Overlooked, but not overreacting

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson was one of the busiest during the print media’s interview time Monday at the Grandover Resort during The ACC Football Kickoff event.

But even as defending ACC champions, the Yellow Jacket player representatives were a little less in demand Sunday among the record number of more than 300 media members attending the conference’s annual preseason gathering.

Nor were they the popular choice by the media to defend their Coastal Division championship, much less defend their ACC title, when the preseason predictions were released Monday.

That honor went to Virginia Tech, which received 62 first-place votes to win the Coastal Division and 50 more to defeat predicted Atlantic Division pick Florida State as the ACC Championship Game moves to Charlotte for the first time on Dec. 4.

Predictably, the vote didn’t bother Johnson.

“I doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “Everybody here could’ve picked us to win, and it still wouldn’t mean anything. You’ve still got to go out and play. … I don’t lose any sleep over that.”

Tech was picked to finish third in the division behind the Hokies and Miami, with 11 votes predicting them to win the division and get back to the title game and eight more votes to repeat as ACC champions.

“It doesn’t sound like we’ve got a target on our back,” Johnson quipped. “It’s like I tell our guys all the time. Once you win the thing, it’s probably harder to defend it — stay up there — than it is to get there.”

“That will be a challenge, and we’ve got a lot good teams and good programs that … (have their) eye on the prize, so to speak,” Johnson added.

LIke Johnson, Tech players Roddy Jones and Jason Peters didn’t necessarily take the larger gatherings at other tables – or the media’s prediction – as a sign of disrespect.

However, the events over the last two days illustrate how much the Jackets still feel like they have something to prove after winning last year’s title, especially with several important contributors from that title team – like NFL Draft picks Derrick Morgan, Demariyus Thomas, Morgan Burnett and Jonathan Dwyer – gone.

“I think a lot of people wrote us off because we lost all those guys,” said Jones, a redshirt junior who has produced 1,190 yards of total offense and eight touchdowns while battling injuries over two seasons as one of Tech’s starting A-backs. “It seems like we’re (still) underdogs. So, we’re coming in with a chip on our shoulders.”

The Tech offense might have a bit of a chip on its shoulder trying to produce the same gaudy numbers without the presence of two of their top playmakers in Dwyer and Thomas.

However, other big-play threats like Jones, B-back Anthony Allen, receiver Stephen Hill and especially quarterback Joshua Nesbitt do return.

And as much as the Tech offense might have something to prove, the Jackets defense will have much more to prove after a 2009 season in which it gave up 30 or more points in nearly half of its games, and half of those games came in the final six games.

The defense will come into 2010 with a new defensive coordinator in former Virginia coach Al Groh, who brings with him a new 3-4 scheme that the Jackets hope will tighten things up.

But the biggest change the Jackets want to bring on defense is a nastier, more physical attitude.

Or as defensive end Jason Peters put it, “to be more violent.”

“We want to flat-out hit you in the mouth every play,” the 6-foot-4, 273-pound redshirt junior continued.

“For us on the defense, we have a lot to prove. We want to establish ourselves as a defense that no one wants to play against. We need to be more physical with teams. We are going to play some teams that are bigger, some that are faster, some that are stronger, but what we can

control is to be more physical – to be more violent.”

Maryland’s Norcross connection

Of the four Georgians on Maryland’s preseason roster, half are from Norcross, with incoming freshman offensive lineman Max Garcia joining running back D.J. Adams.

After redshirting his freshman season last year, Adams may be in position to make major contributions to the Terrapins’ offense this season.

The 5-10, 200-pounder ran for 70 yards and two TDs on 14 carries in Maryland’s Red-White spring game and posted the eighth-best strength index on the team in spring testing.

More importantly, he caught the eye of Terps coach Ralph Friedgen.

“I think D.J. Adams is going to figure in,” Friedgen said. “I think he’s our best goal-line runner and I think he’s going to be a pretty good football player. I think he’ll play this year.”

Mularkey’s stock rises

Another former Gwinnett high school player who could make a mark with his ACC team this year is former GAC standout Shane Mularkey.

After making an immediate impact as a true freshman on North Carolina’s special teams unit a year ago Tar Heels coach Butch Davis is hoping the 6-2, 225-pound sophomore will play aneven more prominent role at linebacker in 2010.

“Shane was one of those kids who came in last year and was totally under the radar,” Davis said of Mularkey, who saw action in all 13 games last season, with nine combined tackles. “Not many people thought he was very highly recruited. He had an outstanding year on special teams. He was really one of our best special teams players.

“We’re hoping we can groom him into becoming a real significant contributor at linebacker. He has outstanding football instincts. … He’s got that innate athletic ability to kind of understand how to play the game. Hopefully, he’ll be a guy that will work his way to playing a lot more on defense.”

“Storm” warnings on the way for Hurricanes?

If Miami coach Randy Shannon had his way, Storm Johnson would follow the path Adams did at Maryland and redshirt his freshman season.

However, he also knows that with depth at tailback being as fragile as it is in any football prorgram, there is a chance the former Buford and Loganville standout may have to follow Mularkey’s path and step in right away.

“He could,” Shannon said when asked about whether Johnson might have a chance to play as a true freshman. “In a perfect world, you want to redshirt every freshman. But you’re not given those opportunities.

“One thing that I’ll say is, my first year (at Miami), we went through five running backs and we started out with a fullback playing tailback against Boston College. The next year, we had injuries. Last year, … we lost a lot of guys. That’s why you never have too much depth at the tailback position. … You always have to have somebody ready to go.”