Georgia Tech’s wide receiver room is shaping up as the most unsettled position battle on campus when fall camp opens next week.
The Yellow Jackets have a month to get ready for their season opener against Colorado, but this group enters 2026 with a glaring lack of proven production and a new quarterback to sync up with in Alberto Mendoza. Georgia Tech had a strong number of returning starters in 2025, yet it now sits near the bottom of the ACC in returning production, and the uncertainty at receiver stands out even among a roster full of fresh faces.
The two names that look safest for steady snaps are Jordan Allen and Isaiah Fuhrmann. Allen is the only returning receiver who caught a pass last season, and Georgia Tech used him as a multi-dimensional weapon. That role appears likely to continue under offensive coordinator George Godsey.
Fuhrmann brings the kind of size and production this room needs. He arrives after catching 46 passes for 907 yards and nine touchdowns at Elon, averaging more than 19 yards per catch. At 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, he gives the Jackets a big target with experience, though he’ll have to show he can keep producing against a much tougher level of competition.
After those two, the picture gets murkier fast.
Rahkeem Smith has experience from his time at Delaware State and Bowling Green, but he didn’t play last season. Evan Haynes and Debron Gatling also sat out after transferring in from North Carolina and South Carolina, though both looked like preferred options for Mendoza in the spring game and could work their way into the mix this fall.
Jaiven Plummer fits into that same conversation. He comes from Cal with Power Four experience, but he has just two career catches. Chris Elko and Cal Faulkner have combined for zero catches in their careers, which tells you how thin the proven depth really is.
Then there’s Dalen Penson, the converted cornerback who might be the best athlete in the room and brings speed on the outside. The question is whether he can turn that athleticism into trust as a target, since he has no collegiate catches to his name.
The freshmen could matter here, too. Darnell Collins, Kentrell Davis, J.J. Winston, and Jeffar Jean-Noel are all in the mix for playing time, and while true freshmen usually have a hard time breaking through, Georgia Tech’s lack of experience at receiver keeps that door open.
The players I’d watch most closely are Penson, Gatling, and the freshmen. Allen and Fuhrmann should lead the way in targets, but Georgia Tech needs more than two options if it wants a passing game that can hold up. The Jackets want to win with toughness, physicality, and the run game, but they won’t reach the ACC Championship game without a dependable aerial attack.
That makes the next month critical for the entire room, and new wide receivers coach Jafar Williams could end up using a lot of different combinations before this thing settles.
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