Georgia Tech’s defense is getting a reset heading into fall camp, and the Yellow Jackets are leaning hard on transfers, bounce-back seasons and a few young players who need to grow up fast.
Under Brent Key, Georgia Tech has already cycled through three defensive coordinators and is now onto a fourth in Jason Semore. The assignment is clear: make this group more aggressive, get after the quarterback, and create turnovers. If that happens, the Yellow Jackets have a chance to look a lot sturdier than they did in 2025, when they faded down the stretch.
Up front, the edge spots look like a transfer-driven battle. Jordan Walker and Noah Carter are projected as the starters, with Amontrae Bradford and Taje McCoy behind them.
Walker and Carter both flashed in the spring game, piling up two sacks apiece and giving Georgia Tech the kind of disruption it has been missing. Carter brings athleticism off the edge, while Walker arrives with the benefit of a solid Rutgers career.
Bradford showed some promise in limited work last season, and McCoy looks like a portal addition who could end up being a sneaky useful piece. Andre Fuller Jr, Jordan Boyd, Brayden Manley, and A.J.
Hoffler are also in the mix for depth, and Manley and Hoffler will be trying to rebound after disappointing 2025 seasons.
The interior defensive line has a similar feel. Tawfiq Thomas and Vincent Carroll-Jackson are the projected starters, with Christian Garrett and Shymeik Jones next up.
Georgia Tech brought in Thomas and Carroll-Jackson to add size and help fix a run defense that struggled. Both transfers are expected to play major roles right away.
Garrett, a former blue-chip recruit, showed flashes in limited snaps last year, while Jones has the frame and profile the staff wants and may be ready to put it together in his third season. Tim Griffin, Derry Norris Jr, Christian Speakman, and Landen Marshall are all part of the picture too, with Speakman and Griffin standing out in spring.
At linebacker, the Yellow Jackets are sticking with Kyle Efford and E.J. Lightsey as the starters, and Cayman Spaulding and Melvin Jordan IV behind them.
It’s the same group as last season, minus Tah'j Butler, who transferred to Ole Miss. Semore wants this unit to play with more edge and resemble the 2022 version with Ace Eley and Charlie Thomas.
That means better run defense and better tackling. Efford, Lightsey, Spaulding and Jordan all need bounce-back seasons, and the room has the ability to deliver them.
Freshmen Braylon Outlaw and CJ Gamble are also in the mix, and Outlaw drew a lot of praise for his spring performance.
The secondary is where the turnover is the most obvious. Georgia Tech lost its top three corners from the 2025 team, but it does return some experience and added two transfers with starting potential.
The projected corner group has Jaylen Mbakwe, Jonas Duclona, and Kelvin Hill starting, with Zachary Tobe, Daiquan White, and Elgin Sessions backing them up. Tobe, White, Hill, and Jon Mitchell all played meaningful snaps last season, with Tobe and Hill each logging more than 400, White playing 288, and Mitchell just over 100.
Mbakwe is the name to watch here; he could become one of the best players on the roster and the most talented corner Georgia Tech has had on the back end in years. Duclona was the best corner on USF last season and is trying to carry that form over.
Sessions, after a limited freshman year, should see more work as the backup nickel. Freshmen Jaedyn Terry and Trae Stevenson Jr. are worth monitoring as well.
Safety is another spot loaded with talent but short on proven depth. Tae Harris and Fenix Felton are projected to start, with Savion Riley and Kealan Jones behind them.
Harris has the look of a potential breakout defender in the ACC, while Felton finished last season strongly. Riley is the veteran of the group, but staying healthy is a must.
The rest of the room includes freshmen Kealan Jones, Kymani Morales, Chris Hewitt Jr, and Isaac Obrokta, none of whom have played in a game yet. Jones earned praise in the spring for his maturity and how quickly he adjusted, and Georgia Tech may need at least one of those young defensive backs to become a dependable rotation piece.
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Now comes the harder part: keeping it together. Key and his staff are sorting through evaluations of the committed players while trying to hold off other programs that will keep pushing for flips, and the recent addition of DeAndre Hopkins as assistant wide receivers coach adds another layer to the effort, especially at a position where Georgia Tech would love to keep building. Miami may still be setting the pace in the ACC chase, but the Jackets have put themselves in a position where the next few weeks could matter a lot. [Read more 🡒]
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For Georgia Tech, the appeal is obvious: Hopkins spent years winning with technique, body control and consistency against the best defensive backs in football, and that kind of firsthand knowledge can be invaluable for a group trying to grow together. The timing also makes the move even more interesting, since the start of camp gives Hopkins an immediate chance to work with the room and help accelerate development before the season starts taking shape. [Read more 🡒]