Georgia Tech Football: Bruce Jordan-Swilling showing great progression as season nears the end

True freshman Bruce Jordan-Swilling is showing great progression as the 2017 regular season nears its’ end.

Coming out of high school, Georgia Tech football‘s  Bruce Jordan-Swilling had the option to play either running back or linebacker in college. While he had pretty strong potential at linebacker coming out of high school, he was projected to be even a better running back at the next level.

That being said, Jordan-Swilling was going to be a linebacker for the Jackets. Jordan-Swilling was expected to be the Jackets linebacker of the future and one of its’ main leaders once senior linebacker Brant Mitchell graduates.

So far this season, Jordan-Swilling has recorded a stat in seven of the Jackets eight games this season.

On September 9th against Jacksonville State, the New Orleans native recorded his first career tackle. Over the course of the next two weeks, Swilling would record two tackles each in relatively quiet games. While he didn’t make a huge impact on the game against Pittsburgh and North Carolina, he flashed potential, to say the least.

On October 14th against the Miami Hurricanes, Jordan-Swilling had a coming out party, racking up a career-high seven sacks including one tackle for a loss. From that point on, Bruce has been a dominant force on the Jackets defense.

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In the three weeks since the Miami game, Jordan-Swilling has had arguably the biggest impact defensively on the Jackets. Over the past three games, Jordan-Swilling has had the opportunity to see an increase in playing time with Brant Mitchell battling injury problems. It’s safe to say that the true freshman has taken the “next man up” mantra to heart.

After two solid weeks against Wake Forest and Clemson where he collected a total of seven tackles, Jordan-Swilling had the best game of his career last weekend against Virginia. In his first career start, the true freshman was easily the best defensive player on the field. He recorded 11 tackles, a tackle for a loss, a forced fumble which he recovered, and an interception in which he returned for a touchdown.

With his performance over the last few weeks, Jordan-Swilling has propelled himself to being 5th on the Jackets in tackles with 30. The only linebacker ahead of him is junior Victor Alexander with a team-leading 48.

Next: GT vs VT opens as tossup

With the “next man up” mantra, Jordan-Swilling’s game has elevated to a point where he’s playing well beyond a true freshman usually plays. Yes, he still makes freshman mistake but the progression he has made certainly brings high hopes for the future. Through the first seven games of his college career, Jordan-Swilling is looking like a future defensive star and leader for the Yellow Jackets