Georgia Tech sophomore defensive end Chico Bennett announced Monday that he has decided to transfer. Bennett played in nine games and started two of them in his sophomore season.
Reached Monday, Bennett told the AJC that he wanted to transfer to a college closer to his home in northern Virginia. Bennett said that, when he came back to campus in June for the beginning of voluntary workouts, he was very hesitant “with the whole COVID issue, which added on to another level of being homesick. I definitely would say that played a big, key part.”
Bennett’s freshman season in 2019 was shortened by injury, and he returned in 2020 to earn a spot in the defensive-end rotation. Bennett finished the season with 14 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and was credited with one quarterback hurry.
Bennett played in seven games and led all freshmen with 17 tackles. A high-school linebacker, Bennett was moved down to defensive end and showed promise with his quickness off the line of scrimmage. He was one of a number of young ends vying for playing time, along with sophomores Jordan Domineck, Curtis Ryans and Sylvain Yondjouen and freshmen Jared Ivey and Kyle Kennard.
Bennett said that the coaching staff was sad but understanding of his decision after he informed them following the Pitt game. Bennett called himself thankful and blessed for his two years at Tech. He feels particularly grateful for defensive ends/outside linebackers coach Marco Coleman.
“To be able to be under him was just awesome,” Bennett said. “He was just pouring knowledge into me, even off the field, which was awesome.”
Bennett said he had already been hearing from teams and hoped to make a decision over the winter break and transfer to a new school in January. He did not rule out ACC schools Virginia and Virginia Tech. Virginia, in fact, recruited him heavily coming out of high school.
Bennett became the eighth scholarship Tech player who started the season with the team to have entered the portal. Pending the NCAA’s expected decision to grant all athletes the right to transfer once without having to sit out a year, Bennett will have three years of eligibility remaining starting next season.
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