Tight end Dylan Leonard has eyed playing in a bowl game since he arrived at Georgia Tech in 2019.
The Yellow Jackets were fresh off a postseason appearance, having played in the 2018 Quick Lane Bowl. It’s a feat they have yet to repeat, failing to make a bowl in the entirety of Leonard’s career – so far.
A win against Syracuse on Saturday would put an end to Tech’s streak of sub-.500 play and send the Jackets bowling.
“It would definitely mean a lot to be able to do that,” Leonard said. “It would be rewarding for the guys, rewarding for the fans, rewarding for the Institute. … I really, really want that bowl game. I’m going to do everything I can this Saturday and the following week to get it.”
Leonard, a fifth-year senior, is among several players at Tech whose careers are winding down. The coming weeks present opportunities to make a bowl game – a first for the majority of Tech players – and send the upperclassmen out on a positive note.
Running back Dontae Smith is among a handful of Jackets who have bowl-game experience. He traveled to the Quick Lane Bowl in 2018 on his first trip with the team. Smith feels the conditions are right for securing another bowl trip Saturday.
“Everything is the way you want it,” Smith said. “You’re at home at night, big crowd, and you’ve essentially got money on the line. All the guys are excited.”
Although making a bowl is on his mind, Smith said the team must execute, play together and continue doing what they’ve worked on all season to get there. Accomplishing that will lead to a bowl game, he said.
With their careers soon coming to a close, Tech’s seniors have an opportunity to end the program’s bowl woes.
But that’s not solely how they view their impact this season. Smith said the younger running backs’ hard work has been important to him as a leader, making him feel like that potentially was something they took away from his play.
Leonard said he’s been keeping track of milestones like his second- or third-to-last Tuesday of the regular season. It’s sad, Leonard said, but a win this weekend or next presents an opportunity that he hasn’t had since being at Tech.
Smith, however, said the approaching end of his career hasn’t set in. He said he wants to pursue football after college, so the coming games really mean only the end of his Tech football career – not his time in the sport altogether.
“I just have so much fun with my teammates and coaches, I don’t really pay attention to ‘it’s coming down’ when we’re just having fun out there playing ball,” Smith said. “That doesn’t really cross my mind as much as it probably would anybody else because I’m doing what I love.”
