Ga. Tech fit for run at ACC championship

ATLANTA - Five months after suffering a heart attack while playing racquetball, Chan Gailey is 30 pounds lighter and says he has found it easier than ever to move around the court in his morning rituals.

"I don't have any aches and pains anymore when I play racquetball that I used to," Gailey said Saturday.

Gailey would feel even better if his Georgia Tech football team could improve on its three-year holding pattern of winning seven games overall and four games in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Yellow Jackets began practice Saturday for the Sept. 3 opener at Auburn.

Expectations are on the rise because Gailey returns eight starters from a defense that ranked 12th in the nation last season. He also has most of his top offensive skill players back, including quarterback Reggie Ball, tailback P.J. Daniels and receivers Calvin Johnson and Damarius Bilbo.

This is considered a critical year for Gailey, who has yet to match the success of his predecessor, George O'Leary. The Yellow Jackets won eight or more games in each of O'Leary's last four years, and they won five or more ACC games five times in his seven seasons.

For now, Tech players say they are just happy their coach is back in good health.

"For something like that to happen out of the blue, it was a major shock," said defensive end Eric Henderson Saturday. "It was tough. We're glad he's back, and back playing racquetball."

Said Daniels: "It was a scare. He's somebody you see everyday, and a person you look up to."

Gailey, 53, has extended the school's streak of bowl seasons to eight, but another seven-win season and minor bowl bid won't make everyone happy this year. Tech athletic director Dave Braine has said he expects an improvement this year.

Gailey, 21-17 overall and 12-12 in the ACC after three years, is making no promises but he says Tech is capable of moving up in the ACC this season.

"We can. Whether we do it or not, that remains to be seen. But we can," Gailey said. "There are a lot of factors that go into taking a good team to the next level. You have to hit all of those and have a couple of other things go right to be able to do what Auburn did last year, go from whatever they were... to going undefeated. A lot of things have to go right."

Auburn improved from 8-5 in 2003 to 13-0 last season.

Gailey said he is not putting pressure on himself to guide Tech to a similarly big breakout season.

"The pressure for me is to do what's right by the program and the players everyday," he said. "After that, there isn't any pressure."

Tech's schedule could make it tough to even match the seven-win level set the last three years. Tech could be an underdog in at least four road games - Auburn, Virginia Tech, Miami and Virginia. It also plays at Duke and has home games against North Carolina, Connecticut, North Carolina State, Clemson, Wake Forest and Georgia.

Gailey said the biggest question on the team is the offensive line, which has only two starters returning. Tech lost tackles Kyle Wallace and Leon Robinson and center Andy Tidwell-Neal.

"The promising thing is that this is the most athletic group we've had - run, jump, change direction, that kind of stuff," he said. "It probably is the least amount of experience we've walked into a season with. That's a concern, so it could go either way. It's harder for a young guy to start on the offensive line than it is anywhere else, except quarterback, in my mind."

Even though Ball is a two-year starter, there also is concern about the quarterback position. Gailey opened up the competition in the spring, and Ball defending his starting job. Gailey says it is still possible that a young quarterback - Taylor Bennett or Kyle Manley - could share time with Ball.

Ball completed only 49.7 percent of his passes last year while throwing 18 interceptions and 16 touchdown passes.