ATLANTA- Mother Nature offered some relief from the warm weather for Georgia Tech's third practice via a heavy rainstorm over the city of Atlanta during the afternoon session. After practice, defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker spoke to the media for the first time since spring ball and updated the depth chart for the defense as it stands early in camp, and offered some thoughts on seeing his unit in shells for the first time this fall.
The biggest area of concern on paper comes from the linebacker position for the Yellow Jackets. Ayinde Eley and Charlie Thomas combined for 230 tackles, 20.5 tackles for a loss and 5.5 sacks last season as well as six takeaways. Thacker said those two left big shoes to fill, but he likes the variety of options they have brought into the mix to fill that void plus a returning face last year's third linebacker Treniylas Tatum.
"Kevin Sherrer (linebacker coach) is doing a phenomenal job with that position group and really taking ownership there. The one who gave himself an advantage through spring practice was Trenilyas Tatum. Number one was availability which is a pretty thing to play the linebacker position and he was available for all 15 practices and I thought he was a better version of himself than last year," Thacker said. "If you remember last year Charlie Thomas had two targeting non-starts this past season and so Trenilyas has some starts under his belt to have some real experience, but last year we really relied on Charlie and Ace Eley. Trenilyas got his feet wet but he hasn't made it through a season as the guy."
Tech added a trio of transfers, Braelen Oliver (Minnesota) and Andre White (Texas A&M) this spring and this summer Paul Moala (Idaho/Notre Dame) via the portal to create competition and depth according to Thacker.
"The worst case scenario is we feel like we have competition and depth with Andre White, Braelen Oliver and then we brought in Paul Moala after spring practice and we have a small sample size of what they can do here at Georgia Tech," he said. "All of those guys have played real downs at their previous universities. We have seen what it looks like when they make plays and we value that and we brought them here, but (Oliver and White) had limited action in the spring and we are on day three here and coach (Key) surprised us with shoulder pads after two days in just underwear so I'll have to watch some tape to get more context on them."
Behind Tatum and the three senior transfers the Jackets have a few other players that could fit into the mix like redshirt freshman Kyle Efford, true freshman early enrollee Ashton Heflin and veteran Tyson Meiguez who was healthy for the first time last season and limited to mainly special teams.
"Other guys of note in that position group are Kyle Efford and Ashton Heflin as a freshman of note and then Tyson Meiguez has been around for some time and they should be able to compete at that position.
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I asked him about looking at some 3 LB sets now that they have more depth and he mentioned they showed that look some last year with Tatum at the SAM with Thomas and Eley and now they have Paul Moala who played a ton of SAM/Overhang LB and Braelen Oliver who was playing pretty much that spot at Minnesota as well and they can both play WLB (Money LB) as well so they can be more creative when they face teams with bigger personal due to the LB depth and then they have a lot of options for third down with dime packages or pass rush packages due to the depth on the defense.
On the DL, Thacker said that Marco Coleman and Brian Baker are doing a great job there and they finally have some P5 sized DTs with Zeek Biggers and Horace Lockett fulfilling his long term plan there plus very experienced guys like D'Quan Douse and Makius Scott from last year and even Jason Moore is back so the have 5-deep at DT at the moment and he mentioned that Moore even had a key sack against UNC despite being a walk-on at the time.
Thacker said at the rush end spot all three guys have started games, Kyle Kennard, Noah Collins and Kevin Harris and they have depth there and need more production. He said at the field end spot Sylvain Yondjouen will aim to replace Keion White and he is really excited about Eddie Kelly the transfer from USF and ET (Etinosa Reuben) the Clemson transfer and what they bring along with Josh Robinson who has now played a lot of football. He feels like they have some options to mix and match and size up at DE as well with two bigger ends or two small ends depending on the package.
Thacker gave a long anecdotal story about the VT game and how that was a key moment for this defense last year and what he wants to see more of as they got the turnover in the red zone that led to the comeback win on the road with a true freshman Zach Pyron starting. I suggest listening to it. It's 7 solid minutes.
I asked Thacker how they plan to use the three starting safety types, LaMiles Brooks, Clayton Powell-Lee and Jaylon King and he said that LaMiles cross-trains from FS to SS, to nickel and Powell-Lee from strong to free and King is anchored more as the FS in the D and is also the free safety in their dime package and other subpackages. They will have a rotation in the game for them and he likes the relationships they all have and there will be a need for some level of humility from them on who starts, but they will all play.
Thacker said the safeties did such a great job getting them out of bad defensive calls with checks last year and communicating with the rest of the defense and that is a key aspect that is overlooked and the way Buster Faulkner runs the offense tests them all the time.
Thacker said Ahmari Harvey has been the top CB so far through three days and he grew up a lot this spring and they acknowledged him after practice for his performance thus far through camp. He had some immature moments last year, but he is learning to be a better version of himself and it is showing up on the field. He has the most football disruptions (INTs, FF, FR, PBUs, punchouts) of any player through three days.
Overall at CB, he said that Kenan Johnson had a great spring and stayed healthy which was the biggest thing holding him back in the past and he is poised to have a big season. They have Myles SIms back who has played the most downs at CB and Kenyatta Watson has come on as well in that rotation. They also moved Rodney Shelley to CB this fall and he is cross-trained at the nickel spot as well and they are excited about his position flexibility.
Chad asked Thacker about being a native Georgian and what that means to him at GT and he told a very interesting story about the nature of his business and family. His kids have the rare opportunity to be in the same school since they started school and they haven't had to move. His son is now starting Kindergarten and has the same teacher as his sister who is in the third grade which is rare in the coaching profession and he talked about how much he loves Georgia and his stepdad was a long-time coach at Cass HS. He said that he really believes in what Brent Key is doing to turn things around here and change perceptions of Georgia Tech and then turn that into a reality and he understands the responsibility that Key gave him in that and he has a ton of respect for Georgia Tech and he hopes they can capitalize on that with great performances on the field.
