THE FLATS – Led by first-team selections Jahmyr Gibbs (Dalton, Ga./Dalton) and Juanyeh Thomas (Niceville, Fla./Niceville), five Georgia Tech football student-athletes were represented a total of six times on Pro Football Focus’ 2021 preseason all-Atlantic Coast Conference team, which was announced on Wednesday.
In addition to Gibbs and Thomas being named first team at running back and safety, respectively, other Yellow Jackets on PFF’s preseason all-ACC team include second-team running back Jordan Mason (Gallatin, Tenn./Gallatin), second-team edge rushers Jordan Domineck (Lakeland, Fla./George Jenkins) and Keion White (Garner, N.C./Garner), and Gibbs as a third-team kick returner.
In a testament to the talented youth that Tech has assembled on its roster, all five Jackets represented have at least two seasons of eligibility remaining. Thomas, Mason, Domineck and White (a transfer from Old Dominion) are all juniors eligibility-wise, while Gibbs enters his second freshman campaign after earning freshman all-America recognition as a true freshman last season.
Gibbs led Georgia Tech in all-purpose yards (968) and scoring (seven TDs) and ranked second on the team in rushing yards (460), rushing touchdowns (4), receptions (24), receiving yards (303) and touchdown receptions (3), compiling the gaudy numbers in just six-and-a-half games in 2020. He also averaged a gaudy 25.6 yards per kickoff return, which would have ranked second in the Atlantic Coast Conference and 22nd nationally if he had enough attempts to qualify for the NCAA’s official statistical rankings.
Since 2000, Gibbs is one of only seven Power Five conference players to compile 450 rushing yards, 300 receiving yards and 200 kickoff return yards in a team’s first eight games of the season, joining an elite list that includes Reggie Bush (USC – 2004), Marion Grice (Arizona State – 2013), Christian McCaffery (Stanford – 2015), Joe Mixon (Oklahoma – 2016), Saquon Barkley (Penn State – 2017) and Lynn Bowden, Jr. (Kentucky – 2019). His feat was made even more impressive by the fact that he missed the season opener at Florida State and left his final game of the season versus Duke before halftime due to injury.
Like Gibbs, Thomas earned freshman all-America status as a true freshman in 2018, when he set six school records for kickoff and interception returns. For his career, he has recorded 134 tackles and three interceptions and has started 21 of Tech’s 22 games over the past two seasons. In just 10 games last season, Thomas racked up 59 tackles (38 solo), two forced fumbles, an interception and three passes defended.
2021 PHIL STEELE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW PRESEASON ALL-ACC
First Team
RB Jahmyr Gibbs
S Juanyeh Thomas
Second Team
RB Jordan Mason
EDGE Jordan Domineck
EDGE Keion White
Third Team
KR Jahmyr Gibbs
2021 GEORGIA TECH FOOTBALL SEASON TICKETS
2021 Georgia Tech football season are on sale now. Starting at just $299 per seat, season tickets include reserved seats for all seven games on the Yellow Jackets’ 2021 home schedule, including “Mayhem at Mercedes-Benz Stadium” versus North Carolina on Sept. 25 and the return of “Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate” versus archrival Georgia on Nov. 27 at Bobby Dodd Stadium. For full 2021 Georgia Tech football season ticket information, visit ramblinwreck.com/footballtickets.
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