Reggie Ball interview airing tonight.

[Ramble1885]

 

[supertech1984]

I wholeheartedly believe Reggie ball under CPJ would’ve been a legend on the flats. Man wasn’t design for Chans 7 step drops from under center

 

[CuseJacket]

 

[awbuzz]

Take the time and watch the video above.

Just do it...

 

[kg01]

Wow. One word, perspective.

 

[MWBATL]

Impressive.

Reggie, I'm sorry I yelled those things at you when you were playing....really, I am.

 

[DvilleJacket]

 

[Jacket4Life]

Ive never been a Reggie Ball hater. Sure he had some questionable moments, but the kid was tough as nails.

 

[CuseJacket]

 

[stinger78]

Reggie took way more crap than he deserved. I never saw him play a game that he didn't leave it all on the field.

 

[takethepoints]

I remember in particular an interview with Chan where the reporter asked him if Reg hd the arm to play QB. Chan didn't have to answer. The look of complete disbelief that the question had been asked was enough.

Reg was extremely talented. I also remember when Bobbie Bowdon came back to our dressing room after r FSU narrowly defeated Tech in Reg's freshman year. Quoth Bobbie, "You're trying to make me retire early, aren't you Son?"

 

[AugustaSwarm]

I will always have a special place in my heart for Reggie - I pinned so much hope on him and watched him lay it all out on the field. He was a gamer and a tough player - he was let down by the coaching staff (in much the same way as Jeff Sims), but he never gave up. I'm proud of him to continue to support the program even after our fanbase took a giant poop on him.

 

[stinger78]

I will always have a special place in my heart for Reggie - I pinned so much hope on him and watched him lay it all out on the field. He was a gamer and a tough player - he was let down by the coaching staff (in much the same way as Jeff Sims), but he never gave up. I'm proud of him to continue to support the program even after our fanbase took a giant poop on him.

Agreed, and I tossed plenty of poop his way. Some he deserved with stunts like running out of the EZ against VPI back in 2004 and continually throwing passes that barely made the same zip code as CJ, forcing him to make circus catches regularly. Not to mention the INTs.

Part of the issue was CCG and friends were intent in making him a pocket passer. At 5’10” (on a good day) that was tough and led to habitually high passes.

However, what we saw was a fierce competitor who never transferred, who played his heart out, and who won at least 7 games every year for the white and gold. What other QB since can make that claim?

 

[MWBATL]

I must admit that I was one of "those" fans who at times really cursed Reggie. I am now embarrassed by that. The dude never deserved that type of criticism. Plus, I think a ton of his problems were with his OC (who was horrible) and not him. He got a lot of flack (including from me) for his "It's just a game, dude..." comment after losing to UGa but at the end of the day, it IS just a game.

Best of luck to him. He never got enough credit for games like the wins over Auburn because of some games like the ACC Championship and UGa games where in retrospect I believe the real problem was coaching and play-calling, not QB performance per se.

Good news is he cured me of ever cursing at a GT athlete. Now coaches...that's another matter......

 

[leatherneckjacket]

Agreed, and I tossed plenty of poop his way. Some he deserved with stunts like running out of the EZ against VPI back in 2004 and continually throwing passes that barely made the same zip code as CJ, forcing him to make circus catches regularly. Not to mention the INTs.

Part of the issue was CCG and friends were intent in making him a pocket passer. At 5’10” (on a good day) that was tough and led to habitually high passes.

However, what we saw was a fierce competitor who never transferred, who played his heart out, and who won at least 7 games every year for the white and gold. What other QB since can make that claim?

Making dumb mental mistakes are part of the game. I think it is fair to be critical of a major blunder like that or Joe Burns running out of bounds against Maryland. However, when critique crosses into insults it crosses thr line.

As for inaccurate passes, that is who he was as a QB. He had a strong, inaccurate arm. My bigger problem was the play calling and not having plays that allowed him to hit stationary targets in open space, which would have played to his strengths. Critiquing Reggie for his inaccuracies is like Critiquing Godsey for his lack of foot speed.

 

[LargeFO]

"As for inaccurate passes, that is who he was as a QB. He had a strong, inaccurate arm. My bigger problem was the play calling and not having plays that allowed him to hit stationary targets in open space, which would have played to his strengths."

This. They didn't put him in a position to succeed in the passing game nearly as much as they could've.

 

[stinger78]

Yep. Hindsight is 20/20, so they say. It was very frustrating to lose the annual game or two we should/could have win with CJ and TC on offense and a D half full of future NFL players. QB is the position that catches the flak, so part of it is “normal.” In hindsight though, he was a tough competitor and won a lot of games.

 

[cpf2001]

I’ve always wondered what would’ve happened with different coaching. I think the two things catalyzed the coaching path to try to make him play a certain game that wasn’t the right fit at all. His completion percentage dropped through his career and his freshman year had his fewest INTs too - but after Clemson 2004 “just throw it toward Calvin” became the primary passing play.

(I don’t think the team would’ve been necessarily any better off without Johnson or anything, but I think we could’ve seen a lot more development of a more interesting offense leveraging Ball, and less frustration from fans.)

 

[Techster]

The most shame I've ever felt to be a GT fan was 2008, CPJ's first year. It was a home game, and Reggie was at the game in crutches...I believe from an NFL injury (people forget he spent a year with Lions as a WR).

As he was coming down the stairs, a fan in my section yelled "Reggie Ball! You suck!". Most of us asked that young man why he would do that, and his reply was "Because it's true. Reggie Ball is trash!". The "GT fan" was probably in his early twenties, but definitely old enough to know better. I would have kicked that kid out of BDS that day if I could...absolute shameful moment for a supposed GT fan.

 

[TechPhi97]

Thanks for posting, this is a great story. I really liked his mom saying, "I thought it would be cool for Carter to emulate Reggie's athletic ability, but after what he's done I would want Carter to emulate the type of man he is." That's the highest compliment you can get, IMHO.