Vinnie Sunseri Likes the Development He Sees From The Safeties, Has Goal For Where He Wants Group

Georgia Tech is very young at the safety position entering the 2026 season, but if you want an idea about how they view the talent in the room, take a look at their transfer portal class.

There are no safeties in the class.

Despite losing Clayton Powell-Lee and Omar Daniels, two players who played the majority of snaps for the Yellow Jackets at the back of the defense, the Yellow Jackets opted to not bring in any players from the portal at the position and will rely on the younger players they have. Only Tae Harris (over 200 snaps), Fenix Felton (over 80 snaps), and Savion Riley played for Georgia Tech last season, but Riley spent most of the season injured and could not help the defense.

Those three players are going to be the leaders for Georgia Tech, and behind them is a host of true freshmen, including Chris Hewitt Jr, Kealan Jones, Kymani Morales, and Isaac Obrokta. It is very likely that Georgia Tech is going to have to rely on not just one of those guys, but multiple.

When talking to the media yesterday, safeties coach Vinnie Sunseri liked where the group was at:

“I think it's been really good. We’ve installed a lot. think we've gotten a lot of great looks from the offense. Everybody knows George (Godsey) does a great job, and every day is an opportunity to learn and get better and enhance, and it's a 1 % better every single day mentality, and the great thing about a young group is that you can mold them and get them to see the game how you see it. With Coach Boogie's (Jason Semore) scheme, with the philosophies that he brings in, all these guys are really buying into what we are asking them to do, and they're doing a great job. I'm extremely proud of our group so far.”

But Sunseri has a clear goal of where he wants the safety room by the end of fall camp:

“I would like to see an extremely close group that says, do not want to let the man down next to me that is willing to commit to the standards and values of this organization that the head football coach has set and our defensive coordinator. That's what I want. I want a complete total buy-in to their visions and if we do that as a safety group, we do that as a linebacker group, we do that as a defensive line group, outside linebackers and corners, I think we'll be in a good place. That is the mission and goal for this football team to uphold the head coaches vision every single day.”

This echoes much of what Semore had to say about the group last week. Hewitt Jr is a player that has impressed during the first fall camp of his career and Kealan Jones is someone who impressed during the spring. Of the young players in the room, it seems that those two players have the edge to get some playing time behind Riley, Harris, and Felton.

While the group is young, Sunseri is glad to have a veteran like Riley leading them:

“I'm seeing a guy that's extremely savvy. He's played a lot of football. He understands the game at a very high level. He's been in multiple systems, multiple schemes, and he's able to translate the language very quickly. He's also a good football player. I've been extremely proud with how he's approached camp with the demeanor and the attitude that he brings every single day. I've just been really proud of him.”

Georgia Tech has a lot to prove on defense and the safeties are not exempt from that. Will they be able to succeed despite the youth in the room or will the inexperience make things a struggle for the Yellow Jackets?

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