Today’s Georgia Tech football 2021 signee profile focuses on three-star defensive end Noah Collins out of Grayson High School in Loganville, Georgia.
Collins is a top-700 player in the country per 247Sports composite rankings and represents an important piece of the Jackets building of their pipeline between Grayson High School and The Flats of Georgia Tech. Collins is one of three signees in December to come from Grayson joining fellow 2021 signee, three-star athlete Jamal Haynes and Texas transfer, Kenyatta Watson II, a former four-star talent in the 2019 recruiting cycle.
During his recruitment, Collins received 26 scholarship offers with a majority from Power Five programs. Overall, it’s a very strong offer list for the 6-foot-4, 225-pound defensive end. Among his offers include Arizona State, Arkansas, Baylor, Florida, LSU, Notre Dame, Texas, and Texas A&M. It’s obvious by his offer list that he was a highly valued prospect.
Highlights and What Collins brings to The Flats:
Collins high school highlights are certainly fun to watch and I recommend you do so above. Now, in terms of what Collins will bring to The Flats is first and foremost, a high-intensity and physical player. You could throw a bunch of cliches out there about the type of player he is but ultimately, Collins is the type of player that will finish out every play and has a “relentless motor”. While he is a very good athlete and that shows on his highlight tapes, his athleticism won’t be as great at the next level which does cap his ceiling a bit lower.
However, Collins like we said is a very physical player and at 6-foot-4 and 225-pounds, he is just scratching the surface where he could be physically. He’ll need to add on more weight and muscle but once he does, he could be quite the scary defensive end coming out of the edge for opposing offensive lineman. He has a huge frame at 6-foot-4 so getting to 250-255 pounds by the time he leaves Tech shouldn’t be too hard whatsoever. But with that frame also comes great length which as seen in his highlight tape, he uses to his advantage. He is able to use that length to engage with offensive lineman quickly but also a big advantage in tackling. He’ll need to improve his move set to beat offensive lineman at the college level more consistently as well while also having to learn to play closer to the ground, as he does play a very stand up style at this point. Typically, you’d like to see your defensive ends play with some bend in order to maximize leverage coming off the edge. If he plays the stand-up style at the college level, he’s more likely than not going to be stopped from getting into the backfield especially against teams with bigger offensive lines.
Overall, Collins at the next level should be a quality defensive lineman for the Jackets. Most of his success will come down to how well his athleticism translates to the next level. If it translates better than expected or he improves his athleticism, then his potential contributions to the Jackets defense will be considerably higher.
His Future on The Flats:
This upcoming season, Collins will most definitely be taking a redshirt season. At just 225-pounds, Collins will need to add at least another 15-20 pounds before he sees the field. Once he adds on that weight, Collins will have the chance to get on the field and see what he could do at the next level. Though depending on how much the Jackets want to work on with his skill set, it could take even two years before he sees the field.
Once Collins sees the field, he should at the least be a quality rotational piece for the Yellow Jackets for a few seasons before becoming a starter towards the end of his career. His ceiling is likely a multi-year starter if the Tech coaching staff is comfortable with letting him loose once he adds on some weight over the course of the next year or so. He has a chance to be a really good piece on the Jackets defensive line in the next few years and to be a consistent and productive member over the course of his career.