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With the early signing period just a couple weeks away now, Geoff Collins and his staff are now fully focused on filling out the class. They’ve got one more guy on board now, with defensive end Albany Casey announcing his commitment earlier today.
Committed!!! @GeorgiaTechFB pic.twitter.com/oBNVwi37nj
— Albany Casey (@albany_oneil) December 3, 2019
Casey committed to Tech over other reported offers from Duke, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and UCF. He is rated as a three-star recruit by both Rivals (5.7) and the 247 Sports Composite (0.8592).
Being completely honest, this commitment is a bit peculiar. I was doing some digging and found out that during his high school career, Casey has already torn his ACL three times. I trust the coaching staff has done their due diligence and wouldn’t have offered him with such limited space if they weren’t sure, but this struck me as a little odd.
Because of that, Casey does not have any senior film available on Hudl, but his junior film is there and posted.
In the five games he played that season, he finished with 21 tackles, four sacks and eight tackles for loss, which are pretty solid numbers. Watching his film, his first step is a little slow, and that’s not surprising, given his injury history. In spite of that, though, he has pretty solid closing speed. He also showed good strength and a knack for finding the ball carrier, which bodes well. Watching this film, I think he profiles better as a base end in Thacker’s defense. At 6-4, 240 pounds, I think that will be a good place for him to start.
In other recruiting news, Tech also lost a recruit earlier this week with the decommitment of defensive back Nick Turner.
God got me!! pic.twitter.com/YXGAft5xgi
— Nicholas Turner (@D1_Nick985) December 2, 2019
Turner seemed like a solid option, but given the sheer number of defensive backs that Tech has in this class, I’m not super upset about this. He is also a little smaller than Collins normally likes his defensive backs (5-11, 177 pounds). He was also flirting pretty heavily with Arkansas pretty recently, so this isn’t super surprising either. Wherever he ends up, though, I wish him the best of luck!
Ed. Note: Looks like Rivals’ Kelly Quinlan confirmed what I alluded to in the comments. Jared Behrens reclassified back to a 2021 commit and apparently is no longer a Tech commit. You can see the fully updated class below:
2020 GT Football Recruiting Class
| Pos. | First Name | Last Name | Height | Weight | Hometown | State | Rivals | 247Sports Comp | Commit Date | Signed LOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | First Name | Last Name | Height | Weight | Hometown | State | Rivals | 247Sports Comp | Commit Date | Signed LOI |
| QB | Tucker | Gleason | 6-2 | 206 | Tampa | FL | 3* (5.6) | 3* (.8622) | 3/7/19 | Yes |
| TE | Billy | Ward | 6-4 | 235 | Locust Grove | GA | 3* (5.6) | 3* (.8559) | 3/7/19 | Yes |
| WR | Ryan | King | 6-4 | 205 | Grayson | GA | 3* (5.7) | 3* (.8830) | 3/14/19 | Yes |
| DB | Miles | Brooks | 6-2 | 183 | Jacksonville | FL | 4* (5.9) | 4* (.9087) | 3/24/19 | Yes |
| DB | Jalen | Huff | 6-1 | 169 | Buford | GA | 3* (5.6) | 3* (.8689) | 4/3/19 | Yes |
| OT | Jordan | Williams | 6-6 | 305 | Gainesville | GA | 3* (5.7) | 3* (.8742) | 4/6/19 | Yes |
| OL | Cade | Kootsouradis | 6-4 | 285 | Crestview | FL | 3* (5.5) | 3* (.8473) | 4/22/19 | Yes |
| LB | Tyson | Meiguez | 6-2 | 210 | Fairburn | GA | 3* (5.7) | 3* (.8721) | 4/23/19 | Yes |
| DL | Akelo | Stone | 6-3 | 244 | Savannah | GA | 3* (5.6) | 3* (.8601) | 4/26/19 | Yes |
| APB | Jahmyr | Gibbs | 5-11 | 194 | Dalton | GA | 4* (5.9) | 4* (.9653) | 5/25/19 | No |
| EDGE | Kyle | Kennard | 6-6 | 215 | Atlanta | GA | 3* (5.6) | 3* (.8614) | 6/12/19 | Yes |
| OT | Wing | Green | 6-7 | 270 | Leesburg | GA | 3* (5.5) | 3* (.8552) | 6/25/19 | Yes |
| EDGE | Khaya | Wright | 6-3 | 200 | Miami | FL | 3* (5.6) | 3* (.8605) | 6/25/19 | Yes |
| OT | Michael | Rankins | 6-5 | 275 | Ruskin | FL | 3* (5.7) | 3* (.8755) | 7/1/19 | Yes |
| WR | Bryce | Gowdy | 6-2 | 190 | Deerfield Beach | FL | 4* (5.8) | 4* (.8980) | 7/30/19 | Yes |
| WR | Avery | Boyd | 6-2 | 198 | Tallahassee | FL | 3* (5.6) | 3* (.8376) | 8/24/19 | Yes |
| OL | Ryan | Spiers | 6-4 | 275 | Biloxi | MS | 2* (5.4) | 3* (.8160) | 9/8/19 | Yes |
| WR | Nate | McCollum | 5-9 | 180 | Hampton | GA | 3* (5.7) | 3* (.8870) | 10/25/19 | Yes |
| OL | Paula | Vaipulu | 6-4 | 303 | Channelview | TX | 3* (5.5) | 3* (.8627) | 10/31/19 | Yes |
| DE | Albany | Casey | 6-4 | 240 | Bay Minette | AL | 3* (5.6) | 3* (.8518) | 12/3/19 | No |
| DT | Emmanuel | Johnson | 6-4 | 260 | North Charletson | SC | 2* (5.4) | 3* (.8336) | 12/11/19 | Yes |
| EDGE | Jared | Ivey | 6-6 | 215 | Suwanee | GA | 3* (5.7) | 4* (.8946) | 12/11/19 | Yes |
| LB | Khatavian | Franks | 6-2 | 205 | Fairburn | GA | 3* (5.6) | 3* (.8837) | 12/18/19 | Yes |
| QB | Jeff | Sims | 6-3 | 205 | Jacksonville | FL | 4* (5.8) | 4* (.9169) | 12/18/19 | Yes |
Welcome to the Flats, Albany!