Due to the rain, The Jackets had to step inside the Falcons practice facility in Flowery Branch for their first scrimmage in full pads. Here’s a recap from the AJC written by Ken Sugiura and Larry Harstein

Georgia Tech put on full pads for the first time Saturday at the Falcons’ indoor facility in Flowery Branch, and the offense and defense went at it for two hours.

There were no kickoffs or punts, just extra points and field goals. Officials were on hand but tried to refrain from calling too many penalties.

The offense struggled early before hitting stride.

“It was like the first scrimmage; it was good and bad,” coach Paul Johnson said. “I don’t take too much out of it. I think there were positives on both sides of the ball at times, and we did enough wrong on both sides of the ball to get beat 100 times, which is usually the way it works in the first scrimmage.

“We’ll go back and evaluate and look at some personnel,” he added. “I’ve got some ideas about personnel. I just want to confirm it.”

The highlights on offense included Demaryius Thomas catching two passes longer than 40 yards, one each from Josh Nesbitt and Jaybo Shaw, and B-back Anthony Allen stopping on a dime to turn a short grab into an 18-yard gain.

The low points included several fumbled snaps.

Wideout Paul Reese, a sophomore walk-on, earned praise from Johnson. Reese adjusted on a sideline route and hauled in a 37-yarder from Shaw. Later he broke tackles on a 10-yard run.

“I tell you, the guy who’s caught my eye the first part of spring is the Reese kid,” Johnson said. “He makes plays, he really does. If he’ll learn to be a little more physical and block, I think he could help us maybe.”

Young quarterback looks sharp

Quarterback Tevin Washington, who redshirted in 2008, played about 20 of the roughly 100 snaps in the practice. Several times, he made yards on designed runs or broken plays out of the pocket.

“He’s a good athlete; he’s just got to get the mental part of it down,” Johnson said. “He’s definitely a hard guy to tackle, no question about it.”

He had a few sharp passes, including two completions to walk-on A-back Jonathan Malone, one for about 15 yards and the other 43 yards for a touchdown.

Said Washington, “I felt good about a lot of [the plays], but I felt like I could do better on all of them, too.”

D-line looking good

For the most part, the rebuilding defensive line acquitted itself well.

Starting ends Derrick Morgan and Robert Hall blew up plays behind the line, tackle Logan Walls stuffed a couple of runs, and end Antonio Wilson knocked down a Jaybo Shaw pass and recovered a fumble.

Tackle T.J. Barnes crashed the line off the snap and swallowed up Shaw, causing a fumble and pouncing on the ball.

“T.J. made some plays, and some other guys did, too, but you have to look at the tape and see who they’re playing against to get a gauge on it,” Johnson said. “But I’ve got a lot of hope for T.J. He’s got ability, and we need for him to be a good player for us.”

Morgan, the only returning starter up front, termed it a “pretty good effort.”

“A lot of young guys got a chance to get in there and make some plays,” Morgan said. “We’ve got a lot of room for improvement. We’re going to come in tomorrow, watch tape and get better.”

Etc.

There’s greater emphasis this spring on pass protection. It was spotty at best Saturday, according to co-offensive line coach Mike Sewak. “I’d probably give it a D,” he said. “But that’s up from an F. We’re working on it.” … Kicker Scott Blair made all his extra points. Walk-on Cody Hutchings converted the only field-goal try, a 28-yarder.