North Carolina coach Mack Brown had a noteworthy pronouncement about Georgia Tech’s progress this season.

“Georgia Tech, they’ve come as far as any team I’ve seen,” Brown said at his weekly news conference Monday, in advance of Tech’s matchup with the Tar Heels Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. “They played Clemson down to the wire. The defense just shut Clemson down.”

In Clemson’s 14-8 win over Tech on Saturday, the Yellow Jackets became the first ACC team to hold Clemson under 20 points and under 300 yards of offense since Tech did it in 2014. Brown also noted the experience on the Yellow Jackets’ defense — “they’ve got 14 starters on defense that have either started or played a lot.”

Brown also said that quarterback Jordan Yates — whom Brown pointed out is the nephew of former UNC quarterback T.J. Yates, now on the Falcons’ coaching staff — has “done an outstanding job” and called Jahmyr Gibbs “one of the best running backs in the country” and mentioned that he tried to recruit Gibbs to North Carolina.

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Georgia Tech defensive back Omar Daniels (white shirt) defends against a catch during the first half of a game against the Clemson Tigers on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Atlanta, at Bobby Dodd Stadium. (Jason Allen/AJC)

Credit: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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