The good news is that the 2025 secondary looks promising on paper, with multiple returning multi-year starters supported by experienced reserves and some very promising recruits. The not-so-good news is that this is a story we’ve heard all too many times, as the Tech secondary pretty much always seems to have both talent and experience entering the season, and yet the on-field performance hasn’t always reflected that.
It’s never entirely on the defensive backs—in general, any team’s secondary will only ever be as good as its pass rush. But it does seem like achieving the secondary’s full potential has been a long-term challenge for the Jackets.
So all that means it’s important to temper any optimism. But that said, there’s plenty of reason to believe the unit could take a meaningful step forward this fall, and there’s absolutely room for this group to become one of the better pass defense units in the ACC.
2024 in Review
When healthy, Tech had all the pieces for a capable secondary last year in the team’s 4-2-5 scheme. Ahmari Harvey and Warren Burrell formed a solid starting cornerback tandem, with Rodney Shelley and Syeed Gibbs sharing time at nickel and spelling the starters on the outside. At safety, Omar Daniels emerged as a late-season playmaker alongside Clayton Powell-Lee. None were world-beaters, but paired with a viable pass rush, they could’ve been a solid group of ACC starters.
The problem was that Tech’s pass rush was anything but viable, with the team ranking last in the ACC with 18 sacks all year. And the secondary was not good enough to make up for it, as Tech recorded just five interceptions (three of which were by linebackers rather than defensive backs) and allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete 63% of their passes; in both stats, Tech was in the bottom four in the 17-team ACC. All of that means there’s plenty of room for improvement heading in 2025.
Departures
Among departing seniors, the most impactful loss is Burrell, the team’s most reliable cover corner in 2024 when he was healthy. Also gone is safety LaMiles Brooks, who emerged as a very capable player in 2022 and 2023 but never seemed to recover from an early-season injury in his senior campaign.
Offseason portal attrition included two significant contributors. Safety Taye Seymore, who started a few games last season as a sophomore, landed at Auburn. Gibbs, who had an up-and-down year as a reserve cornerback after moving up from the FCS level, is now off to Kansas.
Also departing are reserve cornerbacks Jayden Davis, Nehemiah Chandler, and Cedric Franklin, who are all off to Sun Belt programs. None saw meaningful playing time last season.
Arrivals
With depth severely lacking in the defensive backfield, this position group was the coaching staff’s biggest priority in the portal.
In the winter portal period, Tech landed cornerbacks Kelvin Hill from UAB and Daiquan White from Eastern Michigan, both of whom started in 2024 for their Group of Five programs and have multiple years of eligibility left. The spring window saw the arrival of Penn State transfer Jon Mitchell, a former four-star recruit with four years of eligibility left; Savion Riley, who arrived from Colorado after two years as a reserve safety and special teams contributor; and Jyron Gilmore, a senior nickel corner who will play his final season for the Jackets after a productive career at Tennessee Tech and Georgia State.
So that’s four seasoned veterans and a young player with a high ceiling added to the mix… and that’s all before getting to the intriguing signees in the freshman class. Four-star signees Dalen Penson and Tae Harris were the splashiest signings, and it’s not hard to imagine either of them being an immediate contributor. But cornerback Elgin Sessions made waves in spring camp, and safeties Fenix Felton and Jayden Barr could factor into the mix this fall with good showings this summer.
Coaching Situation
Brent Key splits defensive back coaching duties among a dedicated cornerbacks coach and an overall secondary coach. Cory Peoples returns in the latter role, giving the players some much-needed continuity heading into 2025. As for the former… Ricky Brumfield coached the cornerbacks to start last season, but he was cut loose in the middle of the season under murky circumstances.
Stepping into the role of cornerbacks coach is Kobie Jones, who spent the last two years at Alabama as a graduate assistant under Nick Saban and as assistant cornerbacks coach under Kalen DeBoer. Tech’s new DC, Blake Gideon, is himself a former safety who played at Texas in the late 2000’s and was most recently the safeties coach at his alma mater, so that pedigree can only help with player development in the secondary.
It’s worth noting that this will be Gideon’s first coordinator job and Jones’ first formal position coach job, thus continuing a trend of Brent Key filling out his staff primarily by offering promotions and expanded responsibilities to assistants at powerhouse programs.
Outlook
Three starting roles seem fairly secure. Harvey is a two-year starter at corner who is solid in zone coverage and excels in run support, so he’ll take one cornerback spot. Daniels shined after moving from nickel corner to free safety late last season, so he’s an easy pick for free safety. And Powell-Lee returns as a two-year starter at strong safety after flirting with a potential transfer to Virginia.
As for the two other spots, a pair of seniors seem to be the leading candidates. Shelley had mixed results a year ago while drawing some tough matchups, but he’s the most seasoned candidate for the second outside corner spot. And Gilmore’s experience at nickel corner makes him the natural pick to start inside.
That’s five seniors for five spots, and it seems like a logical outcome. But plenty of other scenarios feel very possible. White and Hill, the G6 transfers, are versatile players who could push to start inside or outside; Hill in particular looked solid at nickel corner in the spring game, and White is a seasoned veteran on the outside. Penson or Sessions could crack the rotation with a strong fall camp, and Harris’s athleticism will be hard to keep off the field for long at safety, especially with the lack of experience at both safety spots behind the starting duo.
All in all, while experience seems likely to win out in the early going, there’s a lot of room for intrigue in this position group. And the secondary heads into 2025 in better shape in terms of depth and experience down the depth chart.
Projected Week 0 Depth Chart
Boundary CB*: Ahmari Harvey, Dalen Penson, Jon Mitchell
Field CB*: Daiquan White, Rodney Shelley, Elgin Sessions, Zachary Tobe
Nickel CB: Jyron Gilmore, Kelvin Hill, Troy Stevenson
Free Safety: Omar Daniels, Savion Riley, Christian Pritchett
Strong Safety: Clayton Powell-Lee, Tae Harris, D.J. Moore
Field corner seems like the biggest toss-up, and it may end up being more valuable to have Shelley as a versatile backup. Regardless, expect to see just about everyone on the two-deep getting meaningful playing time this fall.
* It’s unclear if the defense will pursue a boundary/field approach for the corners, but it seems likely that they’ll at least try to line up Harvey on the boundary whenever possible to keep him close to the action.