Georgia Tech Releases Depth Chart For Saturday's Game vs Mercer

Georgia Tech will play its third consecutive game at home to open the season, and the Yellow Jackets are looking to get their first win of the year. They have dropped non-conference games to Colorado and Tennessee, but will face Mercer on Saturday in the final non-conference matchup before they begin ACC play next weekend against Stanford.

Ahead of Saturday's game vs Mercer, the Yellow Jackets have released their depth chart for this game and there are not any changes this week.

Offensive depth chart

Position	Starter	Backups
QB	Alberto Mendoza	Grady Adamson
RB	Justice Haynes	Shane Marshall
RB	Malachi Hosley	J.P. Powell
RB	Trelain Maddox	Chad Alexander
WR	Jordan Allen	Coi Jean-Noel
WR	Isaiah Fuhrmann	Debron Gatling
WR	Dalen Penson	Rahkeem Smith
TE	Chris Corbo or Spencer Mermans
TE	Gavin Harris or Kevin Roche Jr
LT	Ethan Mackenny	Markell Samuel
LG	Kevin Peay Jr	Courtney Heard
C	Jameson Riggs	Will Reed
RG	Joseph Ionata	Courtlin Heard
RT	Malachi Carney	Jordan Floyd

There are going to be a couple of things to watch this week when Georgia Tech faces Mercer.

The Yellow Jackets had three offensive line injuries against Tennessee and Ethan Mackenny, Malachi Carney, and Jameson Riggs were all injured in the loss to the Volunteers and their status is going to be in question for this Saturday. Because this is not an ACC game, Georgia Tech is not required to submit an availability report.

Other things to watch on offense this week is going to be how the backup running back snaps are distributed. Against Tennessee, Trelain Maddox saw the field more than Malachi Hosley, though neither back had much success on the ground. Justice Haynes is the clear top option, but I would imagine that we will see multiple backs get carries, especially this game were to get out of hand.

Kevin Roche Jr, Chris Corbo, and Gavin Harris played about the same amount of snaps against Tennessee this past weekend, with Roche having the more impressive game.

Defensive depth chart

Position	Starter	Backup
DE	Noah Carter or Taje McCoy or Amontrae Bradford or Brayden Manley
DT	Tawfiq Thomas or Christian Garrett	Amier Clarke
DT	Vincent Carroll-Jackson or Shymeik Jones	Christian Speakman
DE	Jordan Walker or Jordan Boyd or A.J. Hoffler or Amontrae Bradford
LB	Kyle Efford	CJ Gamble
LB	E.J. Lightsey	Melvin Jordan IV
LB	Cayman Spaulding	Braylon Outlaw
Nickle	Kelvin HIll	Jonas Duclona
Safety	Savion Riley	Kealan Jones or Fenix Felton
Safety	Tae Harris	Chris Hewitt Jr or Fenix Felton
Cornerback	Daiquan White	Zachary Tobe
Cornerback	Jaylen Mbakwe	Trae Stevenson Jr

Not a lot of changes for the Georgia Tech defense heading into the game against Mercer. Starting cornerback Jaylen Mbakwe had to be carted off in the loss to Tennessee but was later released from the hospital, and Key updated his status today:

Key said that CB Jaylen Mbakwe is back with the team. He is sore and doesn't have a timeframe yet, but he is healthy. It was a scary situation. He thought the training staff and doctors were calm and executed their game plan, helping Bak. He will be back this year.
— Kelly Quinlan (@Kelly_Quinlan) September 15, 2026

Mbakwe is still listed on the depth chart ahead of Saturday's game, but that does not mean that he is going to play.

At positions such as linebacker, cornerback, and safety, the majority of the snaps have gone to a handful of players. At linebacker, Kyle Efford and E.J. Lightsey play the bulk of the snaps and Cayman Spaulding has been the top backup. This could be the week that we some different players, such as Braylon Outlaw and CJ Gamble, get on the field and Brent Key alluded to that in his press conference today. Key mentioned Outlaw and Spaulding specifically as players who should be out there for more snaps.

At safety, Tae Harris and Savion Riley have eaten up the snaps, but this could be the week we see more of Fenix Felton, Kealan Jones, and Chris Hewitt Jr.

Georgia Tech's matchup against Mercer will kickoff this Saturday at 12:00 p.m. ET on ACC Network.

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