One of the more pivotal pieces added to the Georgia Tech defense this offseason was Romello Height.
A familiar name to high school and SEC football fans in the state, Height graduated from Dublin High School in 2020 and then played two seasons for Auburn. He transferred to Southern California where he spent the 2022 and 2023 campaigns.
In April, Height announced he was returning to Georgia to play for the Yellow Jackets and for coach Brent Key, even though he had no prior relationship to Key or anyone on the Tech coaching staff.
“Went to a few schools, checked a few schools out, came here to talk to coach Key. Me and him made a few agreements and I loved the way he presented himself and I loved the way he was real with me,” Height said.
Listed at 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds, Height has two years of eligibility remaining and could be a major pickup for the Tech defense should be put together a breakout season and stay healthy.
Height suffered a shoulder injury in 2022 and appeared in just two games at USC. He rebounded in 2023 by making 21 tackles (six for a loss) and four sacks. His 2020 season at Auburn included just two games before he made nine appearances in 2021 and recorded 21 stops (three for a loss) for the Tigers.
All told, Height has played 672 snaps throughout his career. Key noted Height’s speed, strength, length and takeoff from the line of scrimmage as standing out so far during preseason practice and highlighted Height’s play after Saturday’s scrimmage.
“He’s brought a dynamic ability to the room,” Tech outside linebackers and defensive ends coach Kyle Pope said. “He’s a kid that’s gonna bring energy every day. He brings a different light switch to the room that we’ve been looking for. He wants to work, he wants to be better and he’s a guy that’s gonna show up day-in and day-out and he’s also brought leadership.
“He’s a guy that when he came in, he was a little quiet. Now he’s gonna speak up, he’s gonna talk and every day it’s a mission for him to go out and get better, man. So we’re glad to have him.”
Height originally committed to Miami in July of 2019 and then helped Dublin win a state championship later that year. He was a four-star prep prospect, according to the 247Sports Composite, who had nearly 30 scholarship offers.
Five years later he said he’s glad to be back in the South where he can visit family and where family and friends can come watch him play this fall. Height also has his sights set on a future in professional football should things go according to plan in 2024.
“Right now, in this camp I’ve just been taking it day-by-day just trying to push myself to the highest peak,” he said. “When it comes to the NFL goal, that’s the standard, but I just wanna continue to focus on the main goal and taking it day-by-day.”
Don’t press Singleton
Tech wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr. knows he is fast. Opponents who may not know that about him will learn quickly, he said.
“I know a lot of guys, they gonna see my speed, they not gonna wanna press (in coverage),” Singleton said. “But the guys that do, I’m just gonna make ‘em not wanna do that no more.”
Singleton caught 12 passes for 714 yards and six touchdowns as a freshman in 2023. The sophomore also ran the 200-meter and 100m for the Tech track and field team during the spring, clocking a 21.33 in the 200m and 10.32 in the 100m in the Yellow Jacket Invitational on March 16.
Freak show
The Yellow Jackets have themselves a bit of a freak show, and that’s meant as a compliment.
Bruce Feldman of The Athletic published a list of college football “freaks” whose physical prowess and athletic abilities seem unnatural. This season’s Tech roster features not just one, but two players both currently and previously featured on the list.
Jordan van den Berg (6-3, 300), a transfer from Penn State, was named to the 2024 edition. Feldman reported that the South Africa native, “has bench pressed 455 pounds, cleaned 380 and squatted 690. He clocked a 4.70 40 and a 4.20 short shuttle with a 31-inch vertical. This offseason at Tech … he squatted 655 and benched 455 and his power clean improved to 385.”
In 2021, Feldman noted Tech defensive end Kevin Harris for Harris’ freakish abilities which included running 20 miles per hour, recording a 39-inch vertical and benching 225 pounds more than 30 times.
Harris, now a 6-foot-4, 250-pound senior from Grayson High School, said being a “freak” doesn’t affect how he — or Berg — go about their business.
“Me and Berg, we work out on the same rack, so I see it every day. He pushes me to my limit, I push him,” Harris said. “I mean, if you’re strong, you’re strong. It’s genetics. If you got it, you got it. It’s cool and all, but that’s not really the main focus when you’re in the weight room. We’re just lifting so we can be consistent and be better and stronger in whatever we’re doing. It doesn’t mean anything, we just continue to work and try to get better, stronger, faster — whatever that is.”
Call it a comeback
Tech junior wide receiver Leo Blackburn and senior defensive lineman Sylvain Yondjouen are among 90 players on the watch list for college football’s comeback player of the year award.
Blackburn missed the 2023 season after sustaining his third major injury in three years during spring practice. Due to two season-ending knee injuries (2021 and 2023) and a wrist injury that cost him the first five games of the 2022 campaign, Blackburn has played in just seven games in his Tech career.
Yondjouen sustained a season-ending knee injury early in Tech’s season opener against Louisville on Sept. 1. Yondjouen was coming off his most productive season in 2022 when he had 2 1/2 sacks and five tackles for loss.
Center of the action
Tech senior Weston Franklin is one of 40 players on the watch list for the Rimington Trophy which recognizes college football’s top center.
Franklin has started 25-straight games at center for the Yellow Jackets over the last two seasons and played 884 offensive snaps in 2023. He was the anchor of an offensive front that helped pave the way for Tech to lead the ACC and rank among the top 15 teams nationally in both rushing offense and fewest sacks allowed in 2023.
Franklin was also tabbed as one of only 14 centers on the preseason watch list for the Outland Trophy.
The winner of the 2024 Rimington Trophy will be announced during The Home Depot College Football Awards Show, which airs live on ESPN on Dec. 12.
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