Georgia
Georgia Tech Football: Recruits Are Buzzing Over Yellow Jackets Upset Win over No. 4 Miami
Georgia Tech’s win over No. 4 Miami has recruits buzzing. Here is what some of them had to say including Ga Tech commit Dalen Penson.
Georgia Tech Commit Dalen Penson (Sandy Creek HS)
“This game was electric, the atmosphere, the offense, and the defense. Once Georgia Tech can stay consistent, we will be a team to watch,” said Penson.
2025 LB Jakaleb Stegall (Newnan HS)
“The atmosphere was crazy. It was rocking and the students were a big part of the win. I just felt like the players were hungry. The coaches were very home-caring and welcoming. They made us feel a part of them and storming the field was one of the best experiences ever #goyellowjacket,” said Stegall.
2025 Emarion Nichols (Newnan HS)
“It was an amazing experience. The coaches were welcoming and made you feel at home, and asked how you were doing. The players were cool. We were interacting with them after the win and they made me feel like I was a part of the team,” said Nichols.
2026 LB Rodney Colton (Newnan HS)
The vibe was lit, and the atmosphere and the student section made the game 10 times better. The coaches mess with me heavily. They love it when I come and get to see me,” said Colton. “I love the way they rotate their linebackers. The players mess with the kid. Singleton is my guy and the one I’m closest with.”
2026 WR Ryan Mosley (Carrollton HS)
“It was a shock but Tech looks good and they have made some changes to their program. It’s paying off and no I didn’t storm the field. There were a lot of us out there and I knew a lot of the prospects but I was there with a teammate from school CJ Kelly and Coach Key came and talked to me before the game,” said Mosley. “It feels amazing to see this win! It was a great environment and had high hospitality from the fans from the start of the game to the end of the game and I knew that momentum would lead GA Tech to the big upset win. Great work by all the players and I’m glad they came out on top.”
2026 WR Craig Dandridge (Cambridge HS)
“I feel like it was a great hard fought team win but most importantly a statement win for GT. When the fans stormed the field it was fun to watch, people were carrying the goalposts, carrying players, and taking videos with them. It was exciting to see all the support the team has from the GT community,” said Dandridge.
2026 WR Hudson Cocchiara (Cambridge HS)
“That was crazy. I was very impressed with Georgia Tech’s defense and how they contained Miami QB Cam Ward very well. There were a lot of big hits coming from both sides. It was interesting the way GT would swap the quarterbacks, but it ended up working out. King had some pretty tough runs,” said Cocchiara. “GT had a lot of injuries too it seemed like, which is also why it’s impressive they beat the #4 team Miami for their first loss. I stormed the field and talked to some players briefly. It was a great experience overall.”
2027 EDGE KJ Green (Stephenson HS)- Green was a high-end recruit in attendance coming with his DL Coach Rockshawn McNeil who has been key in his development. This is what he had to say.
“The game was extremely energetic. That fan base was on a whole different level. I felt the intensity in my spirit every time a 3rd down or a big-time moment happened. I love the way the coaches kept their cool in such a close game against a top team like Miami,” said Green. To see how they kept not only themselves but the players calm in such a big-time moment, I can honestly say I genuinely enjoyed that Georgia Tech game day experience.”
2027 OL Gabe Prince (Prince Avenue Christian HS)
The game itself was an amazing experience and the end was the best college game ending I’ve ever been to. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the hospitality from the coaches and staff.
2027 DB Ethan Hauser (Buford HS)
“This was definitely the best Tech game I’ve been to so far. The energy was crazy! I definitely had a feeling they were going to pull this one off, everyone seemed super confident on the field during warmups,” said Hauser. It was pretty cool to see them pull it off and to be down on the field with the students and fans after such a huge win.”
You can’t state enough the magnitude of a win for the Yellow Jackets and how important it was for what they are trying to build for the future while attracting top recruits from across the country and in the peach state.
Additional Links:
ACC Power Rankings: Week 12
Georgia Tech Football: Big Takeaways From The Yellow Jackets Upset Win Over No. 4 Miami on Saturday
Georgia Tech Football: Everything From Brent Key After Win Over No. 4 Miami
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Kirk Fordice-like Rick Jackson is sounding a whole lot like Daniel Kirkwood Fordice as he tries to be elected Georgia’s next governor.
Fordice came out of nowhere — actually, Vicksburg is somewhere but you know what I mean — in 1991 to become a two-term Mississippi governor.
He had money but nothing like Jackson, a billionaire businessman who’s also trying to emerge from nowhere politically to win Georgia’s top office.
“The establishment hated Trump, because they couldn’t control him. They are going to hate me,” Jackson says in an ad for Georgia’s Republican Primary on May 19, sounding like one of my favorite Mississippi governors — Fordice, because of his unpredictable personality (he could vilify or charm you, all in one sentence), not his politics. He died in 2004 of cancer.
I stood by a cafe entrance one morning, waiting to cover a Fordice speech. When he appeared, I stuck out my hand to shake his. “I’m not shaking your damn hand. You’re part of the problem down there (referring to the newspaper),” he told me, smiling and moving on.
Jackson rose to become one of economic giant-Georgia’s wealthiest people. He came from Atlanta’s rough midtown area, ending up in the foster care system. He left college due to poor financial circumstances.
The 71-year-old Jackson wormed his way into the dynamic city’s business scene in the late 1970s, mostly of the healthcare variety with mixed success before starting a workforce staffing and services company and later an antibiotics manufacturing plant. He turned those businesses into billion-dollar enterprises.
“It’s God’s money,” he said in rural Blakely, and he’s been charitable with it.
Jackson doesn’t try to hide his vast wealth. His family lives in a 48,000-square-foot mansion at Cumming, a place of nearly 100,000 people near Atlanta in Forsyth County, which once promoted its almost all-white population as a virtue.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Bill Torpy recently wrote that Jackson will spend a ton of his own money in seeking another mansion, the one occupied by Georgia’s governor. Torpy noted that present Lt. Gov. Burt Jones was once heavily favored to win the primary race, but he’s fallen behind Jackson’s bold money bid.
“The one-time front-runner in the Republican primary (Jones) has been relegated to No. 2, the result of a $100 million Mack truck running him over.
Rick Jackson, a billionaire healthcare tycoon, a man with a sly smile and reptilian gaze, is the guy driving that truck,” Torpy wrote.
The GOP field includes Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, who spurned Trump’s demand to find 11,780 votes that would’ve allowed him to win Georgia in 2020.
Fordice was effective with some bombastic rhetoric during his run for governor, but I don’t remember it reaching the histrionic level employed by Jackson. In a major ad blitz, often referencing (Georgia college student) Laken Riley’s murderer, Jackson promises that unauthorized immigrants committing violent crimes will be “deported or departed … any questions?”
In another ad, Jackson growled, “Like President Trump, I don’t owe anybody anything, and like you, I’m sick of career politicians.”
Fordice spent only $1 million to get himself elected Mississippi’s governor. He somewhat sneaked up on the establishment, riding no escalator to the first floor of his Vicksburg concrete river mats-contracting office to declare his intentions. Who could ever forget his announcement seeking the governorship that ran on page 5 of the Clarion Ledger?
Recent polling ahead of Georgia’s May primaries for governor shows the eventual Republican nominee faces a strong Democrat in the November general election, most likely former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. That’ll require another whole pot of money.
— Mac Gordon, a native of McComb, is a retired Mississippi newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.
Gulfstream recently announced a $5 million investment in Georgia education, welcoming students and leaders to its Savannah headquarters.
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