Everything From Georgia Tech DL Jordan van den Berg After Yellow Jackets 3rd Spring Practice

Georgia Tech Jordan van den Berg spoke with the media after practice today and he got a chance to talk about taking on a new role in 2025 and being a leader for the defensive line and who has caught his eye early on in spring practice.

1. Have any players caught his eye on the defensive line this year…

“Yeah, definitely. I really feel like we brought in some really good key pieces. Like Matthew, he's had a lot of game experience. That's a really good key piece, bringing in a guy with experience. I feel like a lot of younger guys like Blake, and Barry, all are really fundamentally getting better and improving every single day. We've lost a lot of people who took up key snaps, but we have faith in Coach Simpson. He's going to have everyone ready. We got full faith and we will be ready to go.”

2. On how defensive coordinator Blake Gideon has assimilated to the team and the defense…

I'd definitely say they're very similar in the way that they are very, like, attention to detail (on coach Tyler Santucci and Blake Gideon). I'd say they are both really good men. They're definitely people that we can look up to and aspire to be one day, so I definitely feel like it's been a pretty good, smooth transition. A lot of the guys, we all really like the new DC. He's a really good guy, and, yeah, we're really excited.

3. How far he has come from last year when he was one of the new guys….

“I'm definitely really thankful for everything that my coaches have invested in me. None of that would have been possible without Coach Simpson, Coach Santucci, and the head coach, Coach Key. All that is from them. Like, none of that is on me. That's all from them. So, we got all the right pieces. They've put me in a position now where I'm able to help lead a little more. When I came in, I was the new guy. I didn't really want to say too much, I just kind of wanted to play my season and then next year step into that. Now this year I'm trying to take everyone under my wing, try to teach all the young guys, just trying to help everyone with the right mentality and just set core values in them.

4. On what he wants to see from the group come spring ball…

“I definitely say like right now, we're putting in a new defense, but we always got to play with more confidence. The more we are in the system, the more we'll get to know it, and the more we'll be able to play faster. And like as we've seen, this is practice three now, we're playing faster and faster and faster. I just believe that's going to carry on going and we're going to be like a really good squad. Like I'm really excited for it.

5. What he is seeing from the guys who came over in the portal so far…

Now, I definitely feel like they've come in with the right mindset. They wanna work, they wanna get key reps. Everyone here is coming, they wanna get meaningful snaps. And as that, when everyone's fighting for snaps and you have a whole room full of talented people, that pushes me and everyone, to step up and elevate. They really come in and just put on the back burners pushing us forward to just keep improving, keep playing hard.

Full Interview:

Additional Links

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