Tech Topics - Winter 2008 - (Page 46)

YELLOW JACKETS Beyond His Years True freshman quarterback Jaybo Shaw already is an old hand at triple option By Van Jensen G rowing up, Jaybo Shaw was surrounded by the option offense. His dad, Lee, coached at Flowery Branch High School and would regularly plot out his option attack at home. Shaw, obsessed with all things option, became a fan of Nebraska quarterback and option expert Eric Crouch, who won a Heisman Trophy despite his slender size. “I wanted to be like Eric Crouch and how he ran,” Shaw said. “I still watch YouTube videos of him. He was great.” Like Crouch, Shaw is small compared to most quarterbacks. He’s also a true freshman, which is worth noting when looking at the impressive performances he’s already racked up in his short Georgia Tech career. On Sept. 20 against the stiff defense of Mississippi State, Shaw came in to relieve the injured Josh Nesbitt and led the Yellow Jackets to 38 points and 438 rushing yards and scored two touchdowns himself. With Nesbitt still out two weeks later against Duke, Shaw again showed off his mastery of coach Paul Johnson’s offense. With Duke focused on bottling up the quarterback from running, Shaw completed nine passes for 230 yards and a touchdown and helped “He’s much more mature than the average freshman. He has a lot of intangibles that other kids might not have.” B-back Jonathan Dwyer to a big rushing day in the 270 win. For his performance, Shaw was named the ACC Rookie of the Week. “Jaybo’s had a great upbringing,” said quarterbacks coach Brian Bohannon. “He’s much more mature than the average freshman. He has a lot of intangibles that other kids might not have. [The option] wasn’t a totally new deal to him, and I think that helped him a bunch.” While Shaw has had to pick up the different terminology of Johnson’s offense — and adjust to his new coach’s unwavering perfectionism — he says running the option for years has helped him jump out to a fast start. Still, though, he sees room for improvement. “I had a lot of bad habits,” he said of when he first started at Tech. “I’ve still got to get better. … You’ve got to pick it up. You don’t have a choice.” Shaw, who recently turned 19, never expected to end up at Tech. While Johnson was still at Navy, he recruited Shaw, but the quarterback didn’t want to commit to military service, so he signed with Middle Tennessee State University. But when Johnson took the Tech job, “it was almost like it was supposed to happen. It was perfect,” Shaw said of his last-minute switch. Eventually, his brother may join him on campus. COURTESY ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION With a father who coaches the option offense, Jaybo Shaw was ready to run when he spelled Josh Nesbitt. Connor Shaw, a junior quarterback at Flowery Branch, is being recruited to Tech and watched the Duke game from the Bobby Dodd Stadium stands. For now, Jaybo Shaw is just focusing on the next game and improving every week. That means taking as many practice reps as he can and breaking down film of defenses. “I haven’t watched this much film in my whole entire life,” he said. Whether he can go on to have a career like that of his idol Crouch remains to be seen, though the early signs are encouraging. “It’s still early,” Bohannon said. “He’s learning a lot. We’ll see how he grows up and matures.” Hewitt’s Hopes Are High Despite losing one of Tech’s best three-point shooters and the top rebounder from last year’s 15-17 men’s basketball squad, coach Paul Hewitt is optimistic about the 2008-09 season in part because of a little-known rule change. The NCAA moved the three-point line out to 20 feet, 9 inches from the basket, which Hewitt predicted would help his team’s spread-out offense. The Yellow Jackets also return three starters from last year, which Hewitt says is a positive for the team. “I really like how our front court, our big guys, have been looking,” Hewitt said. “They have been very impressive in the preseason. I think our guards are solid and look good, but our big guys have really surprised me.” There is one concern facing the Jackets as they start into a tough schedule that includes games against the always-daunting ACC and several ranked out-of-conference opponents. “We probably don’t have the depth that we’ve had 46 in the past,” Hewitt said. “With that being the case and with the ability to play different speeds and different styles … you will probably see us play a little bit more zone this year.” and later played in the NBA for the Hawks and the Indiana Pacers. He rejoins the Hawks as the player relations and programs manager. Price, Ferrell Join Hawks Two former Georgia Tech men’s basketball stars joined the staff of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks during the offseason. Mark Price, a Yellow Jackets sharpshooter from 1983 to 1986 and four-time NBA All-Star, now is a shooting consultant for the Hawks. He served in the same role last season with the Memphis Grizzlies. “I’m very excited and honored to accept this new position with the Hawks. I’m thrilled to join coach [Mike] Woodson and his staff and look forward to working with such a promising organization filled with incredibly talented and exciting players,” Price, IM 86, said in a statement. The other former Jacket joining the Hawks is Duane Ferrell, Cls 88, who starred for Tech from 1985 to 1988 Doubles Team Nets Championship Overcoming a narrow 7-6 loss in the first set of the 2008 ITA All-American doubles championships, Georgia Tech’s Amanda McDowell and Irina Falconi fought back against the Fresno State University team to win the next sets 6-3, 6-4 and claim the title. McDowell, a junior, and Falconi, a freshman, were ranked 30th going into the tournament at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., in October and had to run a gauntlet through the top-, third- and eighthranked teams to win the championship. “It is just so awesome. We are just so proud of this victory,” said McDowell, who last season captured the 2008 NCAA singles championship. “When Fresno State came back in the first set and then we fell behind early in the second, we got a little flustered, but we were able to turn it around.” TechTopics | Winter 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Tech Topics - Winter 2008

Tech Topics - Winter 2008 Contents Letters Buzz Around Town Alumni House Rockin’ Good Time State of the Institute The Hill Presidential Search Going Airborne Student Life An Architect’s Eyes Weight Coach Robot Burdell & Friends Ramblin’ Roll Rural Readers Leading Ladies Yellow Jackets Beyond His Years Leading Change Real World

Tech Topics - Winter 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.