The biggest area of concern on paper comes from the linebacker position for the Yellow Jackets. Ayinde Eley and Charlie Thomas combined for 230 tackles, 20.5 tackles for a loss and 5.5 sacks last season as well as six takeaways. Thacker said those two left big shoes to fill, but he likes the variety of options they have brought into the mix to fill that void plus a returning face last year's third linebacker Treniylas Tatum.
"Kevin Sherrer (linebacker coach) is doing a phenomenal job with that position group and really taking ownership there. The one who gave himself an advantage through spring practice was Trenilyas Tatum. Number one was availability which is a pretty thing to play the linebacker position and he was available for all 15 practices and I thought he was a better version of himself than last year," Thacker said. "If you remember last year Charlie Thomas had two targeting non-starts this past season and so Trenilyas has some starts under his belt to have some real experience, but last year we really relied on Charlie and Ace Eley. Trenilyas got his feet wet but he hasn't made it through a season as the guy."
Tech added a trio of transfers, Braelen Oliver (Minnesota) and Andre White (Texas A&M) this spring and this summer Paul Moala (Idaho/Notre Dame) via the portal to create competition and depth according to Thacker.
"The worst case scenario is we feel like we have competition and depth with Andre White, Braelen Oliver and then we brought in Paul Moala after spring practice and we have a small sample size of what they can do here at Georgia Tech," he said. "All of those guys have played real downs at their previous universities. We have seen what it looks like when they make plays and we value that and we brought them here, but (Oliver and White) had limited action in the spring and we are on day three here and coach (Key) surprised us with shoulder pads after two days in just underwear so I'll have to watch some tape to get more context on them."
Behind Tatum and the three senior transfers the Jackets have a few other players that could fit into the mix like redshirt freshman Kyle Efford, true freshman early enrollee Ashton Heflin and veteran Tyson Meiguez who was healthy for the first time last season and limited to mainly special teams.
"Other guys of note in that position group are Kyle Efford and Ashton Heflin as a freshman of note and then Tyson Meiguez has been around for some time and they should be able to compete at that position.
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I asked him about looking at some 3 LB sets now that they have more depth and he mentioned they showed that look some last year with Tatum at the SAM with Thomas and Eley and now they have Paul Moala who played a ton of SAM/Overhang LB and Braelen Oliver who was playing pretty much that spot at Minnesota as well and they can both play WLB (Money LB) as well so they can be more creative when they face teams with bigger personal due to the LB depth and then they have a lot of options for third down with dime packages or pass rush packages due to the depth on the defense.
On the DL, Thacker said that Marco Coleman and Brian Baker are doing a great job there and they finally have some P5 sized DTs with Zeek Biggers and Horace Lockett fulfilling his long term plan there plus very experienced guys like D'Quan Douse and Makius Scott from last year and even Jason Moore is back so the have 5-deep at DT at the moment and he mentioned that Moore even had a key sack against UNC despite being a walk-on at the time.
Thacker said at the rush end spot all three guys have started games, Kyle Kennard, Noah Collins and Kevin Harris and they have depth there and need more production. He said at the field end spot Sylvain Yondjouen will aim to replace Keion White and he is really excited about Eddie Kelly the transfer from USF and ET (Etinosa Reuben) the Clemson transfer and what they bring along with Josh Robinson who has now played a lot of football. He feels like they have some options to mix and match and size up at DE as well with two bigger ends or two small ends depending on the package.
Thacker gave a long anecdotal story about the VT game and how that was a key moment for this defense last year and what he wants to see more of as they got the turnover in the red zone that led to the comeback win on the road with a true freshman Zach Pyron starting. I suggest listening to it. It's 7 solid minutes.
I asked Thacker how they plan to use the three starting safety types, LaMiles Brooks, Clayton Powell-Lee and Jaylon King and he said that LaMiles cross-trains from FS to SS, to nickel and Powell-Lee from strong to free and King is anchored more as the FS in the D and is also the free safety in their dime package and other subpackages. They will have a rotation in the game for them and he likes the relationships they all have and there will be a need for some level of humility from them on who starts, but they will all play.
Thacker said the safeties did such a great job getting them out of bad defensive calls with checks last year and communicating with the rest of the defense and that is a key aspect that is overlooked and the way Buster Faulkner runs the offense tests them all the time.
Thacker said Ahmari Harvey has been the top CB so far through three days and he grew up a lot this spring and they acknowledged him after practice for his performance thus far through camp. He had some immature moments last year, but he is learning to be a better version of himself and it is showing up on the field. He has the most football disruptions (INTs, FF, FR, PBUs, punchouts) of any player through three days.
Overall at CB, he said that Kenan Johnson had a great spring and stayed healthy which was the biggest thing holding him back in the past and he is poised to have a big season. They have Myles SIms back who has played the most downs at CB and Kenyatta Watson has come on as well in that rotation. They also moved Rodney Shelley to CB this fall and he is cross-trained at the nickel spot as well and they are excited about his position flexibility.
Chad asked Thacker about being a native Georgian and what that means to him at GT and he told a very interesting story about the nature of his business and family. His kids have the rare opportunity to be in the same school since they started school and they haven't had to move. His son is now starting Kindergarten and has the same teacher as his sister who is in the third grade which is rare in the coaching profession and he talked about how much he loves Georgia and his stepdad was a long-time coach at Cass HS. He said that he really believes in what Brent Key is doing to turn things around here and change perceptions of Georgia Tech and then turn that into a reality and he understands the responsibility that Key gave him in that and he has a ton of respect for Georgia Tech and he hopes they can capitalize on that with great performances on the field.
