Should True Freshman Safety Tae Harris See The Field More For The Yellow Jackets?

Tae Harris put up a great performance on Saturday against Syracuse.

Cedartown Star Tae Harris | Photo Via Najeh Wilkins (SI)

Georgia Tech has dealt with a plethora of injuries in the secondary, with Ahmari Harvey going down, and recently Zachary Tobe going down. JY Gilmore didn’t play after being injured in a win over Duke, where he finished with 11 tackles, two passes defensed, and a half sack. He was spectacular and was named an ACC Defensive Player of the Week. Clayton Powell-Lee and Omar Daniels are having great seasons and have been cornerstone pieces of this Yellow Jackets' turnaround with their leadership and football acumen. On Saturday, they had to lean on several players to step up with so many injuries on the backend.

Steadily Improving

One of those people was true freshman safety Tae Harris. Harris proved on Saturday that the future is bright for the Yellow Jackets on the backend. He finished with four tackles and also had a forced fumble. He finished with the highest PFF (Pro Football Focus) grade on the team in the 41-16 win over Syracuse. He posted a 90.3 grade. When you look at the numbers more in-depth, you see he was elite in coverage, posting an 89.4 grade as he did an excellent job in his 26 snaps defending the pass.

He also put up solid numbers, tackling, and posted a 78.2 grade against Syracuse. Tackling has been one of his best areas as a freshman this season. He now has three games with a 75 or higher for the Yellow Jackets in tackling per PFF. He posted an 82.6 (Highest) against Temple and a 78.3 against Wake Forest in tackling. In just 142 snaps this season, Harris has posted starter numbers with a 73.1 defensive grade (tied-sixth highest on the team) and a 76.8 overall tackling grade. His physicality is one of the things that catches your eye instantly when you watch him play. He’s been on the verge of several big turnover plays for the Yellow Jackets. He nearly forced a fumble recovered by the defense in the red zone. He had a near-interception earlier in the season. To put it simply, he will be a key player moving forward for Georgia Tech and is getting better and better with more time on the field.

Head coach Brent Key talked about how the secondary played in the absence of some key players on Saturday.

"Yeah, I mean, we gave up those couple of big plays to start the second half, but what was it? I mean, we gave up, what, 224 yards passing, and I'm not a stat guy, I couldn't care less, but you brought it up, so, you know, take away that, what was that, 75 yards in two plays? I mean, you're sitting there, I mean, I mean they're getting better and better,” said Key.

“They transitioned on the ball better today. You know, we had a couple of plays up, you know, the mean. We have to protect the middle of the field better. You know, we got to fit some of the perimeter quick, you know, some of the add-on bubbles, better know, keep our leverage on the ball. But I thought for being a group of guys, but again, that comes back to why we play guys a lot early in the season. I don't have any update on Zach at all. I'll give you some on Thursday."

Harris is just getting started and is a building block for the Yellow Jackets defense moving forward.