Bowler Dwight Freeney, who called Jeremiah (or Jerry if you just met him) a "ball of energy", even comparing Sneezy to what he himself was like as a rookie. If Attaochu could manage to have a fraction of the Freeney's career, I'd call it a 100% success; the accomplished linebacker has 108 career sacks and 300 tackles in 167 total games while recording 7 seasons of 10+ sacks for the Colts. That is what we call dominance.

With Georgia Tech's 2014 football camp set to begin very shortly, there are a number of interesting story-lines to watch for before now and the start of the season. The most obvious one mentioned in the article above was the QB battle between Justin Thomas and Tim Byerly. While this is the most apparent, I feel like it will be the least eventful of all the action around camp. Justin Thomas should, in my opinion, have no problem beating out Tim Byerly for the starting gig and while that's not to say that Byerly is a bad quarterback (because he isn't), I'd imagine that Justin Thomas would have a big edge from his in-game experience and obvious scheme fit. I do think that Byerly will get some snaps, maybe even as many as Duke's Brandon Conette got last season and in similar situations. Connette was used mainly in goal line and short yardage situation where a physical run was needed and I can see Byerly being used in that role a lot -- as a compliment to the smaller, more finesse-running Justin Thomas.

Trapper's Pizza in Syracuse really knows how to support their hometown team; they commissioned a mural covering their entire wall that illustrated Syracuse's would-be-dominance of the ACC's teams. My personal favorite is the picture of FSU's horse with it's legs tied up, either that or the Clemson Tiger with the vandalized rock at the base of it's nose. Maybe the Varsity would be willing to contribute to the cause by donating one of their many walls to Georgia Tech arts department (?). Whatever, I'm still mad at them for selling uga hats in their restaurant. I do, however, want to sneak into Trapper's and write 56-0 over the picture of the crying Yellow Jacket. I think that'd go over well with their customers.

Which is the most interesting story-line to follow during camp? Is Justin Thomas actually running unopposed for the starting job or am I an idiot?

Have a great Thursday!