Early in the month, the big story with Georgia Tech and the transfer portal was about how the Yellow Jackets had kept any of their main offensive starters from entering the portal and leaving.
Running back Jamal Haynes, wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr, wide receiver Malik Rutherford, and the offensive line announced that they were coming back and not going anywhere. It was huge news for one of the top offenses in the country and felt like a victory for the program.
Here lately though, the transfer portal news has been headlined by several departures on defense. DB Kenyatta Watson II, DB Kenan Johnson, DB K.J. Wallace, DL Etinosa Reuben, DL Kyle Kennard, DL Malcolm Pugh, DL Noah Collins, DL Jason Moore, DL Bryston Dixon, DL D’Quan Douse, LB Trenilyas Tatum, and LB Ashton Heflin are all entering the portal. Not only that but impact players like Jaylon King, Myles Sims, and Paul Moala are out of eligibility.
In my opinion, though, Georgia Tech can overcome these recent portal entries. There is nowhere to go but up for this defense from a statistical standpoint and head coach Brent Key is in the midst of remaking his defensive staff to try and be better on that side of the ball next year.
Now, I am not saying that losing some of these players does not hurt a little bit and that some of them were not talented.
Wallace, Douse, and Kennard were all starters and made winning plays in games this year. I would have liked to see these players stay instead of enter the portal, but losing them does not automatically mean that this defense is not going to be good next year or not improved.
One thing that does concern me is the depth. Kennard and Douse were starters up front, but a lot of the other defensive linemen who are leaving are freshmen or backups.
Georgia Tech still returns experienced players on the defensive line such as Makius Scott, Eddie Kelly, Josh Robinson, Kevin Harris, and Sylvain Yondjouen will be back from injury, Horace Lockett and Zeek Biggers are also returning.
The Yellow Jackets also got Furman defensive end transfer Jack Barton from the portal, as well as signing talented freshmen like Amontrae Bradford, Uche Iloh, and Jordan Boyd.
You can’t always expect or rely on true freshmen for depth, but this coaching staff showed an ability to get the most out of some young players last year like Eric Singleton Jr and Ethan Mackenny.
Georgia Tech is also bringing back Kyle Efford at linebacker and he had a great finish to the 2023 season and was a bright spot for the defense. Key also got Georgia transfer E.J. Lightsey and Louisville transfer Jackson Hamilton from the portal.
Losing Wallace, Sims, and King in the secondary is tough, but again, Key did well to get good players in the portal to help replace them. Rhode Island transfer Sayeed Gibbs and Tennessee transfer Warren Burrell could be instant impact players.
Another thing to consider when thinking about the defense next year is that there will be new coaches on the staff to help orchestrate the turnaround Key has already made one big hire on that front.
Former Duke defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator Jess Simpson is going to be joining the Yellow Jackets staff in a role to be announced at a later date according to Kelly Quinlan of Rivals.
While Simpson will be a part of the defensive staff, Brent Key has yet to find a defensive coordinator. That search remains ongoing.
I think this is a strong hire for Key. Simpson was a fantastic high school head coach while he was at Buford from 2005-2016.
He spent a year as a defensive assistant with the Atlanta Falcons before joining Mark Richt’s staff at Miami in 2018. After a year with the Hurricanes, he returned to Atlanta to coach the Falcons defensive line for two seasons before heading back to Miami for another year with the Hurricanes.
After Manny Diaz was fired at Miami, Simpson joined Mike Elko’s staff at Duke, where he was the co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach for the past two seasons.
Simpson brings not just experience as a defensive coach, but as a recruiter in the state of Georgia, which will be huge for Key.
I am not trying to downplay these guys leaving. They all have talent, but the fact is that this defense ranked at the bottom of the country in a lot of categories and is undergoing a lot of changes in personnel and on the staff.
For this team to improve upon this season in 2024, they have to fix the defensive issues from this year. That will require different personnel and coaches and Key is already working on both.
Keep in mind that the transfer portal is still open and Georgia Tech can add more guys to the defense. The portal works both ways.
Losing some of these guys is tough and nobody likes to see players enter the portal, but I don’t think there is any reason that the Yellow Jackets can’t improve on defense in 2024.
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