Starters

#3 Tre Swilling | RS Junior

2019 Stats: 23 Tackles | 2 TFL | 1 INT | 10 Swats

Tre is the leader of this group and easily the most polished of the unit. He’s started at corner for 2 years and has started to get a reputation as a shutdown corner. His stats are low simply because QBs avoid him. Unfortunately, there are much softer targets in our defense. Check out this full article for some highlights:

Tre is the son of GT superstar Pat Swilling. Pat played on the vaunted ‘85 Blackwatch defense and Tre has turned out to be the player we were all excited about when he signed on for the Jackets.

Bonus: A Hero

#21 Zamari Walton | RS Sophmore

2019 Stats: 29 Tackles | 3 Swats

Zamari is young with a year of starting experience under his belt. He started opposite of Tre Swilling and seemed to get exploited at points. Never the most exciting player on the field, he’s dependable and a workhorse at the position. He is the presumptive starter opposite Tre Swilling headed into this year.

Nickel:

#22 Kaleb Oliver | RS Junior

2019 Stats: 38 Tackles | 1 TFL | 2 INT | 1 FF | 4 Swats

I am forced to separate this section for Nickel corner by virtue of the position as a hybrid linebacker/corner. Find more on that here:

Kaleb is a traditional safety who excelled at the position last year despite this being the first year in a new defense. He was a force over the middle where he recorded the most tackles and interceptions at CB last year. (Although both of those interceptions came in a painful loss to Temple)

Above The Line

#16 Myles Sims | RS Sophmore

2019 Stats: 16 Tackles | 3 Swats

Myles was a highly touted recruit and transferred from Michigan to be closer to home. Known as “Spider” (probably because he’s 6’3”), He was great in sub situations and looks to continue his role as the top sub CB. Having the 4th most swats on the entire team last year as a sub is impressive.

#23 Jordan Huff | RS Freshman

2019 Stats: 1 Tackle

Jordan technically redshirted last year under the new NCAA rules allowing 4 game appearances. He was a 2018 class 3 star. Standing at 6’2”, he’s rangy and has lots of upside.

#20 Miles Brooks | Freshman

4-star recruit from Trinity Christian (Jacksonville, Fla) ( Rivals 5.9 | 247Composite 0.9087 )

Now is a great time to revisit my cornerback recruiting review where I break down the next two players.

Miles Brooks is a highly-touted recruit and a true man-to-man corner. He has the most potential to start out of any of the 2^nd string. He has a very high ceiling and should see the field often.

Jalen Huff | Freshman

3-star recruit form Buford ( Rivals 5.6 | 247 Composite 0.8689 )

Jalen is a missle if I’ve ever seen one. I’m excited about his speed and decision making. He’s absolutely a good special teams player and I wonder if he’ll morph into a nickel CB. He had several good blitzing plays on film. I unfortunately haven’t seen much on the GT spring camp tweets so he may take a back seat this year.

#8 Tobias Oliver | RS Junior

2019 Stats (at QB): 11 of 26 | 177 yds | 0 TD | 2 INT | 11 Rec at WR

Tobias has something of a cult following around here. He had an amazing performance at QB against VPISU in 2018. Despite completing zero passes, he was able to secure a win against our biggest Coastal rival while running for 215 and 3 touchdowns.

He’s switched over to defense after coming in last in the great 2019 QB battle and even lined up at WR in the second half of the season. I saw a little hype from Spring Camp tweets but nothing concrete has come out about him. He’s got great vision and speed from his days as a runningback QB. I’m always skeptical about guys who switch position. Low floor but high ceiling here.

Bonus meme from 2018:

Credit: Christopher Paschal, Fromtherumbleseat.com

Nickel:

#25 Charlie Thomas | Junior

2019 Stats (at LB): 65 Tackles | 9.5 TFL | 2 Sacks | 2 FF | 2 Swats

Charlie Thomas has moved over from starting outside linebacker last year where he was a shining star on defense. The Nickel spot often lines up at a more traditional OLB spot so we can see some of this production continue. Charlie had the most tackles on this list and he had the most tackles for loss on the entire team.

With a couple swats and a eye for play recognition, he should play nicely in coverage. If it weren’t for the stellar play of Kaleb Oliver, I would totally slot him in at Nickel CB starter. Look for some #competition there.

#4 Jaytlin Askew | Senior

2019 Stats: 5 Tackles | 1 FR

Jaytlin actually regressed quite a bit in the new defense. He was leapfrogged by young talent (Kaleb Oliver and Zamari Walton). This is his last year but his locker room leadership earned him a coveted single digit number. * bling *

#39 Wesley Walker | RS Freshman

2019 Stats: 3 Tackles

Wesley only appeared in 2 games in 2019 but made the ATL chart down the stretch. It makes sense that he would continue to do so but truth be told, he’s on the bubble.

That’s all for today. Look for lots of volatility here as talent is injected into the group. I’m excited and you should be too.

50 days to kickoff