The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets defense will look slightly different on Aug. 30 when they open the season at Colorado, with players like Romello Height, Zeke Biggers, and Taye Seymore not on the team anymore. However, the major change will come from new defensive coordinator Blake Gideon.
The Yellow Jackets hired Gideon three days ago, and two days after it was announced that the Yellow Jackets former defensive coordinator, Tyler Santucci, would take a job with the Baltimore Ravens as a linebackers coach.
Gideon brings player experience from the safety position, where he played the position at the University of Texas from 2008-2011, starting all 52 games of his college career.
That experience could help build up the secondary for the Yellow Jackets, a group that ranked fifth in the ACC last season in passing yards allowed per game, to one of the best secondaries in the conference next season.
Gideon's experience could play a factor in building up players in the position group as well, as he will be a mentor for incoming freshman Tae Harris and other players that are set to be contributors for the team next season like Amari Harvey, Omar Daniels, and Warren Burrell.
The Texas Longhorns ran mostly a 4-2-5 nickel defense, and with secondary being the position group on the defense with the most depth, it would make sense for Yellow Jackets fans to expect Gideon to run that same defense next season, which the team is used to, as that was the defensive personnel that Santucci ran in his lone season with the Yellow Jackets.