Three Georgia Tech Defenders To Watch In Saturday's Game vs Tennessee

Georgia Tech's coaching staff preached all offseason that their defense was going to be a much-improved unit this fall, but one game in, and that is not the case.

Was it the worst performance of the Brent Key era? Far from it, but the Yellow Jackets could not stop the run, especially in the second half, giving up nearly 200 yards rushing to a Buffaloes team that had not been able to run the ball in prior years under Deion Sanders. On top of that, they forced zero turnovers and only got one sack. For a team that preached improvement, they left a lot to be desired against Colorado.

Now, one of the most talented offenses in the country comes to Atlanta. Tennessee has been one of the best offensive teams in the country under Josh Heupel, and this could be his most talented since 2022.

Here are three players to watch on Georgia Tech's defense this Saturday.

CB Daiquan White

Georgia Tech kept a tight secondary rotation last week and Daiquan White, Jaylen Mbakwe, and Kelvin Hill played nearly all of the snaps at corner and while the Yellow Jackets did not get torched through the air, that does not mean that their secondary was flawless.

White is a player who played plenty last season and took a starting role in fall camp after impressing. He played 75 snaps last week against Colorado and finished with a 48.1 overall grade on Pro Football Focus, including a 42.7 coverage grade and a 38.3 tackling grade.

White is a solid player, but if he can't have a better game this weekend, Josh Heupel and the Tennessee offense is going to pick on him and that could lead to big plays.

CB Kelvin Hill

Hill is the starting nickel for Georgia Tech and like White, he is going to need to play a better game than he did last week. Hill finished with a 55.1 overall grade per PFF, including a 49.0 coverage grade. Both of those marks are very low grades and because of the explosive nature of the Tennessee offense, Georgia Tech's secondary is going to need to play their best.

The Volunteers have talent at every level of their offense and talented receivers such as Mike Matthews. Can the Yellow Jackets secondary come up with some turnovers against first-year QB Faizon Brandon? Hill will be a part of that effort.

The defensive line

I'll cheat here and name the defensive line as the unit to watch ths Saturday vs Tennessee.

The Volunteers have a veteran offensive line that is better than Colorado's and if Georgia Tech's defensive line cannot have more of an effect on the game than they did last week, the Yellow Jackets defense will be in trouble.

Stopping DeSean Bishop and the running game is going to be a huge challenge, but Brandon is a tremendous athlete and can make all the throws while being a threat in the ground game. The Georgia Tech defensive line is going to have to be disciplined when trying to rush the quarterback.

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