The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are in the training camp phase of the 2026-27 college football season, with a lot of position groups yet to be figured out. The defensive line is a major part of that.
Georgia Tech Football: 3 Takeaways from DL Presser
Georgia Tech’s defensive line lost another player to the draft, with Jordan van den Berg selected by the Chicago Bears. Still, there’s a lot of talent up front. Georgia Tech has at least seven interior defensive linemen on OurLads’ depth chart and nine on the roster, giving DL coach Jess Simpson a lot to choose from. Here were a few takeaways from his press conference.
True Freshman Making Waves
True freshman Christian Speakman’s name kept popping up in these interviews. He has been making waves in the Georgia Tech clubhouse, and he might compete for a high snap count early on.
“We’re really excited he’s on our football team,” said Simpson. “Very, very talented young man … he has a lot of natural instinct for understanding how to fight blocks, play blocks, fight pressure. His play with his hands, for his age and his experience, is at an above-average level.”
Shymeik Jones and Tawfiq Thomas highlighted Speakman as a great pairing on the defensive line.
“Working with Speakman, him being a big body, him being able to move at his size and being able to sit on blocks, it’s just helps me parallel working on the three-tech,” said Jones.
Speakman was a three-star recruit from Morrow High School in Morrow, Georgia. He was the No. 140 defensive lineman in the nation, and outside of Georgia Tech, Wake Forest was the only Power 4 school that offered him. Safe to say, Georgia Tech got themselves a steal.
Lot of Age Disparity
The Georgia Tech defensive line room is a good mix of older guys and younger guys. There are people like Tawfiq Thomas, a redshirt senior transfer from Colorado and Louisville, and Shymeik Jones, a redshirt junior who’s been with the Yellow Jackets for four seasons.
Then, there are guys like Speakman, a true freshman, and Landen Marshall, a redshirt freshman. It’s an interesting mix of defensive linemen.
It has also helped Thomas and Jones become leaders on the defensive line.
“The new guys have done a really good job of buying into the culture and being good teammates,” said Simpson. “There’s a lot of coaching going on in the room from player to player, which as a coach is really fun to watch.”
When Jones was asked about anybody he’s put under his wing, he described almost all of the underclassmen in Georgia’s DT room.
“Just seeing them and the preparation they put in, just like how they want to get better, it just makes me feel like better and makes me want to work harder for them,” said Jones.
Overall, there’s just a lot of variety in the room.
“It’s been really different because it’s either really old or really young,” said Simpson. “You know, there’s not a lot of kids right there in the middle.”
More Depth Than Years Past
There was an interesting point that could be seen by anyone looking up the roster: there’s a lot of depth in the defensive line this season. As I touched on in the intro, there are nine defensive linemen on the Georgia Tech roster, and at least seven could be competing for snaps in rotation.
“I think it’s a unique mix,” commented Simpson about the defensive line room. “There’s some size and girth, some depth that we haven’t had. There’s some twitch with some young guys and some movement ability. So I think what I like about this room, number one, is the depth.”
That could help Simpson rotate the defensive line more and keep players fresh, something that is becoming more common in college football.
“I believe this man, when guys are fresh, their burst looks good and they play really, really fast,” said Simpson. “If I can get a room that’s four or five, six deep, I’m going to fight like crazy to play all those guys and have them fresh.”
The depth is also a double-edged sword, since there are so many players fighting for snaps. “If if you got a good player and he’s not playing enough snaps in a row, it’s hard to find that rhythm in a game,” said Simpson.
Overall, the Georgia Tech defensive line is another position group to watch this season. They’ve been solid at producing draftable talent over the years, such as Zeke Biggers and Jordan van den Berg, but this year’s core feels different from other years. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.
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