Darius Eubanks began his coaching career eight years ago and has hopped around the Southeast, and the state, since his first stop as a graduate assistant at Arkansas in 2017. His arrival at Georgia Tech in February, however, marks his first full-time gig at a power conference.
Eubanks said he doesn’t feel any pressure coaching in the ACC, but acknowledged there has been a learning curve inside the playbook.
“I will say, with the new scheme, it’s my first time part of a scheme quite like this,” he said Thursday. “I’ve already felt in the first weeks that I’m gonna become a better coach. That’s exciting. Me becoming a better coach means my players are gonna become even better players, and I’m gonna get the most out of ‘em.”
Eubanks, a standout linebacker at Georgia Southern from 2009-12, was hired by coach Brent Key to direct Tech’s talented and experienced group of linebackers, a position he knows well having played it both collegiately and professionally.
In Statesboro, Eubanks played 52 games (starting 50) and made 260 tackles for the Eagles. He was a first-team all-Southern Conference selection in 2013 before a brief NFL career that included stops with Minnesota, Cleveland and Dallas.
Those experiences have helped him mold and teach college defenders.
“A lot of times you may see me behind the linebackers because I’m trying to see what they’re seeing. I can’t ask them to do anything if I can’t do it back there behind them,” Eubanks said. “Having that experience, you kind of got a feel for, ‘OK, this is where I need to train my eyes, this is where I need to put my eyes. This is how I need to take this drop. This is how I need to exit. This is how I need to take my angle of departure.’ I think playing the position and being able to coach the same position, it kind of gives you a head start.”
Credit: Associated Press
Credit: Associated Press
Eubanks has been in Atlanta before, having spent the 2021 year with Georgia State as the Panthers’ safety coach and was on the same staff as Tech’s defensive backs coach Cory Peoples. He had spent the past two years with his alma mater leading the secondary in 2023 and then the linebackers in 2024.
Now, Eubanks has the good fortune of being handed a linebacker corps that includes Kyle Efford, E.J. Lightsey, Jackson Hamilton and Tah’j Butler, as well as transfers Melvin Jordan (Oregon State) and Cayman Spaulding (Tennessee Tech).
“Just talking to him, when he first got hired, I knew he was going to be very transparent with each of his guys,” Lightsey said. “He coaches hard, he’s going to make sure everybody is in the right spot. And my biggest takeaway from it? He cares about you off the field, too, just building that relationship and connection with him has been great. Just knowing that you have some like that coaching you, but also someone you can talk to outside of football, just makes you wanna play harder for them and you can trust in him when you’re listening to everything he’s saying.”
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