Georgia Tech DC Andrew Thacker feels good about size, depth on defensive line

Thacker spoke with the media after Georgia Tech's third fall camp practice

Fall practice rolled on for Georgia Tech today. 

The Yellow Jackets were back on the field for practice number three and the first week of practice is almost wrapped up. Yesterday, offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner spoke with the media and laid out his vision for the offense and today, it was time for defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker to talk about his side of the ball. 

Thacker was giving a rundown of each position and when he got to the defensive line, he talked about the position and sounded confident about the depth and size that the team has: 

"It is hard to talk about one player, but it is more of a collective. We feel like we are starting to get more size and depth at the position and (defensive line coach) Marco Coleman has done a great job with that group. Brian Baker is a great mentor and help for us to be in that room and to give Marco some advice and I am really happy with their progress. 

But to that point, it will take me some time to talk through those things. On the interior, we feel like we have some guys that look like Zeek Biggers and Horace Lockett, who look like power five defensive tackles that will allow us to be a little sturdier in there. We have a lot of experience with guys like Makius Scott and D'Quan Douse who were our two starting defensive tackles this past season. They have quite the amount of experience and then we even have a young man like Jason Moore, who has been in real matches and played against North Carolina and got a sack for the inside. 

Working outside, we have three defensive ends at the rush end or boundary end as we call it. They have all played and have all started if my memory serves, but Kyle Kennard probably the most experienced of the group and Noah Collins and Kevin Harris to give us some depth there and we have a little bit of a new flavor at the end position. Sylvain Yondjouen played a bunch of downs for us this past season and usually he would be behind Keion White and play relief pitcher for him but certainly played some great football for us at times. Two other names, Etinosa (Reuben) came this past spring and is really starting to improve. 

Josh Robinson has been around for a while and Paul Moala and Eddie Kelly are two guys that we got post-spring practice as far as roster management from the portal but I am really excited about Eddie Kelly, he played this past season at South Florida. Again, first day of pads but the talent and the mentality and the coachability is there so I am really excited about his fit. Those guys are cross-trained, we'll put them in a position for a depth chart. We will see as we really move forward the things that people like to talk about, the pass rush ability that those guys have."

Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker praised the depth on the defensive line / Georgia Tech Athletics

This group has potential and experience and if guys like Eddie Kelly are truly coming along and making a difference, that will be huge for the Yellow Jackets defense. 

The defensive tackles are a potential position of strength if guys continue to improve. 

According to PFF (Pro Football Focus), D'Quan Douse is going to be one of the highest-graded returning defensive tackles in the ACC next season.

Highest graded returning ACC Defensive Tackles💪 pic.twitter.com/2Zu8jjG6O5

— PFF College (@PFF_College) June 18, 2023

Scott had 1.5 sacks last season and 22 tackles. He played 424 snaps according to PFF (Pro Football Focus) and finished with a grade of 55.0. Scott graded out as a better pass rusher than a run-stopper, but I think he could see growth in both areas this year. The junior from Gainesville, GA had a solid season in 2022 and could only get better in 2023.

I think a breakout season could be on the horizon for Zeek Biggers. Biggers has the size at 6'6 333 LBS to be a force stopping the run and he had a good spring. Biggers played nearly 300 snaps last season and I expect that number to rise. He finished last season with 32 tackles and one sack.

Games are won up front and heading into the season, Thacker seems to like what he has in his group. 

Georgia Tech kicks off the 2023 season against Louisville on Sept. 1st. 

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