Andrew Gardner acknowledges he’ll be a bit nervous for his debut Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Well, he will be, and he won’t be.
“We’re basically talking about football, and (Georgia) Tech football at that. I’m certainly in my wheelhouse. I’d be lying if I said there were no nerves that I may fumble over myself,” Gardner told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “But, to be honest, once you’ve had however many people watch an NFL game watch you mess up on TV, no matter how may Tech fans may be on, probably less ears will be listening to me make a mistake. That helps kind of cut down on the nerves.”
Gardner will be in the radio booth starting at 6 p.m. Saturday ahead of Tech’s showdown with undefeated Duke (8 p.m., ACC Network). He was hired by 680 The Fan this month to call Yellow Jackets football alongside play-by-play voice Andy Demetra. Gardner takes the place of Tech legend Joe Hamilton after 680 chose to, “move in a different direction.”
Saturday’s game for Gardner will be his first in the specific role he was hired to do. The former Tech offensive lineman and longtime professional player has been on the radio before, but never as on-air live analyst.
“(Demetra) and I had spoke in the past, years ago, about the opportunity of possibly doing it. The timing wasn’t right,” Gardner said. “Then when they needed someone new, (Demetra) just reached back out to me to see if I’d be interested. I really couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”
A Sandy Creek High School graduate, Gardner started 48 consecutive games for the Jackets from 2005-08. He was named first team all-ACC in 2007 and 2008, was a team captain in 2008 and a freshman All-American in 2005.
The Miami Dolphins selected Gardner with the 181st pick of the 2009 NFL draft. He would go on to be part of six organizations over nine seasons, finally hanging up his cleats in 2017. Since then, Gardner dabbled in sales, but mostly has devoted his time to his family and coaching youth sports.
Now, not only does he get to return to Bobby Dodd Stadium on a consistent basis, he’ll get to hit the road with the Jackets and somewhat relive his days with the team.
“I’m really looking forward to it. I grew up a Georgia Tech fan. So for me it was, quite literally, a dream come true to get to play football at Tech,” he said. “To get to continue that relationship, that experience in a new way is gonna be really neat. I’ve always wanted to go back to places I went as a player in a different capacity. This certainly opens up a unique way to do that.”
Gardner should have a doozy to talk about Saturday when Tech (3-2, 1-2 ACC) hosts Duke (5-0, 1-0 ACC). The Blue Devils are coming off a 21-20 victory over archrival North Carolina and have won three of their five games by an average of four points.
The Jackets have been off since losing 31-19 at Louisville on Sept. 21. They have seven regular-season games remaining, three against ranked opponents, to improve on last season’s win total (7) and to make a bowl game in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2013-14.
“I think you can count me among the Tech fans that are excited about the direction of the program. It’s exciting to have a Tech man like coach (Brent) Key there, just coming to watch the development of what he and his staff are doing. Like I said, you can count me of the people who are excited and are bullish on the future of Georgia Tech football.”
