By: Kenneth Harrison

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The college football season is almost here. We’re going to take a look at Georgia Tech and see how the season will go.

I’ll get a big coaching move out of the way first. Five-time NFL All-Pro WR DeAndre Hopkins has joined the coaching staff as assistant wide receivers coach.

“DeAndre is one of the greatest receivers of all-time, but his value to our program goes far beyond the that,” Key said. “He has an exceptional knowledge of what we’re doing on offense due his long relationship with (offensive coordinator) George Godsey and strong familiarity with the ACC, but most importantly, he’s a leader of men that I’m very excited for our players to be around, on and off the field.”

The Yellow Jackets went 9-4 last season, starting 8-0. They were ranked as high as #7 before they finished the season 1-4. They ended the season ranked #22.

They lost a lot of starters from that team like Haynes King, Jamal Haynes, Malik Rutherford, Keylan Rutledge, Omar Daniels, Clayton Powell-Lee, Ahmari Harvey and Rodney Shelley.

King was one of the best quarterbacks to play for Tech. His backup, Aaron Philo hit the transfer portal to follow offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner to Florida. He’s being replaced by Indiana transfer Alberto Mendoza.

Mendoza was the backup to his brother, Heisman Trophy winner and top pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, Fernando Mendoza. He played sparingly last season, so we really don’t know much about him. He was a part of a national championship program so he does know what it takes to win.

They have lost almost all of the receivers from 2025. Eric Rivers, Malik Rutherford, Dean Patterson, Isiah Canion, Bailey Stockton and Zion Taylor are all gone. Jordan Allen is the only returning receiver from last season’s team to have caught a pass.

The Yellow Jackets brought in Elon transfer Isiah Fuhrmann and Cal transfer Jaiven Plummer from the portal but Georgia Tech is going to need internal improvement from guys like Debron Gatling, Evan Haynes, Rahkeem Smith, Dalen Penson and the four true freshmen.

Fuhrmann caught 46 passes for 907 yards and 9 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2025. That was at the FCS level, so we will see if he can do the same in the FBS.

Starting safeties Omar Daniels and Clayton Powell-Lee played the majority of snaps last season but they have graduated. Tae Harris, who played more than 200 snaps last season and Fenix Felton, who played more than 80 snaps over the course of the last two games are back. Colorado transfer Savion Riley played in four games last season before missing the rest of the season due to injuries.

Here is the schedule:

9/3 vs Colorado

9/12 vs #17 Tennessee

9/19 vs Mercer

9/26 @ Stanford

10/10 vs Duke

10/17 @ Virginia Tech

10/24 vs Boston College

10/31 @ Pitt

11/7 vs Louisville

11/14 @ #25 Clemson

11/21 vs Wake Forest

11/28 @ #5 Georgia

They only have games against three ranked opponents. I believe they’ll lose to Tennessee and UGA. Clemson has not been an elite program in a few years so they definitely have a chance to beat them.

The games I think they should win against Colorado, Mercer, Stanford, Duke, Boston College and Wake Forest.

I’m picking Tech to win seven games. This is based on many of the key positions being unknowns since they have transferred in from other programs. We don’t know how the team chemistry will be or if they will play to their potential.