Georgia Tech Football: Yellow Jackets Named One Of The Biggest Winners Of National Signing Day

Georgia Tech brought in one of its highest-rated classes in program history on Wednesday

Oct 19, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key on the sideline against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the first quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

While Georgia Tech is still waiting on five-star offensive tackle Josh Petty to officially join the 2024 class, it was a successful early national signing day for Brent Key and his staff. Right now, Georgia Tech's class ranks 18th at 247Sports and has highly-ranked prospects such as four-star safety Tae Harris, four-star cornerback Dalen Penson, four-star defensive tackle Christian Garrett, four-star running back JP Powell, and more. This class has a chance to make a lasting impact on Georgia Tech moving forward and after the dust settled yesterday, 247Sports director of scouting Andrew Ivins named Georgia Tech as one of the biggest winners on signing day in the entire country:

End-of-day ranking: No. 18

Highlight of the day: Holding off USC for 4-star ATH Dalen Penson

"Georgia Tech put all of college football on alert when they took Georgia to eight overtimes. It's easy to wonder if the Yellow Jackets might have caught lightning in a bottle with some savvy schemes and play-calling, but Brent Key's first full recruiting cycle would suggest that's not the case. Georgia Tech is here to stay.

Not only did Key assemble what will be the highest-ranked class in program history, but he did so while going head-to-head with some of the sport's biggest brands. After beating out both Ohio State and Tennessee for five-star offensive tackle Josh Petty back during the summer months, the Yellow Jackets held off an 11th-hour push from USC and secured a signature from prized four-star athlete Dalen Penson. That came a week after flipping four-star safety Tae Harris from Clemson.

Most casuals won't recognize a lot of names on the signee list for Georgia Tech, but this group is full of prospects that have what it takes to make an impact in the ever-evolving ACC."

One of the biggest reasons this was such a successful class was the fact that Georgia Tech did a great job in the state of Georgia. According to 247Sports, there were 51 blue-chip prospects (four or five star players) in the state of Georgia alone and Geoergia Tech landed six of them. Yesterday in his signing day press conference, Key talked about the importance of recruiting in the state of Georgia:

"Yeah, I think the exposure we've been able to receive this year in a lot of ways is big, but it really goes back to the relationships with the high schools. Just because you're signing off from a to the relationships with the high schools. Just because you're signing off from a high school doesn't necessarily mean that it's gonna be reflective years down the road. I mean, the coaching staff and the staff have done an outstanding job of cultivating and building those relationships. I think it's something that really needed to be done here, you know, we're in one of not the greatest state of high school talent in the entire country. And you know, to jump over 20 guys to go get one makes no sense. So we've been, you know, working really hard to make sure we get in the schools, to get in all the high schools, build relationships. I got to give you know a huge credit to Tim McFarlin and the job that he's done as well in the director of high school relations and building these relationships, maintaining these relationships, being able to keep us informed, keep myself informed of different things and to take place in the events, the clinics, the camps that are running the summer, all those go into it."

Additional Links:

Georgia Tech Football: Three Potential Instant Impact Players From The 2025 Class

Georgia Tech Football: Brent Key Details Process in Flipping Four-Star DB Tae Harris From Clemson

Georgia Tech-Georgia Rivalary Matchup Draws Massive TV Viewership