First the ACC, now the World!

After failing to be invited to any of the postseason collegiate All-Star Games, former 2-time "All-ACC" center and walking human-interest story Sean Bedford has silenced all the doubters and is now playing professional football!

In Spain.

Bedford is playing "futbol Americano," near Madrid, Spain, for Los Osos Rivas. Crowds are in the dozens. The team doesn't have a full practice field. Some players, who vary in age from 18 to 43 and weigh between 130 and 330 pounds, don't have cleats. Bedford plays four positions and was recently promoted to player-coach because one of the team's five coaches quit. (...) "One of our offensive linemen works as a cook at a local school, which allows us to use their cafeteria for lunch," Bedford said.

How quaint. I hear Bedford has actually become quite a popular player over there, as diving at the other guy's knee-caps really whips the "dozens" of Spaniards on-hand into a frenzy. No word on whether he's been plunked by any fireworks or urine bombs as of yet, but the season is still young.

Johnson victims "working to convince" NFL scouts

Former Tech B-back Anthony Allen is discovering the cruel reality of being a "featured" runner in Paul Johnson's service academy offense.

Like Jonathan Dwyer before him, Allen now faces a variety of questions from pro scouts as to whether he can adapt to an NFL style of play. In Johnson's bland, single-formation offense, Allen lines up only three yards behind the QB in an unorthodox three-point stance and receives little experience in pass protecting or catching the football. This altogether makes him an unpolished, "incomplete" back and a risk for teams drafting in the early rounds.

Allen's plight only retraces the pattern of his predecessor Jonathan Dwyer, who was once a premier NFL prospect, but likewise saw his draft stock plummet after two seasons of reprogramming at the hands of Johnson. He was eventually drafted in the sixth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers and saw minimal action in his rookie campaign. Dwyer has since exhibited the public bitterness towards Georgia Tech befitting of a player who had his once-promising career stifled by a gimmick offense he never asked to play in.

Meanwhile, outgoing QB Josh Nesbitt is trying to do some convincing as well, but his task is even more daunting. Once a brilliant passer in high school, Nesbitt saw his quarterbacking skills erode precipitously under Johnson's tutelage. As a result he has been forced to retool himself as a running back amidst fading hopes that he will be welcomed into the professional ranks.

Nesbitt was once considered one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the country coming out of high school and started three years under Johnson. His senior season marked career lows in both yards per attempt(6.42) and completion percentage(37.1%), the latter of which was a full 10% behind the lowest-ranked FBS player with enough attempts(14 per team's games played) to be listed in the official NCAA rankings(Vanderbilt's Larry Smith at 47.4%).

Claytor: Johnson's offense anathema to pro prospects

Tech offensive lineman Nick Claytor, who announced Wednesday that he would skip his senior season to declare for the NFL Draft, has explained the rationale for his decision in an article published by the GTAA.

Claytor apparently feels that continuing for another year in Johnson's scheme will not improve upon his NFL draft prospects. This despite being projected by the NFL advisory board as maybe a potential 5th to 7th round selection. In other words, Claytor prefers to risk not being drafted at all rather than playing for Johnson one more season.

An excerpt from the article:

"As a large lineman, you get used to being big, used to dominating with your size," Claytor said. "I cut that part of my skill set out. My skill set was pass blocking and being bigger than people. I had to learn how to run block."

(...)

In the summer of 2008, some nine or 10 months after Johnson was hired, it was almost startling to see Claytor when summer practice began. Had you not anticipated Tech's linemen returning lighter, you might have thought he'd been sick.

"I lost like 45 pounds when that transition happened," said Claytor, whom I seem to recall saying he was down to 278 that summer. "I think it shows what kind of player I am. I was willing to stay, sacrifice, and work harder than I ever worked in my life."

An interesting sacrifice by a player who some Tech fans were quick to throw under the bus as a "troublemaker" the second his draft intentions were made known. We wish good luck to Nick Claytor in the pros. One can only hope that Johnson's offense hasn't irrevocably claimed the NFL dreams of another unwitting victim.

Diesel backs the dump truck on Tech fans

Tech alumnus and voluminous Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jonathan Dwyer recently had some choice words concerning the Institute on his Facebook page. You see, it turns out "The Diesel" has not exactly been keen on the amount of fan loyalty exhibited at recent Georgia Tech home football games. Thus has he been compelled to pontificate on the subject among his esteemed peers:

Jon DwyerIts a shame bc no matter wat UGA tennesse or anybodies record they have a packed out game no matter wat bc they are loyal fans came to games last yr bc we where winning..that shoes more and more how hypocritical ppl are and just like kyle jackson until we get pack out games u can kiss the fact of being on college gamed...ay and receiving big time recruits goodbye..it also has the effects on the players

Jon Dwyeri really hope georgia tech fans get themselves together

Jon Dwyerscoob its sick man..like why cant yall be loyal..we bust are bodies week and week out to come to play and we barely see anybody in the stands..but UGA or whoever it is can be 3-6 and that stadium is rockin bc they care about there guys man and players respond to that

And while the fickleness of Tech fans is hardly a well-kept secret, and some might even consider Dwyer a touch conceited, it's difficult to blame the young rookie for lashing out. If I'd spent half my college career slamming my body into the line without the football, only to witness the evisceration of my draft prospects via Paul Johnson's offense, I'd probably be bitter about Georgia Tech too.