Johnson Ignites Georgia Tech, 24-7

Receiver Calvin Johnson’s left leg was hurting. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to play until he went out for warmups.

Then he went out and had the best game of his Georgia Tech career.

Shaking off a sore quadriceps, Johnson caught touchdown passes of 66 and 58 yards on the way to piling up 165 receiving yards, leading the Yellow Jackets past feeble Virginia, 24-7, Thursday night at Atlanta.

“It was real sore and tight,” said Johnson, who had the two longest touchdowns of his career and set a personal best for yards in a game. “But once the adrenaline got started, I didn’t worry about it. I was feeling no pain.”

Johnson barely practiced during the short week after injuring his leg in Saturday’s victory over Troy.

Virginia, 1-3, 0-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which had three consecutive victories in the series, managed only 166 yards and nine first downs.

The victory by Georgia Tech (3-1, 1-0) should boost its confidence entering its next game, a showdown against No. 11 Virginia Tech. Last season, the Hokies routed the Yellow Jackets, 51-7.

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A leading group of black coaches is pleased Division I schools are considering more minorities for coaching jobs, but it says improvement is too slow and applying civil rights laws might be a way to speed progress.

“I think we’ll have to put a magnifying glass on searches,” said Floyd Keith, executive director of the Black Coaches Assn.

“Change is not something that has been as quick as we’d like to see it.”

There are now only 11 minority head coaches among the more than 200 NCAA Division I-A and I-AA teams that are not historically black institutions.

The BCA, in a report card released Thursday, says universities must appoint more minority coaches and more diverse search committees.

The group says evidence shows more diverse committees leads to more consideration of minority coaches.

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Colorado Coach Dan Hawkins has steadfastly refused to turn over the Buffaloes’ scuffling offense to his son, freshman quarterback Cody Hawkins.

The plan has been to redshirt him, but circumstances might force the coach’s hand.

Backup James Cox, who lost his starting job to Bernard Jackson two weeks ago, left the team Wednesday to be with his ailing father in California and there’s a possibility he could miss the game Saturday at No. 9 Georgia.

Another quarterback, Brian White, quit the team earlier this month because of a lack of playing time, so the team is down to only two quarterbacks: Jackson and Hawkins.