GA TECH LOSES ANOTHER QB

GT's Starting QB Leaves School
Posted Feb 7th 2008 7:12PM by Ian Cohen (author feed)
Filed under: Georgia Tech Football, ACC, BCS, NCAA FB Campus, NCAA FB Rumors

It was all good just a week year ago. After four years of Reggie Ball and his unorthodox approach to quarterback, Georgia Tech was finally to have some sort of stability in the form of Taylor Bennett, a statue of a dropback passer who had looked more than competent in the chances he got to sub in. Whether it's due to the loss of Calvin Johnson, I'm not to say, but the Yellow Jackets somehow managed to have an even worse passing game in 2007, with Bennett sporting a sub-50 completion rate and a 7-9 TD/INT ratio. Still, that was good enough to earn GT a chance to get worked something horribly by Fresno State in the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl, and hey- maybe with another year, he'd get the hang of it.

But that's before Paul Johnson took over for Chan Gailey (enjoy, KC- really) and promised to apply his spread-option offense from Navy pretty much verbatim. Some recruits understandably jumped ship, including QB prospect Sean Renfree, who eventually ended up at Duke. The latest casualty is Bennett himself, who is planning to transfer to an unnamed number of schools. Mind you, this is the second team in the ACC Coastal Division that lost their starting QB for 2008 for reasons other than graduation or injury, the other being Virginia (Jameel Sewell). Can't say I blame Bennett on this one, even if he'll need a waiver to play D-I football after using his redshirt season. Ben Mauk at Cincinnati may have set a precedent for seemingly lost campaigns to get back up and running, but he might get two seasons as a Bearcat. Bennett might find himself lucky to get a season in at any DI-A school, let alone as a starter. But hey, I know a school in Charlottesville that's looking for a solid backup.