THE FLATS – Running back Jahmyr Gibbs (Dalton, Ga./Dalton) and linebacker Quez Jackson (Fort Valley, Ga./Peach County) represent Georgia Tech on Athlon Sports’ 2021 preseason all-Atlantic Coast Conference team, which was unveiled on Thursday. Gibbs was named first-team all-ACC as a running back and second-team as a kickoff returner, while Jackson was named fourth-team at linebacker.
One of the nation’s most dynamic true freshmen 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.
Gibbs, who has four seasons of eligibility still remaining due to all NCAA football student-athletes receiving an extra year of eligibility due to the Covid-19 pandemic, was named to The Athletic’s freshman all-America team in 2020.
Jackson ranked seventh in the ACC with 80 tackles in just 10 games last season and is the ACC’s third-leading returning tackler in 2021. He recorded at least nine stops in six of Tech’s 10 games in 2020, including 11 against ACC regular-season champion and College Football Playoff participant Notre Dame and 11 in the season finale versus Pitt.
Following the death of sports and civil rights icon Henry “Hank” Aaron in February, Jackson volunteered to give up the No. 44 jersey number that he wore in his first three collegiate seasons to allow Tech to temporarily retire the number that Aaron wore during his legendary career with the Atlanta Braves. Jackson will wear No. 4 in 2021.
Gibbs, Jackson and the Yellow Jackets will open the 2021 campaign in just 107 days, when they host Northern Illinois at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Kickoff and television arrangements for the ’21 opener are expected to be finalized this month.
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 MBS” versus North Carolina on Sept. 25 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium 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.
Single-game tickets will go on this summer. Click HERE to receive information and presale opportunities when they become available.
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Support The Swarm Fund, which helps Georgia Tech athletics offset the significant financial challenges associated with Covid-19, and the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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