Georgia Tech Football Early Signee Profile: LB Trenilyas Tatum

As we restart out the early signee profiles series, we take a look at Georgia Tech’s second-highest-rated early signee of the 2021 recruiting class, linebacker Trenilyas Tatum.

Last month, we started our early signee profiles with wide receiver James BlackStrain, however, we realized we probably started that a bit too early so we waited to get to No.2 until the new year, and here we are. Starting today, we’ll preview each of Georgia Tech’s early signees starting with linebacker Trenilyas Tatum. Every other day, we’ll have a new signee profile which will perfectly lead us into the traditional signing period in early February.

The Mount Zion product is Georgia Tech’s second-highest signee per 247Sports composite player rankings. The 6-foot-2 and 215-pound outside linebacker is a top-400 player nationally, a top-30 outside linebacker, and a near top-30 player in the Peach State. He will likely finish the 2021 recruiting cycle as a high three-star recruit with a composite rating of .8871. That being said, the former South Carolina commitment is considered a four-star prospect by Rivals.

His Recruitment:

Tatum in his recruitment received 16 reported scholarship offers with a majority of them coming from middle of the pack Power Five programs. The best offer he received during his recruitment was from Oklahoma, that being said, his offer list is considerably good and shows how valued he was during this cycle.

As briefly mentioned above, the Jonesboro, Georgia native was previously committed to South Carolina and then Gamecocks head coach Will Muschamp. He originally committed to the Gamecocks back at the end of April last year and stayed committed until November 25th,  10 days after Muschamp was fired as the head coach of the South Carolina program. At that point, Tatum flipped his commitment from the Gamecocks to the Yellow Jackets.

Highlights and What he Brings to the Table:

In his highlight tape above which is his junior tape, you can see the makings of

Tatum shows a high football IQ and has the ability to read plays quickly and find his way to the football. Most of Tatum’s highlights you will also see often come about 3-5 yards off the ball or as one would usually say, “in the box”. A majority of the plays are against the run, so there certainly is questions regarding his ability to drop into coverage. But from what is available to our viewing, Tatum shows the makings at worse, a linebacker who could be an elite linebacker against the run. He has a high motor, is a sure tackler, and shows solid fundamentals.

His Future on The Flats:

Tatum I do not see as someone who will see early playing time with the Yellow Jackets, at least right now. He missed his senior season this fall due to an injury and while he should be healthy by the time next season comes around, missing a key season of development will be hard to overcome to get onto the field this upcoming fall. That being said, by early enrolling, Tatum will be able to get into the program in the upcoming days and get started with the medical staff as well as the strength and conditioning coaches.

While he’ll have this winter and next summer and fall to try and make up for his missed time. Long term, however, there is a ton of potential with Tatum and at worse is somebody the Jackets could play in a rush defense role which early on is probably when we’ll see him on the field the most. That being said, if he shows the potential to play well in coverage and won’t be a liability on the field, which with his athleticism doesn’t seem like it would be an issue but we’ll have to wait and see.