Newspaper Page Text
♦ THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2006
10B
Media correctly forecast half of the Chase field
Special to the Journal
With the 2006 NASCAR
NEXTEL Cup Series season
now in the books, it’s time
to look back and gauge the
accuracy of the media’s pre
season forecasts.
Media “batted .500” in
predicting which drivers
would make the Chase for
the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup,
correctly picking five of the
10 competitors. Jimmie
Georgia Tech has good hands in other Johnson
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Georgia
Tech
wide
receiver
James
Johnson
has
found
niche in
Jackets
passing
game
opposite
Calvin
Johnson
Morris News
Service
Gailey denies Tide rumors
ATLANTA - Georgia
Tech’s Chan Gailey has “no
interest” in the Alabama’s
coaching vacancy, he said
Tuesday.
Alabama fired Mike Shula
on Monday, and Gailey’s
name was among several
mentioned as potential suc
cessors on Internet message
boards.
“I have not been contact-
ed. I have
no interest,”
Gailey said.
“I trying to
beat Wake
Forest.”
The Yellow
Jackets
play Wake
Forest on
Saturday in
the Atlantic
Coast
NOTEBOOK
By ADAM VAN
BRIMMER
Morris News
Service
Conference Championship
game. Gailey is under
contract at Georgia Tech
through the 2010 season.
The 55-year-old has said he
intends to finish his coach
ing career at the school.
FLORIDA BOWL
LIKELY FOR JACKETS:
The Atlantic Coast
Conference’s bowl agree
ments make a postseason
trip to Florida an almost
certainty for the Yellow
Jackets.
Georgia Tech can clinch
the ACC’s automatic berth
in the Jan. 2 Orange Bowl,
played in Miami’s Dolphins
Stadium, by winning the
ACC Championship game.
A loss would likely
bring the Jackets back to
Jacksonville, site of the-ACC
title game, for the Jan. 1
Gator Bowl. The Chick-fil-A
Bowl (formerly the Peach)
picks before the Gator but is
sure to invite Virginia Tech
for a likely matchup against
Georgia. Gator Bowl offi
cials are balking at the idea
of having the Yellow Jackets
return for their bowl game.
They don’t want the cham
pionship game loser for the
bowl, which is one of the
reasons the Gator allowed
Best Cooks
In Perry!
IMaam
isaia
Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s
Chevrolet), who claimed the
2006 NASCAR NEXTEL
Cup Series championship
Nov. 19 at Homestead-
Miami Speedway, was picked
to finish third in the media’s
preseason poll. The media
selected Jeff Gordon to win
the title, and while the four
time champion qualified for
the Chase after missing out
in 2005, he finished sixth in
the Chick-fil-A Bowl to move
ahead of it in the league’s
bowl pecking order.
The ACC’s contract with
the Gator Bowl remains
unsigned, and the head of
the Jacksonville group, Rick
Catlett, said he reached a
verbal agreement with the
league that would allow the
Gator Bowl to select another
team. If Georgia Tech loses
Saturday, Wake would go
to the Orange and Virginia
Tech to the Chick-fil-A. That
would force the Gator to take
Georgia Tech.
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the final standings.
The five Chase partici
pants who weren’t 2006
NASCAR Preseason Top 10
picks included third-place
Denny Hamlin, who became
the first rookie to make the
Chase; fourth-place Kevin
Harvick; seventh-place Jeff
Burton; eighth-place Kasey
Kahne; and lOth-place Kyle
Busch.
Five drivers predicted to
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SPORTS
make the Chase didn’t: Tony
Stewart, the 2005 series
champion; Greg Biffle; Carl
Edwards; Ryan Newman;
and Kurt Busch, the 2004
series titlist.
Mark Martin was the only
driver to finish exactly where
the media forecasters pre
dicted - in ninth place. Matt
Kenseth finished second
after being predicted to fin
ish 10th and Dale Earnhardt
By Adam Van Brimmer
Morris News Sen’ice
ATLANTA - Georgia
Tech’s James Johnson keeps
his hands busy these days.
Be it squeezing a tennis
ball or playing a video game,
his mitts are rarely idle. He
learned early in his career
the devil’s favorite play is
dropped passes.
“I had a rough time com
ing in with my hands,” he
said. “After while, I decided
I wanted to be the hands
person on the team.”
Johnson found his niche
- a necessity in a passing
game that already fea
tures star wide out Calvin
Johnson. Teams scheme to
take Calvin Johnson away
from the Yellow Jackets’
offense, and getting the ball
to him in obvious passing
situations can be difficult.
All that attention makes
Johnson and his sure hands
invaluable.
He heads into Saturday’s
Atlantic Coast Conference
Championship game averag
ing three catches a game,
many of those coming in
clutch situations, like third
downs.
“If there was no Calvin,
then James would get a lot
more attention and prob-
Jr. finished fifth after being
predicted to finish sixth.
2006 NASCAR
Preseason Top 10
1. Jeff Gordon
2. Tony Stewart
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Greg Biffle
5. Carl Edwards
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
7. Ryan Newman
8. Kurt Busch
9. Mark Martin
ably get a lot more stats, too
because you’d have to throw
him more,” Georgia Tech
offensive tackle Andrew
Gardner said. “But from
a team standpoint, we all
know how valuable James
has been and the number
of good plays for us. I don’t
think we’d be anywhere near
as good of a team without
him at wide receiver.”
For Johnson, good hands
were an acquired skill. Drops
plagued the red-shirt sopho
more in practice throughout
his first two years at Georgia
Tech.
He caught 14 passes as
Georgia Tech’s slot receiver
last fall.
The Yellow Jackets needed
Johnson on the outside this
season. Damarius Bilbo sur
prised most when he caught
40 passes for almost 600
yards last season, but he
exhausted his eligibility in
2005.
Georgia Tech’s other wide
receiver options were limit
ed. Chris Dunlap and Xavier
McGuire, both seniors, were
experienced but were better
suited to the slot position
and special teams.
That left Johnson, red
shirt freshman Greg Smith
and a pair of true freshman.
Yellow Jacket head coach
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10. Matt Kenseth
2006 NASCAR NEXTEL
Cup Top 10
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Matt Kenseth
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Kevin Harvick
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
6. Jeff Gordon
7. Jeff Burton
8. Kasey Kahne
9. Mark Martin
10. Kyle Busch
Chan Gailey saw through
Johnson’s drops to his
potential.
He named Johnson the
starter prior to spring prac
tice - even though Johnson
missed most of the spring
with a hamstring injury.
The vote of confidence
encouraged Johnson, and he
set out to improve his hands.
He squeezes tennis balls dur
ing classes and while watch
ing film with his teammates
or television at home.
A video-game addict, he
prefers shoot-em-up and war
games - “Gears of War” is
his current favorite where
he must work the buttons
quickly.
“Anything I can do to
get my fingers stronger,”
Johnson said. “You have to
catch with your fingers and
not your hands.”
Johnson got a remind
er of that last Saturday.
He dropped two passes in
Georgia Tech’s loss to rival
Georgia. Gailey acknowl
edged his surprise at the
drops in the postgame news
conference but remains con
fident in Johnson.
“He’s got very good hands.
He can pluck the ball,”
Gailey said. “He can be run
ning and reach up and catch
the ball in a hurry.”
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