Georgia Tech Reveals Depth Chart For Week Five Game Against Wake Forest

The Yellow Jackets will face Wake Forest on Saturday for their second ACC game of the season.

Sep 20, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets wide receiver Bailey Stockton (7) runs after a catch against the Temple Owls in the fourth quarter at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

No. 16 Georgia Tech is getting ready for its Week 5 game against Wake Forest on the road Saturday. The Yellow Jackets are a team that continues to be a topic of national discussion, but they aren't feeding into the rat poison and continuing to keep their eyes on the task at hand. They have another big game coming up on Saturday that will be nationally televised on ESPN, and the ACC Huddle crew will be in attendance for pregame and postgame coverage on the ACC Network. A good number of eyes will continue to follow the Yellow Jackets and the team as they continue their ascent upwards.

Ahead of their week five game, the Yellow Jackets has revealed their depth chart for Saturday.

Offense

Position	Starter	Backup
QB	Haynes King	Aaron Philo
RB	Jamal Haynes	Malachi Hosley or Trelain Maddox
WR	Eric Rivers	Zion Taylor Or Debron Gatling
WR	Malik Rutherford	Bailey Stockton or Jordan Allen
WR	Isiah Canion	Dean Patterson
TE	J.T. Byrne or Luke Harpring or Brett Seither or Josh Beetham
LT	Ethan Mackenny	Josh Petty or Peyton Joseph
LG	Joe Fusile	Kevin Peay Jr or Peyton Joseph
C	Harrison Moore or Tana Alo-Tupuola	Jameson Riggs
RG	Keylan Rutledge	Will Reed
RT	Malachi Carney	Jameson Riggs or Josh Petty

Defense

Position	Starter	Backup
End	AJ Hoffler	Ronald Triplette or Christian Garrett or Andre Fuller
Nose	Akelo Stone or Matthew Alexander	Landen Marshall
Tackle	Jordan Van Den Berg	Jason Moore or Shymeik Jones
Rush	Brayden Manley	Jordan Boyd or Shymeik Jones
Linebacker	Kyle Efford	Cayman Spaulding
Linebacker	E.J. Lightsey	Melvin Jordan or Tah'j Butler
Nickel	Jy Gilmore or Kelvin Hill	Will Kiker
Strong Safety	Clayton Powell-Lee	Tae Harris or D.J. Moore
Free Safety	Omar Daniels or Savion Riley
Cornerback	Ahmari Harvey	Daiquan White or Jon Mitchell
Cornerback	Rodney Shelley	Zachary Tobe

Special Teams

K	Aidan Birr	Landon Shaffer
P	Marshall Nichols	Joshua Taylor
Long Snapper	Will Benton or Ronnie Thomas
Kick Returner	Daylon Gordon and Shane Marshall	Jamal Haynes
Punt Returner	Eric Rivers or Bailey Stockton

A thing to watch for the Yellow Jackets is their explosives and how many they can get, and how many they limit against the Demon Deacons. Georgia Tech got a number of explosive plays on offense in both the running game and through the air. They will look to carry that same success on the road. It is the first true road test in conference play for. Yellow Jackets this season. Speaking of the Yellow Jackets and big plays on the ground, they have a top 15 unit in rushing this season in the NCAA. Georgia Tech is averaging 249.2 rushing yards per game this season. The even more intriguing part about this stat is that Georgia Tech hasn't given a running back more than 15 carries a game on average this season. The efficiency from both Jamal Haynes and Malachi Hosley has been special, and they are making for one of the best tandems in the country. With an elite rushing attack, it opens up big plays down the field in the passing game for their playmakers and Haynes King, especially with teams having to respect the run game.

Head coach Brent Key talked about how he classifies explosive plays on both sides of the ball.

“So  explosives, every offense and defense considers different, okay?  I'd say the barometer is 12 on a run, 18 on a pass, and 20 on a pass.  The way me and Pat are going through  all the statistics throughout the previous game and the next game,  we keep it the same across the board, where it's 20 yards for our overall. That's what a lot of the analytic people that we use considered the same thing, 20, because now it's fair across the board," said Key.

"We talk about the turnovers we've had, the penalties we've had, the things we've not done well. The biggest predictors in wins and losses in college football are explosives and preventing explosives. That is something we've done very well on both sides of the football, right? We've limited our explosives given up by a ton. I don't know the exact number. Our offense has been up there. That is something that we've done very well.  We've got to continue to do that well. When you emphasize one thing, you're gonna give up a little bit in something else. It can't be a total sacrifice of the other or just to do one thing. So we've got to improve in the other areas, but we've also got to continue to do that well.”