Georgia Tech defensive tackle Jimmie Kitchen has been indefinitely suspended from the team and is likely to transfer. In the meantime, he will not be permitted to take part in team activities.
Kitchen has played 11 games in his first two seasons in a backup role for the Yellow Jackets. The suspension is not believed to be due to a legal offense or failed drug test. He remains in school.
Kitchen’s high school coach at Lithonia, Marcus Jelks, said that Kitchen is most likely going to transfer. Jelks surmised that the transfer would occur before the fall semester begins and would be to an FCS school, as a transfer to an FBS school would require him to sit out a year and leave him with only one season of eligibility.
While Kitchen was not pegged to play a significant role for the team coming out of spring practice, his suspension and potential departure follows the loss of three other defensive linemen from last year’s team who had been expected to return. Anthony Williams was not invited to return to the team and transferred to Troy after graduating. Jabari Hunt-Days was declared academically ineligible after the semester and cannot play this season. Justin Akins left the team in March.
It leaves 12 scholarship players on the defensive line. Only one of the 12, nose tackle Adam Gotsis, has starting experience, and five have not taken a snap for Tech. That includes Kenderius Whitehead, who was a junior-college All-American at Georgia Military College last fall and will enroll at Tech following his graduation this summer.
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