De Lorean
Darryl Slater
Sep 12, 2007
If yesterday’s blog dealt with a quarterback of the past—and that’s what Sean Glennon appears to be at this point in Quarterback Break-Up 2007—today’s deals with a couple guys who go deeper into the past, far enough that you’d need Doc Brown’s sled to get you there.
Steve Casey and Todd Greenwood were the last two true freshmen quarterbacks to start for Tech. I caught up with Greenwood last night for a story that will appear in tomorrow’s print edition.
But let’s address Casey first, shall we?
He started two games in 1978 after starter David Lamie got hurt. (By the way, I got most of this information after spending an hour this afternoon at the Merryman Center, consulting with Sports Information Czars Bryan Johnston and Dave Smith, who has a memory like a steel trap.)
So anyway, Casey went on to start for the rest of his career. His career stats: 52 percent completions for 4,299 yards (sixth all-time at Tech), 29 touchdowns and 40 interceptions. Tech’s records during his career: 4-7, 5-6, 8-4 (Peach Bowl) and 7-4.
Greenwood took over for Casey in 1982. He started eight games that season—including the 45-0 loss to Vanderbilt that Tech almost equaled with The Bayou Beatdown—and sophomore Mark Cox started three. (Cox was later awarded a redshirt for 1981, enabling him to play through 1985.)
Cox started every game in 1983 and nine of 12 in 1984, including the Independence Bowl—Tech’s only bowl appearance in the Greenwood/Cox Era. Greenwood was the primary quarterback in 1985. Tech’s records during Greenwood’s career: 7-4, 9-2, 8-4 and 6-5.
Greenwood’s career numbers: 52 percent completions for for 2,721 yards (11th all-time at Tech), 16 touchdowns and 22 interceptions. He stayed on as a graduate assistant in 1986, when Tech beat North Carolina State in the New Peach Bowl—the Hokies’ first bowl win.
By the way, Cox is seventh all-time at Tech with 3,526 career yards, and Greenwood correctly noted last night that if you combine their numbers over their four years together, they are second on the all-time yards list (6,247), behind only Bryan Randall (6,508). Though it should be noted that Randall threw 833 passes, while Cox and Greenwood combined to throw 961.
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Greenwood recalled some interesting connections about his first season. He played with Bruce Smith and against Miami’s Jim Kelly, who went on to play with Smith for the Buffalo Bills. Tech also played West Virginia that season. In that game, Darryl Talley fell on Greenwood’s foot and injured it. Talley, of course, also went on to play for the Bills and wore Spider-Man spandex under his uniform that were one of the best things to come out of the NFL in the mid-1990s.
But the connections get odder. West Virginia’s quarterback in that game was Jeff Hostetler, who led the New York Giants to a 20-19 win over the Bills (and Kelly, Smith and Talley) in Super Bowl XXV, after which Bill Parcells left, opening the door for one of the worst coaches in NFL history: a one Raymond Handley.
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Postscript: Greenwood now lives in Winston-Salem, N.C., with his wife, Penny, and 12-year-old daughter, Caroline. His 18-year-old son, Aaron, is a freshman at Georgia Tech. He works in his hometown of Mount Airy, N.C., where he co-owns Blue Ridge Enterprises, a commercial building contracting company, with his father and brother. Greenwood said he gets to about one Tech game a year, but he’s not sure which game he’ll attend this season.
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