He said he recognized the play from earlier in the season, a play the Yellow Jackets had been burned on because they were unprepared to defend it. But this time, Georgia Tech linebacker E.J. Lightsey sprung into action Thursday and pounced on North Carolina State’s attempt to run a jet sweep from left to right out of an odd formation, one in which the offensive linemen were stacked far to the left of the ball on the line of scrimmage.
Lightsey shot into the backfield and was in the right place at the right time as NC State quarterback C.J. Bailey tried to pop a small pass forward to KC Concepcion, who bobbled the attempted catch. The ball caromed off Bailey, up into the air and into the waiting arms of Lightsey who was off to the races for a 21-yard interception for a touchdown.
The play by far was the biggest of Lightsey’s young college career, which started at Georgia in 2022. Now Lightsey, who has played 45 defensive snaps in Tech’s past two wins, faces his former team at 7:30 p.m. Friday when the Jackets take on Georgia (9-2), ranked No. 10 in the College Football Playoff rankings entering Tuesday.
“The mentality is just like it is every other week,” Lightsey said Thursday about going up against the red and black. “We’re just trying to go and get a win. But this one gonna be great for sure. Big rivalry, old school, and, like we say, state championship. So I’m just ready to make it to Friday and come out with a win.”
Lightsey (6-foot-2, 230 pounds) was a notable signee for UGA in the 2022 class. A star at Fitzgerald High School, Lightsey was reported to have more than 20 scholarship offers and was a three-star recruit, according to the 247Sports Composite. He won a state title with Fitzgerald in 2021, was a Class 2A All-State selection and was named The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Class 2A defensive player of the year.
But just days after signing with Georgia in February 2022, Lightsey sustained gunshot wounds during a shooting in Fitzgerald. Authorities labeled Lightsey “an innocent bystander” in the shooting that claimed the life of 37-year-old Maurice Robinson.
Lightsey made it to Athens in the summer of 2022. He appeared in four games for a total of 19 defensive plays during the ‘22 season. Lightsey did not play for UGA during the 2023 campaign, and he put his name in the transfer portal in December.
Two weeks later he announced his move to Tech.
“When he got here, he was banged up. Had an injury he had to get taken care of,” Tech coach Brent Key said. “Through the offseason and through the summer and then right about the time he started making it back, he got, I think the first or second game of the year on kickoff cover, had a pretty nasty hamstring (injury).
“So he’s really (now) had the consistency of being healthy, that’s been the big thing. You’re really starting to see him play faster, be quicker in his reads and what he has to get done. He’s a big, strong guy that can run, and he’s starting to show up now.”
The hamstring injury forced Lightsey to miss four games in the heart of Tech’s season. He made his return on special teams in a win at North Carolina on Oct. 12, then got back in on the defensive action a week later against Notre Dame and recorded three tackles.
Lightsey’s best game of the season was Nov. 9 in Tech’s monumental upset of then-No. 4 Miami. He made a career-high six stops and with a tackling grade of 79.9, according to Pro Football Focus, was fourth-best among Tech defenders and his rating stopping the run was second-best.
“(Lightsey’s) playing ball. I couldn’t be more happy with how E.J.’s playing,” Tech linebacker Kyle Efford said.
Lightsey should remain a key part of Tech’s defensive game plan against the Bulldogs. Although technically listed as a backup at the position behind starters Efford and Trenilyas Tatum, Tech’s propensity to rotate as many as five linebackers means Lightsey should be back on his own stomping grounds of Sanford Stadium on Friday night.
It will have been a long and winding road back to a place he briefly called home.
“These last past four years there’s been a lot of adversity, a lot of downs, a lot of ups,” Lightsey said. “But I just stayed grounded, continued to work, continued to try to perfect my craft just to prove to myself and prove to everybody else that I can do it, that I’m still capable.”