Sports Page Atlanta

While players are dropping like flies over in Athens, the AJC reported yesterday that some Georgia Tech football players might not be as injured as they say they are.

Sophomore Correy Earls has missed more than a week with a hamstring injury, and junior A-back (and former wide receiver) Greg Smith has missed much of the past week with a hip injury. Both began the summer as starters, or at least sharing reps with the No. 1 offense.

Smith practiced for a while Monday morning, and then walked over to, “The Beach,” where injured players work out with strength and conditioning coach (official title: director of player development) Eric Ciano.

Smith’s position coach, Jeff Monken, did not appear pleased. When the team broke for water, Monken went near — but not all the way to — The Beach, and in so many (loud) words told Smith that he needs to practice.

Even new Head Coach Paul Johnson had a few words for his team.

“If you’re hurt, you’re hurt; you can’t help it,” he said. “But we’ll find out. I play the guys who practice.”

The old axiom that starters don’t lose jobs by injury does not apply at Tech. The Yellow Jackets have a new coach, and as such there are no starters — yet.

“That’s exactly right,” Johnson said. “And if you’re not out there practicing, you’re certainly not going to get to play. That’s not any indictment against kids that are hurt. But when you get hurt, you’ve got to fight your way back up the depth [chart].

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.