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12B
♦ THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2006
Braves officially eliminated from division race
ATLANTA - By defeating
Florida on Tuesday night,
the New York Mets officially
eliminated the Braves from
contention in the National
League East.
“I was actually laugh
ing,” said Jeff Franceour.
“That’s not new news or
something,” the starting
right fielder said. “I think
everyone’s realized that we
aren’t going to win the divi
sion. It’s not like it’s going
to sink in all of a sudden
when they’ve clinched it.
“I think people have been
kidding themselves for the
last two or three weeks or
longer if they didn't think
the Mets were going to win
Georgia Tech punt returner modeling skills after Rhino
By Adam Van Brimmer
Morris News Sen'ice
ATLANTA - Georgia Tech
coach Chan Gailey could
have picked clips of any num
ber of great punt returners
to show rookie return man
Andrew Smith.
Michigan’s Desmond
Howard was good. Deion
Sanders electrified fans with
his return skills at Florida
State and later in the NFL.
Miami’s Devin Hester would
be a perfect contemporary
example.
Gailey chose ... Kelley
Rhino?
“Kelley was very successful
here,” said Gailey of Rhino,
who played for Georgia Tech
from 1999 through 2002.
“And (Rhino and Smith)
are blessed with the same
Injured Bulldogs QB Tereshinski aims for return against Tennessee
ATHENS - Georgia quar
terback Joe Tereshinski has
a target game for his return
from a high ankle sprain.
“Hopefully, Tennessee,”
Tereshinski said of the
Bulldogs’ Oct. 7 SEC East
showdown.
The fifth-year senior
from Athens limped off the
field after the first series
of Georgia’s 18-0 victory
against South Carolina and
opened the door for fresh
man Matthew Stafford to
move into the starting role.
Recovery time for
Tereshinski’s injury is typi
cally four to six weeks, but
Tereshinski is sticking with
the quicker timeline.
“Four is maximum,”
Tereshinski said Tuesday
in his first public comments
since learning the extent of
his injury. “It doesn’t matter
how much pain it is on the
fourth week, I’m out there.”
Tereshinski gutted out two
more plays after injuring the
right ankle when tackled on
a 2 yard scramble.
“I felt it pop and I guess
the adrenaline was going,”
said Tereshinski, who com
pleted 2 of 3 passes for 18
yards in the game. “That
tank kind of ran empty after
about 20 seconds. After that
series, it really hit me.”
Tereshinski doesn’t
know where he’ll fit in on
the depth chart when he
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the division. You’re not just
all of a sudden going to lose
20 games in a
row.”
That’s basi
cally what
Atlanta needs
to do at this
point to make
the playoffs
via the wild
card. Manager
Bobby Cox
NOTEBOOK
R. TRAVIS
HANEY
Morris News
Service
said he thought the team
could lose three or four and
still have a shot. With 19
games to play, the Braves
(69-74) trailed San Diego
by 5 1/2 games entering
Tuesday.
There are five teams
" SMITH
amount of speed.”
Rhino was not fast. But
what he lacked in speed
he made up for in reliabil
ity, and that’s what Gailey
returns. He says he’s using
the next month to prepare
like it’s preseason all over
again. Support has come
from teammates, coaches,
family and friends, and he is
trying to stay positive.
“It stinks
that’s hap
pening right
now at this
time, but
I’ve got to
face it and
go after it
and real
ly train,”
Tereshinski
said.
NOTEBOOK
By MARC
WEISZER
Morris News
Service
“Hopefully when I come
back I’ll be more in shape
than I left off.”
MASSAQUOI
RETURNS TO STARTING
ROLE: A week after Mario
Raley replaced him as
Georgia’s No. 1 split end,
Mohamed Massaquoi is back
in the top spot heading into
Saturday’s game against
UAB.
The sophomore from
Charlotte caught a slant
pass from Stafford in the
second quarter and took it
39 yards in Georgia’s 18-0
victory over South Carolina.
He also had a key block on
Danny Ware’s 9-yard first
quarter touchdown run.
“Mohamed played
very hard and he blocked
extremely well,” Georgia
between the Braves and
Padres, too.
But, as Francoeur said
after he analyzed the situa
tion Monday night, Atlanta
plays three of them head-to
head - Philadelphia, Florida
and Houston.
TIME OFF: Tuesday’s
rainout wasn’t necessar
ily a bad thing for a couple
of banged-up Braves who
might return to the lineup
in the coming days.
Adam Laßoche was
already out of the starting
lineup because of lingering
soreness in his right ham
string.
Before he knew the game
would be postponed, he said
wants from Smith. Rhino
never returned a punt for a
touchdown in 112 attempts,
but he failed to muff or fum
ble a punt in his career.
His only fumbles came
after the catch during run
backs, and he said he can
count on one hand how many
times he lost the ball.
Rhino averaged 10 yards a
return. He holds the Georgia
Tech records for most
returns in a game, season
and career and most yardage
in a season and a career.
