Georgia Tech’s defense to feature retooled front

Georgia Tech completely retooled its defensive front over the past seven months. In a little more than three weeks, it will find out whether those new tools are the right ones or not.

“You kinda go, ‘OK, let’s put you in this spot, let’s put you in this direction, let’s get you to lead these guys.’ We talked at the end of practice (Monday) about unit pride. When you’re better, we’re better. They’re buying into that,” Tech defensive line coach Jess Simpson said Monday. “I told my guys (Monday), your job is to build trust in this whole building — with your teammates, with your coaches, with your DC (defensive coordinator), with the head coach, the people that watch. Everybody in this building has gotta believe that when you line up on a Saturday that you’re gonna play winning football.”

Tech grabbed five new defensive linemen, all expected to reform the identity of the team’s defensive front, out of the transfer portal: Akelo Stone (6-2, 290) from Mississippi (who started his college career at Tech), Brayden Manley (6-2, 255) from Mercer, Ronald Triplette (6-2, 260) from Texas San Antonio, Matthew Alexander (6-3, 290) from Central Florida and A.J. Hoffler (6-4, 255) from Clemson.

Only four defensive linemen — Jordan van den Berg (6-3, 300), Jason Moore (6-2, 300), Jordan Boyd (6-3, 250) and Amontrae Bradford (6-5, 245) — from Tech’s Birmingham Bowl depth chart have remained on the 2025 preseason roster.

That’s not necessarily a negative.

“It’s awesome. Just having about nine, 10 guys deep, it’s probably one of the deepest rooms we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Moore said about Tech’s new-look defensive front. “And just different play styles, body types, all of that. Might have people who are better pass rushers, people who are better run stuffers, people who are just, like, better playing off one another with feel.”

Van den Berg made an immediate impact with Tech in 2024 in his first season with the Jackets. He became a second-team all-ACC selection after making 23 tackles (five for a loss), a sack and two fumble recoveries. Moore has appeared in 34 games with the Jackets since 2022 and has been with the program since 2020.

That duo is now surrounded by the aforementioned transfers along with a crop of younger players waiting in the wings, players like freshmen Christian Garrett (6-4, 265) and Carrington Coombs (6-3, 240). So, there is no shortage of options for defensive line coaches Simpson and Kyle Pope to choose from.

It just comes down to choosing the correct ones.

“I like where we’re at and what we’re doing. We’re not there. We’re not close to there, but you see that, ‘Hey, we got a chance.’ And you feel the competition,” Simpson said. “Guys are looking around and they’re watching each other’s teach tape at night, like, ‘Golly, that’s how coach wants it done.’ That’s motivating, it’s invigorating, it’s fun, it’s like, ‘Hey, man, that guy’s on my team.’

“But it’s the momentum of getting a bunch of guys ready to play and having every guy in that room, obviously, ready to play the best ball of his life. If we can get to that, I think there’s enough people in the room that we can have some real depth this year.”

In 2024, Tech’s defense ranked 30th nationally in stopping the run by containing the opposition to 122.2 rushing yards per game. But the Jackets only recorded 18 sacks, the eighth fewest nationally and the fewest for the program since 2019. The team’s 72 tackles for loss were an improvement from the ’23 season but still just 57th nationally.