Inside The Chart: In the Tren-ches

In The Tren-ches: Trenilyas Tatum, Georgia Tech’s homegrown linebacker, stuck with it and chose the hard way. His perseverance has been on full display during his senior season.

Inside The Chart | By Andy Demetra (The Voice of the Yellow Jackets)

Had his father gotten his wish, Trenilyas Tatum wouldn’t just be a kid from Atlanta.

He’d be a kid named Atlanta.

As Trenilyas tells it, his dad lobbied hard to give his son that name, but his mom ultimately won out.

“From what I know, it was really close. But Trenilyas popped up, and that’s what they decided to rock with,” Tatum said.

The homegrown linebacker – technically he hails from Riverdale, just outside Atlanta – Tatum will hear his name called out Thursday as one of 23 players participating in Georgia Tech’s Senior Night festivities at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (7:30 p.m. ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network). One of eight siblings from a large, blended family, Tatum says he expects an overflow crowd of family members to join him on the field in pregame.

“I take a moment every night before I go to sleep to thank God first. I feel like I’m supposed to be in this position,” the 6-foot-2, 225-pounder said.

For someone almost named Atlanta, it’d be easy to assume that fate led Tatum to this moment – a four-star, hometown talent, starring for hometown Georgia Tech, putting together the finest season of his career. Reality is rarely that straightforward. Tatum’s journey has been defined far more by perseverance – through the lulls in playing time, and the times the academic load felt overwhelming, and the times his maturity threatened to hold him back, and the time he dipped into the transfer portal, and all the other inflection points where his Georgia Tech career could have gotten sidetracked.

Sticking with it allowed him to transform his future instead. And to those around him, it only makes his Senior Night more special.

“You take a lot of pride in people you put a lot of time into. ‘Tren’ is one that we have collectively all put a lot of time in with. But that’s what makes coaching so special, is the ability to affect and change young these people’s lives,” said head coach Brent Key.

“He’s changed how people view him. He’s been able to do that. That’s been his work – no one else’s.  I think he should be proud, and he should have a ton of confidence because of that,” added defensive coordinator Tyler Santucci.

He’s played with confidence this year as part of a revitalized Georgia Tech defense, which comes into Thursday’s home finale against NC State ranked second in the ACC in scoring and total defense. Tatum has started all 10 games, ranking third on the team with 47 tackles. His 5.5 tackles for loss have surpassed his previous career high for a season.

“He’s very athletic. He does a great job in space. He’s done a really nice job learning our system and playing in our system. He found his voice over the last three months. You don’t have to play quiet on the football field. He’s found his voice on the football field, which has been really cool to see,” Santucci said.

Key acknowledged that leadership on Nov. 9 when he named Tatum one of his four game captains against No. 4 Miami.

“I’ve been waiting a long time for this game to be able to name Tren a captain,” Key noted that week. “The smile on his face when I told him [that day], it was something that me and him will share for a long time.” Tatum responded with seven tackles and a half-sack in the Yellow Jackets’ 28-23 win.

The trajectory early in his career – his trajectory 10 months ago, for that matter – would have hardly foreshadowed such an honor. “Maturity” comes up often, both from coaches and Tatum himself. Talent was never the issue. But Key talks to his players often about the difference between deserving something and earning something. Tatum understood he had to change his habits to get the results he wanted, whether on the depth chart or in the classroom.

It didn’t always click. Perhaps it never would. A few years back, Key connected Tatum with his former teammate Keyaron Fox, like Tatum an Atlanta native who went on to a nine-year NFL career at linebacker, hoping he could serve as a mentor. Fox offered proof of what was possible if he stayed with it.

Key admits he had “no business” coming to Georgia Tech were it not for football. He understands the life-changing power of becoming a “Tech Man.” He saw similarities in his and Tatum’s paths, and he didn’t want him to miss on the profound rewards that can come from earning a Georgia Tech degree.

Tatum appreciated that. “Coach Key, he understands what I have going on. He understands my story. He understands the passion and everything I bring to the game, and the love and the care I’ve got for it,” he said.

There was still a point where all that investment may not have paid off. Tatum didn’t start the last six games of the 2023 season, and days after Georgia Tech’s win over UCF in the Gasparilla Bowl, he entered his name in the transfer portal. Tatum explored his options during the semester break, but when Santucci was hired as Tech’s new defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, he quickly sought out a meeting with his rising senior.

The visit had an immediate impact.

“When I had a conversation with him, I was able to lock eyes and get to know him. He got to know me. I just felt like that was the best decision for me at the time,” said Tatum, who withdrew from the portal not long after.

Tatum knew his flirtation with the portal would require him to rebuild some trust with his coaches and teammates. According to Santucci, he’s become a model member of his defense ever since.

“He’s upheld his end of the bargain. He’s done everything we’ve asked of him. I couldn’t be more proud,” he said.

In turn, Tatum says Santucci has helped him master a trait that had held him back throughout his career.

“I’m really emotional. Just feeling or knowing that it’s your fault, it brings you down. That’s something I did have to work on. It just slows me down for the next play, and the next play. It used to just take over me for a whole practice, a whole game. I had to get over that,” he explained.

“I think he’s been able to do that for the last nine months, and that’s really where a lot of his growth has happened,” Santucci added.

He knows the job isn’t finished. Like the other 22 seniors, Tatum wants to end his final home game with a win, which would complete Georgia Tech’s first undefeated home record in 25 years. He has aspirations of playing at the next level and “feeding my family.”

But there’s no melancholy as his Georgia Tech career winds down, no what-ifs about what he could have done differently. Lessons reveal themselves on their own time. He only feels gratitude for how far he’s come and the people who stayed committed to him, even if his own stubbornness sometimes got in the way.

On Santucci: “He put something in my life that’s going to stick with me forever.”

On his family: “My siblings, they keep me going. I’m a big inspiration to them… I’m happy for them to stay on me about stuff.”

On fellow linebacker Kyle Efford: “He knows my face when I come in. He knows what type of day it’s going to be. He helps me a lot. I can count on Kyle for anything.”

On Key: “He cares for his players. And they always are going to let you know that. When you know your coaches care for you, you go 10 times harder for them.”

That perseverance has reached its final form in his senior season. But Key knows Senior Day won’t be the last time he’ll embrace his Atlanta-born, Atlanta-raised, (almost) Atlanta-named linebacker. Tatum is also on track to earn his Georgia Tech degree in business administration in May.

“I’ve told Tren, I will be the first person he sees after he shakes President Cabrera’s hand and gets that diploma in the spring time. I am so proud of that guy,” Key said.

“Take everything on the football field out of it. To see Tren graduate from Georgia Tech will be one of the highlights of my coaching career.”