Georgia Tech Football signed an intriguing prospect in defensive end Grey Carroll as part of their 2021 recruiting class.
One of Georgia Tech’s most decorated recruits in the recruiting class of 2021 is Alcoa, Tennessee native Grey Carroll out of Alcoa High School. Carroll is Mr. Tennessee for AAA football in The Volunteer State and is a four-time state champion. The 6-foot-3, 260-pound defensive end is an exciting prospect on tape but also is an intriguing one in terms of his future at the next level. But first, his recruitment.
Per 247Sports’s composite rankings, Carroll was a top-850 player nationally coming in at No. 820 and was the No. 54 strong side defensive end in the cycle as well. In terms of his home state of Tennessee, he was a top-20 prospect. Carroll received 16 reported scholarship offers, mostly from Group of Five programs, his only other Power Five offers were Louisville and Wake Forest. However, he did receive offers from some of the top Group of Five programs in the country including Appalachian State, Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, Memphis, and UAB. Also notable is that he received “offers” from Howard, Princeton, and Yale. Overall, it’s a high quality offer list for a player of his caliber.
His highlights and what he brings to the table:
While Carroll does have highlights from this season available on his HUDL account, we have embedded his junior highlights above to give you a bigger sample size of his talents.
The first thing you can see in Carroll is he is quite explosive coming off the edge. Now, in his junior highlights he’s not the 260-pounds that he is now but he still looks quite explosive as he’s gotten bigger. A great athlete, Carroll knows how to use his athleticism, size, and power to his advantage. When he engages with offensive lineman, he uses his hands very well to gain leverage and has a few nice moves in his arsenal as well to get past lineman. A high-IQ player, he shows the ability to diagnose plays quickly and is very strong against the run, consistently chasing down running backs from behind. He’s solid in the pass rush but will need more development there going forward.
His future on The Flats:
Carroll seems like a probable candidate to redshirt in 2021 giving him time to continue to develop especially in his pass rush techniques. But there’s enough there to possibly warrant potentially playing at times this upcoming season within the four allotted games a player has at their disposal during a redshirt season. At his current size, it is worth wondering if he may ultimately be destined to be moved inside as a defensive tackle in the Jackets 4-3 defense but he may not necessarily be a perfect fit inside. Though his skill set would fit very nicely into the position, that’s what truly makes Carroll intriguing, where he does he best fit for the Yellow Jackets long term? We’ll have to wait and find out.
That all being said, Carroll has the potential and skill set to be at the very least a contributor on the Jackets defensive line for the next few years after a likely redshirt season but does have starter potential.