With many players returning from the ’23 team, especially on offense, the Jackets seem itching to get back under the spotlight and prove they can take the next step as a team and program.
“It’s a big step to build on what we did last season,” quarterback Haynes King said in Charlotte. “Our expectations and standards are higher now. It’s not the same. They always say you’re either going to get better or you’re going to get worse, but you can’t stay the same.”
King will take the field Wednesday as part of an offensive line that includes running backs Jamal Haynes and Trey Cooley, wide receivers Eric Singleton, Malik Rutherford and Christian Leary and offensive linemen Corey Robinson, Joe Fusil, Weston Franklin and Ethan McKechnie. This group was instrumental in Tech’s success under offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner in 2023, but the pressure is on them to put up similarly gaudy numbers in 2024.
However, complacency always seems to be lurking just around the corner.
“I definitely want to see that consistent effort out there,” Haynes said of the first few days of practice in Charlotte. “The same effort that we see from our guys on Day 1, I want to see on Day 16, in the heat, when it’s 93 degrees at 2 p.m. You want your team to see that consistency, especially during fall camp.”
The biggest mystery and concern for Tech coming into Wednesday, and really throughout the start of the ’24 season, will be defense.
Key has hired defensive coordinator Tyler Santucci, defensive line coach Jess Simpson, defensive backs coach Corey Peoples and linebackers/defensive ends coach Kyle Pope. Defensive linemen Thomas Gore (Miami), Jordan Van den Bergh (Penn State) and Romello Height (USC), cornerbacks Warren Burrell (Tennessee) and Saeed Gibbs (Rhode Island), linebacker Jackson Hamilton (Louisville) and linebacker EJ Lightsey (Georgia) have joined the program to add depth to the roster.
Those new guys join familiar faces like linebackers Kyle Efford and Tre’Nilius Tatum, safety Lamiles Brooks, defensive backs Ahmari Harvey, Clayton Powell Lee and Rodney Shelley, and defensive linemen Macius Scott, Horace Lockett, Kevin Harris, Sylvain Yonjuan and Zeke Biggers. The returning team will need to lead the charge and get the offense going if they are to change the fortunes of the worst rushing defense, worst total defense and second-worst scoring defense in the ACC.
“We had the best defense in the country last year and it can only go up from here,” Key said. “And we have guys that give it their all. We have guys that play hard. Are we going to have tough opponents? Yes. Are we going to have tough offensive lines that we’re going to face? Yes.
“They’re playing tough opponents every day in practice and this summer. You’re never going to see anything more than what they’ve seen over the last eight months, I guarantee you that.”
The Jackets are scheduled to be on the practice field at 5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 2 p.m. Friday, then practice Saturday morning before having Sunday off.
