The Two-Minute Drill With Joe Hamilton

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Nov. 3, 1999

"Last year we had a great game with Virginia, so I know they will be ready for us this year [Tech rallied for 24 points in the final 20 minutes to win 41-38]. At halftime of that game, I was thinking, it's not over, but we really have to pick it up. We were able to start making some plays and going after these guys. They were pretty much doing whatever they wanted to do with us. But it's a sixty-minute game and we knew that all we needed was a break. We got a defensive touchdown and from then on the momentum switched.

After a game like that and we've won, I feel good just like any other win. But when we have to make that comeback I feel a little nervous. When you come out on top it is something you have to be proud of. But during the game it isn't anything you want to be proud of.

The Heisman is on a lot of people's minds, and I guess it is impossible to never think about it. You just have to think about it at the right time. You have to think about it amongst people who know that it is not a major priority. I continue to let the guys know that I am here for the team and I want to win team awards first. I enjoy the attention sometimes. But there are sometimes when you want to go to class and just relax. I want to be a normal student sometimes, but I know that at this point it can't happen. You just do what you are called to do.

It's definitely team first. If I just keep it in that perspective and know that every time I go out there it is not just about me, it is for the whole team, I think I'll do all right. I am not focused on the Heisman at all. We have a lot of team goals that we want to accomplish and I think that would be selfish on my part to try to think about individual goals at this point in the season.

I wouldn't be where I am without teammates like Kelly Campbell [Tech's leading receiver]. His production doesn't surprise me, because I know that he is a guy who comes out to the practice field and works hard. He wanted to prove to the coaches that he could be a guy that we could count on. Knowing what the defense is going to do to Dez White and having that ability to go to the other side, Kelly Campbell can make a lot of plays. They have to play guys honest. You can't play one or the other. Kelly Campbell blocking, catching, running, whatever he is doing, he is an asset to us.

With receivers like them, I don't see the negatives about being a so-called short quarterback. I think sometimes you have a problem seeing lanes. But every quarterback has to find lanes. Guys bat the ball down sometimes. But I have yet to see any negatives in being a small quarterback. The positives are just as many positives as a tall quarterback. You have good arm strength, you are able to see the field, deliver the ball on time and have good accuracy. I'm not the kind of guy who sees any difference in height at all.

Whether you're tall or short, there are a lot of things you have to do as a quarterback. I have to make sure that we are running all the good plays, and that we don't have many bad plays. I think Coach [Ralph] Friedgen does a good job all week of making sure that we know what we are doing and that we know what is coming from the other team. So there is a lot of pressure but there is a lot of pressure on the whole team to make sure that they know what they are doing. I want to feel that any play that the coaches call I am able to execute to the best of my ability.

There was a point when I questioned whether we are really going to run all these plays. There was never a point where I questioned whether I could learn it. I just questioned whether I could execute it the way that he wanted me to execute it. It took me a spring and a preseason and about four games into the season to really get comfortable, but the game has slowed down tremendously in my head. He kept adding and adding. He wants you to be prepared to beat the team and to go into the game ready to conquer whatever the other team will do to you."