7 things to note in Georgia Tech’s first ‘Above the Line’ chart of season

With the team fine-tuning its game plan for the season opener, Georgia Tech released its first “Above the Line” chart for the season Tuesday.

A creation of coach Geoff Collins, the chart is intended to recognize players who are ready to play and could see game action. It doesn’t list starters or backups, as in Collins’ view, that isn’t as important as which players will actually play.

Further, as he reiterated Tuesday, a depth chart creates a hierarchy among starters and backups and perhaps instills within reserves a mindset that they don’t need to prepare as much.

1. There are 10 offensive linemen on the chart, the same number as there were for the 2020 opener. Offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude said that he plans to play returning starter Jordan Williams and transfer Nick Pendley at right tackle Saturday against Northern Illinois. Freshman center Weston Franklin is another candidate to be in a rotation Saturday.

“We’ll probably mix six or seven guys in there on Saturday, just to keep ‘em as fresh as we can,” Patenaude said.

2. There are four 2021 freshmen on the chart – center Weston Franklin, slot receiver Malik Rutherford, punter David Shanahan and linebacker Trenilyas Tatum. There were seven for the 2020 opener and 11 for the opener in 2019, Collins’ first season. Collins said he believed it was the fewest number of “true” freshmen to be on an ATL chart in his three seasons, evidence of development of the roster.

“There’s going to be some really good young players that are eventually going to continue to develop and move up, but it’s nice to have some good, quality experience so they don’t have to be thrown in the fire as fast as we might have had to in recent years,” Collins said.

3. There were no shocking omissions, but a few notable returnees not on the chart: wide receivers Avery Boyd (played two games in 2020 before a season-ending injury) and Marquez Ezzard (eight games), defensive tackles D’Quan Douse (nine games with two starts) and Akelo Stone (six games with one start) and defensive back Miles Brooks (four games).

“We’ve got many guys that are continuing to give us depth in the roster and are still able to put good stuff on tape that we’re going to need throughout the season,” defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker said. “We know we’re going to have attrition at some point. It’s inevitable, so that (chart) will be ever changing, ever evolving.”

4. There are three kickoff returners listed – Jahmyr Gibbs, Juanyeh Thomas and Thomas’ older brother Azende Rey, a receiver. Gibbs and Thomas cannot be on the field together because they both wear the No. 1 jersey. Rules do allow for a player to change his jersey number mid-game so long as he reports the change to the referee.

There are three punt returners on the chart – Kyric McGowan, Nate McCollum and Rey. At Florida A&M, Rey returned kickoffs and punts before transferring to Tech before the start of the preseason.

5. Of the 12 players who joined the team since the end of last season through the transfer portal, 11 were on the chart. The only exception is defensive end Keion White, a graduate-transfer defensive end from Old Dominion, who has been out with an injury and is expected to miss the first two games of the season.

The debut of defensive end Kevin Harris, who transferred from Alabama, is particularly anticipated. He was a four-star prospect at Grayson High and has been impressive in the preseason with his quickness.

“He’s going to be a really good player,” Collins said.

6. Only 10 of the 62 players listed (some more than once) are classified as seniors, although there are many players who have played three full seasons who are listed as juniors (as they have two more seasons of eligibility because the NCAA granted fall- and winter-sports athletes an extra season because of COVID-19).

Collins said that Tech’s roster has the fourth fewest seniors among power-conference teams.

“But the guys there in the leadership positions have done a tremendous job for us,” he said.

7. Collins made a point to note that the gunners on the punt team are included, saying the position is “a big deal in this organization.” The four on the list are Dontae Smith, Tobias Oliver, Derrik Allen and Kenan Johnson.

“I bet we’re the only school in the country that lists their gunners,” he said.