Georgia Tech Football: Yellow Jackets Finish 19th in ESPN's Final 2025 Recruiting Class Rankings

Georgia Tech reeled in one of the program's best ever recruiting classes in the 2025 cycle

Jackson Caudell | Feb 6, 2025

Nov 29, 2024; Athens, Georgia, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key on the sideline against the Georgia Bulldogs in the third quarter at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

With the addition of the early signing period in December, the traditional signing day in February has lost a little bit of its luster over the years. Most programs have their classes wrapped up by the time the February signing day comes around and one of those programs was Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets added kicker Landon Shaffer on Signing Day, but there were no other additions.

With signing day over, ESPN released their final top 75 classes for the cycle and Georgia Tech came in at No. 19. Here is what analyst Craig Haubert had to say about the recruiting haul that Brent Key and his staff have brought in:

ESPN 300 commits: 5
Top offensive prospect: OT Josh Petty
Top defensive prospect: S Tae Harris

Ranking entering Wednesday: 19

"The Yellow Jackets are wisely taking advantage of the deep pool of prospects in talent-rich Georgia. Versatile defensive back Dalen Penson is an excellent pickup. He contributed at wide receiver, quarterback and secondary in high school. He's also a good track-and-field athlete. Projecting to defense, Penson plays aggressively with good quickness and ball skills. Tae Harris is another key and versatile addition to their secondary. He could play corner or safety and posted some of the top numbers on this offseason's camp circuit, including a blazing laser-timed 4.38 40. Andre Fuller and Christian Garrett are strong in-state defensive line additions. Fuller is simply a good football player with active hands and has the tools to be a tough, productive player up front. Garrett, a one-time Georgia commit, has more ideal measurables as well as good explosiveness and active hands, and is a big in-state get.

Coach Brent Key has an offensive line background and landed some of the top OLs in the class. Josh Petty was a big recruiting win and is the highest-ranked commit for the Yellow Jackets in the ESPN 300 era. A top-10 OT prospect, he is a two-sport athlete who also wrestles and possesses good body quickness and bend."

One of the biggest reasons this was such a successful class was the fact that Georgia Tech did a great job in the state of Georgia. According to 247Sports, there were 55 blue-chip prospects (four or five-star players) in the state of Georgia alone and Georgia Tech landed six of them. Yesterday in his signing day press conference, Key talked about the importance of recruiting in the state of Georgia:

"Yeah, I think the exposure we've been able to receive this year in a lot of ways is big, but it really goes back to the relationships with the high schools. Just because you're signing off from a to the relationships with the high schools. Just because you're signing off from a high school doesn't necessarily mean that it's gonna be reflective years down the road. I mean, the coaching staff and the staff have done an outstanding job of cultivating and building those relationships. I think it's something that really needed to be done here, you know, we're in one of not the greatest state of high school talent in the entire country. And you know, to jump over 20 guys to go get one makes no sense. So we've been, you know, working really hard to make sure we get in the schools, to get in all the high schools, build relationships. I got to give you know a huge credit to Tim McFarlin and the job that he's done as well in the director of high school relations and building these relationships, maintaining these relationships, being able to keep us informed, keep myself informed of different things and to take place in the events, the clinics, the camps that are running the summer, all those go into it."

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