(Editor's note: Georgia Tech quarterback Joe Hamilton will share a weekly diary with ESPN.com throughout the season. For more on the Yellow Jackets, visit the FANSonly Georgia Tech team page. For more on the ACC, visit the conference's official site at theacc.com.)

Oct. 5, 1999

My height doesn't bother me at all. Sometimes I get tired of hearing the same questions over and over again, but I love to answer them. You're on the football field to win. You get first downs, make touchdowns, and win ballgames. You are just trying to win ballgames -- that's what you are trying to do. Size doesn't matter.

	Hamilton passed for 2,166 yards in 1998, leading Tech to a 10-2 record.

People are always talking about my height, but I need those people. I need one or two critics to stay on my back, to say I'm not tall enough and that I don't have enough arm strength. That's what keeps me working and going to practice each day trying to be the best. If you have critics, you can always work on something. If everyone is on your side, then you get little complacent. I hope the critics stay there and keep me working.

My throws get batted down as much as anybody else. I was watching the NFL and Drew Bledsoe was getting them knocked down and he's 6-foot-6. Every quarterback in the nation needs to find good passing lanes to throw through -- if they don't, they are going to get their balls batted down. I pride myself on dropping back fast and reading coverages quickly to be able to deliver the ball on time.

Other than that, I don't see many problems. But in the NFL, they want big quarterbacks. And if they do, then so be it. I'm going to keep working and working and if I get a shot, good, if not then I will try and play football somewhere. I love Doug Flutie. I look at his completion percentage. I look at his interceptions. I'm just looking for things that they say so-called small quarterbacks can't do: They can't read coverages; they throw a lot of interceptions; they don't have a high completion percentage.

He scrambles. There used to be a time when I didn't want to scramble, because I didn't want to be known as a scrambling quarterback. I don't think about that anymore. I'm here to make first downs, the team is here to make first downs. So all I want to accomplish is move the chains and get touchdowns. So Doug Flutie and a couple of the others guys that have gotten the opportunity to play in the NFL and are of short stature, what they're doing is opening doors for guys like myself and other guys around the nation. That's why I'm a big fan of Doug Flutie.

	THE FULL DOSE OF DIARIES
	UCLA's Danny Farmer: Record is small consolation
	Oregon's Reuben Droughns: Waiting to get back in the game
	Oklahoma's Bob Stoops: Forget Irish; bring on 'Horns
	Oregon State's Ken Simonton: Can't let another slip away
	Ole Miss' Todd Wade: Climbing to the top 25
	Wyoming's Jared Jarnagin: Defense was the key

When I was being recruited, some schools were saying that they would try me out at quarterback and if that didn't work out then they would switch me to another position. I didn't really feel confident that they would give me the shot to fail at quarterback. The minute I made a mistake, I was gone. They wouldn't allow me the time to learn at quarterback, the time to make freshman mistakes at quarterback. They weren't going to allow that to happen, so I made the decision to come to Georgia Tech.

I thought coming there that Penn State was the best program in the nation. Coach Paterno is an honest man, but I really didn't have the feeling that they were going to give me the opportunity to play quarterback.

It feels good to keep working hard and be able to point your finger out and say I told you so. I don't point my finger and say 'hey you made a mistake.' I just smile at them -- they can see. Everything happens for a reason. All those critics that said that I can't, that keeps me going. That keeps the challenge for me to go out there and work hard.

'The NFL is more strict, more business-like, They invest a lot of money in players, so they have to make sure that you can do it. Why not? I want to do whatever it takes. I want some guys to realize that the stats and the wins, they do speak for themselves. Stature, height that's not a disadvantage, the W's speak for themselves.

This week we play North Carolina, and they have a good team. They're 1-3 right now, but they are much better than that. They have made some mistakes that have caused them to 1-3, but they could easily be 4-0 or 3-1. We have to realize that. They are going to come down here and we are going to have to play our "A" game to beat them. They have a lot of athletes that can really hurt you.

We just have to go out there and play Georgia Tech football. North Carolina is not going to give us anything. They are very aggressive. They are really hungry, they want to win bad. Everyone wants the opportunity to come down here and beat Georgia Tech. We have to go out there and execute the game plan. We have to be balanced and make plays when they present themselves. We can't have the turnovers we had against Maryland and we can't beat ourselves.