Gailey’s message was clear,
Smith said.
“Just catch the ball and
then go north-south,” he
said. “Get us in first down.”
Smith, a red-shirt sopho
more from Tampa, Fla., fol
lowed up the film work with
a call to Rhino, who lives in
coach Mark Richt said. “He
played with a lot of energy.
Mohamed’s hamstrings are
bothering him just a tad bit,
too. I don’t know if we are
seeing his very best just by
virtue of that.”
Massaquoi still started
the South Carolina game
because Georgia opened in a
three wide receiver set.
“The first week I felt just
after watching things, I
didn’t give my best perfor
mance,” Massaquoi said of
a game in which he had one
catch for two yards “I think
I kind of let the team down. I
wanted to go in more focused
and just play a whole game.
I think I needed something
like that to refocus and just
give my best effort week in
and week out.”
Flanker A.J. Bryant will
start his second straight
game Saturday against
UAB.
PUNT RETURNER
UP IN AIR: With Mikey
Henderson questionable
with a hamstring injury,
Thomas Flowers could be
back in his role as punt
returner Saturday.
Flowers is returning from
a two-game suspension.
“If Mikey’s out, he’ll be
the starter,” Richt said. “If
Mikey’s in, it will be a tough
call, really, I would think.
He’s definitely back there
working.”
SPORTS
he was shooting to return
today.
Thursday, though, might
be more realistic. Laßoche
said he plans to speak with
doctors in the offseason
about ways to strengthen
the leg, which has bothered
him periodically the past
two seasons.
Chipper Jones, who’s been
out more than a week with
a strained left side, also said
he could return as early
as today. It’s more likely,
though, that he’ll be back
for this weekend’s series
against Florida.
SORRY, LADIES:
Francoeur is officially off
the market.
Atlanta. The telephone call
was both unexpected and
flattering, Rhino said.
“That somebody is trying
to, if not copy your style, at
least adopt the same theo
ry, is a neat feeling,” Rhino
said. “I told him the main
thing is to catch the ball and
not to let it hit and roll. It
could go 25 yards. Those are
first downs the offense has
to make up. And once you
catch the ball, run up the
field, not east-west.”
Smith used that advice
well. He returned five punts
for 69 yards, including a long
of 22 yards, against Samford.
He only let one punt hit the
ground, and that kick was a
low line drive that landed a
yard from the sideline.
Rhino missed Smith’s
debut. His wife gave birth to
Henderson said after prac
ticing Tuesday in a green
non-contact jersey that “my
hamstring is functioning,
but I don’t know if it’s 100
percent there yet.”
Flowers is anxious to sim
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: 'IIS.
Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr.
Founding Partner
1937-2005
No representation is made that the quality ol legal services to be performed is greater than
the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.
The 22-year-old Lilburn
resident proposed to his
longtime girlfriend, Catie
McCoy, on Sunday night.
Francoeur and McCoy,
who have known one another
since the third grade, went
to see Beauty and the Beast
at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre.
They got there early so
that Francoeur, with help
from the theatre staff, could
surprise McCoy with the
proposal in the balcony as
one of their favorite songs
played. McCoy said yes.
“She had no clue,”
Francoeur said. “I guess I’m
a little bit of a romanticist.”
Or a romantic. Close
enough.
a son just three weeks ago,
and Rhino stayed home with
the family. He listened to the
radio broadcast, though, and
called his father, team chiro
practor Randy Rhino, on the
sideline for Smith updates
during the game.
“Sounded like he did OK
for his first time,” Rhino
said.
Smith’s performance
solves one of Gailey’s early
season quandaries. Pat
Clark entered the season as
the return man with James
Johnson as his primary back
up. But Clark in a starting
cornerback, and Johnson a
starting wide out.
Gailey worried their
fatigue might lead to a disas
trous turnover on a punt
return.
“How smart is that of me
ply get back on the field.
“Right now I’m just going
to try and step my game
up and do some returns or
whatever I can do to help the
team,” he said. “I’m ready to
get in. I’ve been fired up.”
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THE HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
SMOLTZ UPDATE: It’s
still unclear if John Smoltz’s
strained right adductor mus
cle will keep him from mak
ing his next start. Cox said
he thought Smoltz would be
fine.
The leg, which has both
ered the 39-year-old ace off
and on all year, began irri
tating him during the second
inning of Monday night’s 8-
3 loss. Smoltz (12-9) was
forced to leave in the third
after Derrek Lee’s three-run
home run off him. It was
the second three-run homer
of the night he’d surren
dered. The leg wasn’t allow
ing Smoltz to properly push
off, he said.
to put a guy out there that
is playing that many snaps
at cornerback and nickel
back, and now I’ve got him
really tired out there return
ing punts?” Gailey said,
referring to Clark. “James
Johnson is playing a ton of
snaps too.
“But there is Andrew
Smith, and if we can get
him some reps and teach
him what to do back there, I
think he’s got a chance to be
a pretty good punt returner
before it’s all over with.”
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