By: Kenneth Harrison

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The college football season is almost over but one aspect never ends, recruiting. The early signing period was last month and signing day is in February. I want to look at a team that is making a splash in recruiting in 2020, Georgia Tech.

So far, the Yellow Jackets have the 26^th ranked recruiting class in 2020. Under Paul Johnson, they routinely finished almost last in the ACC. This is a major improvement by them after head coach Geoff Collins’ first season. They had a rough year finishing 3-9 but they are attracting better talent.

The first player I have to mention is four-star wide receiver Bryce Gowdy. By now, I am sure you heard his tragic story. The talented Deerfield Beach, Florida native took his own life and was hit by a freight train December 30.

He was supposed to start classes at Tech this week. He was an honors student that graduated early but suffered from mental-health issues and homelessness. This was a big loss for the program and I’m not referring to on the field.

One of the best running backs in the state of Georgia, Jahmyr Gibbs is a hard commit. Gibbs played for Dalton High School and in 11 games this past season he rushed for 2,554 yards, 40 touchdowns and averaged 11 yards per carry. The four-star recruit played in the All-American Bowl last week.

Four-star dual threat quarterback Jeff Sims from Jacksonville, Fl played in the Under Armour All-America Game. Sims is 6’3, 205 pounds and very athletic. He was initially committed to Florida State before he signed with Tech.

There is another QB from Florida that signed with GT, three-star recruit Tucker Gleason. Gleason played for Plant High, which is a very good program. He 6’3, 220 lb. pro style quarterback.

Collins is recruiting the state of Florida very well and more specifically the Jacksonville area. Four-star cornerback Miles Brooks played at Trinity Christian Academy. Brooks is 6’2 so he has great size for the position. He also had offers from Alabama, Auburn, Virginia Tech and Ohio State.

Brooks has an official forty time of 4.52 and a 35.3-inch vertical.

It is interesting to see players come to Tech that were also recruited by major programs. Under CPJ you would see guys and the other teams recruiting them would be Wofford and Middle Tennessee State. The best offer they had was from GT so that is why they committed.

Defensive End Jared Ivey from North Gwinnett High School is another four-star. He’s 6’6, 225 pounds so he has prototypical body for the position. In the 2019 season, he wreaked havoc with 80 tackles, 32.5 tackles for loss and 20 sacks. He also broke up four passes and has a forced fumble.

Wide receiver Nate McCollum is also a Georgia native from Dutchtown High (Hampton). He’s a small receiver (5’11) but he is very fast, running the forty in 4.41 seconds. He’s also a stand out in baseball and we will see him on the diamond at Georgia Tech.

There are seventeen more three-star commits in this class. They are getting faster and more athletic at every position. We will see if these players can turn the program around in year two under Collins.