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Countdown to Kickoff: No. 11

George Godsey

The countdown to kickoff is officially on as Georgia Tech‘s season-opening matchup at Colorado on Aug. 29 is less than 100 days away.

Until then JOL will be counting it down with one Jackets’ player daily that wore the corresponding number of days remaining until toe meets leather in Boulder.

With it now 11 days until kickoff in Boulder, today’s focus is on No. 11 George Godsey, a beloved Georgia Tech quarterback who waited his turn behind fellow Jackets’ legend Joe Hamilton and then made the most of his two years starting on The Flats in 2000 and 2001, including being named an All-American.

Godsey played his prep ball at Jesuit High (Fla.) in Tampa where he caught the attention of several college programs, including Georgia Tech. He eventually chose to to sign with the Jackets and former head coach George O’Leary in the 1998 recruiting class.

Godsey’s career on The Flats started with some patience while also helping his team and teammates any way he could on the sideline as he was the backup to Hamilton in 1998 and 1999. In fact, Godsey completed just 13 passes in 32 total attempts in his few reps on the field those two seasons with Hamilton handling the majority of the plays leading the offense.

Godsey, who came to be known to his teammates, coaches and fans as “Goose,” got his first chance to truly lead the offense in 2000 as he won the starting job following Hamilton’s college career coming to an end and went on to have a stellar junior season as he helped Tech to a 9-3 record, a third straight win over rival Georgia and a berth in the Peach Bowl. Godsey was named a First-Team All-American by the Pro Football Writers Association and a Second-Team All-ACC pick after throwing for 2,906 yards on 222-of-349 attempts (63.6 completion percentage) with 23 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also ran for a pair of scores.

In his final season with the Jackets in 2001, Godsey helped Tech to an 8-5 campaign that ended with a 24-14 win over Stanford in the Seattle Bowl under interim head coach Mac McWhorter who stepped in following O’Leary’s choice to take the Notre Dame job. Godsey threw for 3,085 yards (the highest single-season total in Tech history) on 249-of-384 attempts with 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions while also running for four TDs.

Along with his single-season passing yards record, Godsey also has the two highest single-game passing yard totals in Tech history with 486 vs. Virginia in 2001 and 454 vs. Clemson in 2000. He is fourth all-time in program history in career passing yards with 6,137 despite only starting for two seasons and has the third highest single-season total for passing yards as well with 2,906 in 2000. He’s fourth all-time at Tech in passing TDs with 41.

After his college career, Godsey didn’t get many chances on the professional level as a player but did play for the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League in 2003.

Godsey shifted his attention to his coaching career in 2003 as well, getting his start as an assistant at The Lovett School in Atlanta. He moved into the college ranks in 2004 as a graduate assistant at UCF and was quarterbacks coach and later running backs coach with the Knights before his final season at the school in 2010.

Godsey got his first shot on an NFL staff in 2011 as an offensive assistant with the New England Patriots and was later the team’s tight ends coach from 2012-2013. Since then he has worked as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator with the Houston Texans (2013-2016), defensive assistant and quarterbacks coach with the Detroit Lions (2017-2018), tight ends coach and co-offensive coordinator with the Miami Dolphins (2019-2021) and has most recently been the tight ends coach with the Baltimore Ravens from 2022 to the present.

Godsey was inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.

Honorable Mention

–John Dewberry (QB from 1983-1985; transferred to Tech after starting his career at rival Georgia and later led the way to two straight wins over the Bulldogs in 1984 and 1985; finished career with 4,193 passing yards on 310-of-533 attempts with 27 touchdowns and 26 interceptions; also ran for 630 yards and nine TDs in his career; First-Team All-ACC pick in 1984; is credited by many as starting the tradition of GT players taking pieces of the “Hedges” after a win at Georgia; played professionally in the Canadian Football League; inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1992)

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