Geoff Collins starts tight end search in New Jersey with Dylan Deveney

The last Georgia Tech player to start at tight end was Colin Peek in the 2007 Humanitarian Bowl. The next one may be a high-school prospect who only began playing football midway through his senior season.

Sunday evening, after he had finished an official visit weekend at Rutgers, Dylan Deveney of Medford, N.J., was paid a visit by new Tech coach Geoff Collins. Deveney now holds a scholarship offer to Tech and will make an official visit this weekend.

“(Collins) basically just said that I would be a good fit for the offense that they were going to run,” Deveney told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Monday.

Deveney committed to Rutgers in June, but is now considering Tech, Pittsburgh and Penn along with Rutgers, he said.

“Those are probably the main ones right now,” he said.

Deveney had a relationship with Collins from when he was the coach at Temple and had been offered a scholarship there. Were he to select Tech, he would be Tech’s first signee from the Northeast since wide receiver Ricky Jeune, who was part of Tech’s 2013 class.

It is important for Collins to add tight ends to the roster, either signing them as high school seniors or adding them as transfers. Coach Paul Johnson’s offense did not employ tight ends, so there are none on the roster. At Temple, Collins had five on scholarship on the 2018 roster.

“He said he wants to use one or two tight ends closer to a pro-style type offense, and tight ends are very vital in their offense,” Deveney said.

In the Temple offense, tight ends can block on the line or be flexed out as a receiver.

“I was very impressed with it, and it sounds like a good fit,” Deveney said.

Collins may also have to look on the Tech roster for tight end candidates. Wide receiver Jalen Camp, one of the stronger players on the roster, is a possibility, as is wide receiver Pejé Harris. Quarterback TaQuon Marshall nominated linebacker Tyler Cooksey, who played tight end and linebacker at Greater Atlanta Christian.

“Tyler Cooksey can, for sure,” Marshall said.

Deveney attended Shawnee High in Medford, N.J., and was committed to play baseball for Lafayette College before he decided to try football as a senior.

“My dad played football at Temple and he talked about it with me,” he said. “I just knew I would regret not playing. I had a lot of the tools needed for football.”

That would start with his size – 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds – and enough agility to play for Shawnee’s basketball team. Deveney said he got an offer from Columbia, but then decided to play a post-graduate season at the Hun School in Princeton, N.J., to continue his development and give himself more recruiting options. Before he even enrolled, he had a workout this past spring at Hun that drew a number of offers. He reported an offer from Temple in May.

He said he was not sure about whether he would sign in the early signing period, which begins Dec. 19 and runs through the 21st. The regular period begins Feb. 6 of next year.

Deveney confessed he didn’t know much about Tech. After an official visit this weekend, he’ll likely know a lot more.