While Georgia Tech made transfer portal additions at nearly every position this offseason, one they did not was linebacker. The Yellow Jackets only lost Tah'j Butler (transfer to Ole Miss) and brought in two freshmen linebackers, Braylon Outlaw and CJ Gamble.
Outlaw garnered a lot of praise during the spring and even from Brent Key during ACC media days last month:
"The first day of practice, we're in team run, and he's dropping back playing curl flat. Okay, in team run, dropping back in coverage. By the end of the first scrimmage, in the second, I'm ready to get him up there and get him reps. And by the end, he's the guy that I think is gonna play for us. So again, I've said it before, it's shocking that kids develop as 17-, 18-year-olds, right? But he's talented; he can run. He's a football guy. The more he continues to get reps and live reps, let him get in there and fail and make his mistakes and learn from them," said Key.
Things can change in fall camp. When teams are going through spring practice, they are trying to get everyone reps and get their feet wet. When you get into fall, the time for that is over and it is time to rep the guys that are going to see the field for you this fall.
Despite the veterans in front of him, Outlaw continues to make strides in Georgia Tech's defense. When defensive coordinator Jason Semore was last with the program in 2022 as the linebackers coach, he coached a really good pair of players, Charlie Thomas and Ace Eley, who both went on to get opportunities in the NFL. While he might not be as good as either of those players yet, he is starting to figure some things out and Semore gave him high praise this week, saying he would be a big time player in the ACC:
"He's definitely different from an athleticism standpoint. Yeah, he's going to be a big-time player in the ACC one of these days. Obviously, coming up, coming straight from high school football, tons to learn in terms of schematic defense. Right. And being a communicator that the linebacker position requires and all those kind of things. We're really, really excited about him because of his schematic growth.
Right. I mean, you're talking about a dude that came here right out of high school and had no idea about alignments or anything. And now he's lining up and executing the defense. As soon as that guy gets that part figured out from a dependable level, he will be he will be a big time player. He will."
While I don't think that Outlaw is going to be a starter when the Yellow Jackets face Colorado on Sept. 3rd, I think he is going to push hard for a backup spot.
Georgia Tech has two veteran linebackers, E.J. Lightsey and Kyle Efford, who have played a lot of snaps and are two of the leaders of the team. Behind them, Cayman Spaulding and Melvin Jordan IV are entering fall camp as the likely backups, but both of those players were inconsistent last season and may not have the kind of upside that Outlaw does.
From spring all the way to the fall, Key has made it a point to say that Georgia Tech is not going to be afraid to play young players and that they should have incorporated more of them last season. I don't think the Yellow Jackets will be able to keep the talented freshman linebacker off the field for long.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/georgiatech as Freshman Georgia Tech Linebacker Making a Statement During First Fall Camp .
