Technical Tidbits 2/15: Tech faces off with Miami, Butker invited to NFL Combine

There are people who just can’t help but get into trouble, and people who actively seek out trouble. It is appearing more and more likely that former Yellow Jacket Glen Rice, Jr. belongs to that second group after yet another arrest, this time for assaulting a bouncer at a strip club in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Rice reportedly got into an altercation with the bouncer which may or may not have involved insults about Rice’s sister before escalating the situation by punching the man twice in the face. I can’t wait for the day that we can stop reading articles about “former Georgia Tech basketball player Glen Rice, Jr.” and start hearing about just regular old Glen Rice, Jr., but that day will unfortunately never come. It’s just a sad story of wasted talent and blown opportunities.

Though the NFL Combine has hardly been friendly to former Yellow Jackets in recent years, former kicker Harrison Butker will get the opportunity to showcase his leg in front of NFL scouts on the biggest pre-draft stage of all. He could be joined by the likes of Justin Thomas, Freddie Burden, and possibly one or two more guys from the 2016 team in the coming days or weeks, but an NFL Combine invite was certainly well deserved for Tech’s career leader in scoring. Hopefully Harrison will take full advantage of the opportunity and prove why he’s worth a spot on an NFL roster come next season.

Josh Pastner’s Yellow Jackets will go for a huge win No. 16 of the season tonight down in Coral Gables against a tough Miami team. With the injuries and personal issues that we’ve heard of over the past week still facing that Jackets to this day, nothing will come easy against a well-coached team like Jim Larranaga’s Hurricanes — especially on the road. Winning away from home has been just short of impossible for teams around the conference this season, with everyone from North Carolina to Duke struggling mightily against conference opposition while outside the confines of their home floors. The same is true for Tech, currently just 1-5 on the road versus ACC teams with the sole win coming at NC State. There’s cause to worry about the game tonight, but the Jackets still have a chance to come out on top with a good performance. If they can pull it off, it would do wonders for their NCAA Tournament hopes.