Tech’s Overhauled CB Room Full of Competition

ATLANTA – One thing is certain for Georgia Tech football’s cornerback position this fall: veteran Ahmari Harvey will be a starter and the anchor in the secondary for new corners coach Kobie Jones. The bigger question is who will line up opposite Harvey as the Yellow Jackets sort through a crowded depth chart featuring both fresh talent and returning players like Rodney Shelley and Zachary Tobe.

Several players are vying for that other corner spot, including Shelley and Tobe, who played extensive snaps last year at corner, and spring portal addition Daiquan White. White had a stellar spring. Shelley was limited in the spring, coming off an injury that ended his season before the bowl game.

Beyond those three, the Jackets added Penn State transfer Jon Mitchell, who has four years left after maintaining his redshirt for the Nittany Lions in his first year, but still contributed in their playoff run. They also brought in Elgin Sessions as a mid-year early enrollee and top 150 corner Dalen Penson, who enrolled this summer to round out the room.

Jones says he has been impressed with the competition so far in camp.

“It’s been good. Those guys have been competing, and obviously, they know that spot is open,” Jones said. “Rodney Shelley’s been doing a really good job, and Daiquan White and Tobe, all those guys are competing, and to me it is always open. This is a day-to-day thing. It is never you are starting and let them roll. It is a day-to-day competition, so these guys know they’ve got to bring it every day and prepare like a champion, practice like a champion, and that is the standard and what we want to see.”

The rotation at cornerback could also be more situational than just going with the top two players, as each guy brings something different to the table.

“I think it is situational,” Jones said of his plan on rotating corners. “How the flow of the game is, the moment of the game, I think that is going to be a big deal. Different guys have different abilities and you would like them on the field at different times. Ahmari is a guy you like in a clutch situation. You want to see number three on the field. I feel like he is a guy that we can win because of. A lot of guys you can win with. That doesn’t mean they aren’t good players, but Ahmari is a guy we can win because of.”

Mitchell Brings Youth and Experience to the CB Room

Adding Mitchell from Penn State was a big piece for the Jackets giving them a slightly more experienced body who still has four years left on his clock after a major reset of the cornerback position over the last year.

Jones said he has stepped in and made the transition to a different defense well.

“He picked it up very fast,” Jones said of Mitchell. “You could tell he has played a little football and is a super smart kid. He shows a lot of flashes of some ability and I just want to see him do that consistently. He is learning a new system; obviously, he came from an old system and got to learn a new system and erase a lot of that out of his head.”

Transitioning to the way that Jones and defensive coordinator Blake Gideon want things done has been the biggest obstacle so far for Mitchell in camp.

“He has learned the new system, but when he is flying 100 miles per hour there are still some things, you can tell he is not sure on and I’ve got to do a better job as a ocach to make sure he’s clean on that,” Jones said of the transfer corner, “But he knows he can play football and he is going to be in the compeitition. He is going to make plays, he got to handle a lot of balls this camp, and it is just seeing him consistently do that throughout the rest of the camp.”

Freshmen Corners Holding Their Own

Dalen Penson obviously was the biggest name of the young corners, but Jones says he has been pleased with both Penson and Elgin Sessions and how they are coming along. He said that Penson clearly has a lot of natural ability.

“God blessed him with some God given athletic ability. He just came in, and he obviously didn’t get the work that a lot of the other guys got in the spring on technique and stuff like that, but he jumped right in, and you wouldn’t know it. You’d think he has been here the whole time. He picked up on the techniques really fast. Just the ability that Dalen has, he is going to be special.”

Sessions impressed in the spring and has kept up pushing for a role this fall.

“Elgin was here in the spring and you wouldn’t know he is a freshman right now. When I look at Elgin Sessions, I think he is a sophomore, a junior, an upperclassman the way he prepares and the way he practices. Same thing with Dalen, I don’t treat him like a freshman anymore. You’ve been here long enough, you are a sophomore (to me), you are a vet now.”

Listen to the audio from defensive secondary interviews.