Seeing The Light: A rash of injuries tested his resolve. But a full-strength E.J. Lightsey is finally flashing the talent he always knew he had.
Inside The Chart | By Andy Demetra (The Voice of the Yellow Jackets)
The smile on E.J. Lightsey’s face is broad, pearly and completely at odds with the malice he inflicts as a 6-foot-2, 235-pound linebacker.
It’s also completely understandable these days.
“I know that everybody’s story is different. Everybody is on their own time,” the redshirt junior said.
Maybe this was his destiny all along. Fully healthy, enjoying a career year, contributing to an undefeated record and Georgia Tech’s highest national ranking since 2014. Not the destiny that seemed inescapable for most of his career, when one injury after another tested his patience and left his potential untapped.
Instead, the Fitzgerald, Ga., native has helped power Georgia Tech (5-0, 2-0 ACC) to the top of the ACC standings and back into the national spotlight. No Yellow Jacket player takes that rise for granted. Perhaps none more than Lightsey, as that incandescent smile shows.
“To finally be getting that time back and show what I can do and reach my full potential, it’s been great for me,” he said.
Through five games, Lightsey’s 25 tackles rank second on the team behind fellow linebacker Kyle Efford. That already equals the number of tackles he had in his first three seasons combined. He recorded a season-best 10 in the Jackets’ win over No. 12 Clemson at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field.
“Each game, you see it’s coming along. It’s clicking for him. I’m proud of him – but I’m pushing him every day,” said Georgia Tech linebackers coach Darius Eubanks.
“It felt great knowing I played a big part in that victory,” Lightsey said of his performance against Clemson.
“It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been waiting on it, and I finally had the chance.”
VIDEO: E.J. Lightsey and Buzz reveal Georgia Tech's uniforms for Saturday's game vs. Virginia Tech
That chance seemed all but certain coming out of Fitzgerald High School three hours south of Atlanta, where Lightsey won Class 2A Defensive Player of the Year honors and led his team to a state championship as a senior. He originally signed with Georgia – he refers to them simply as “my last school” or “my old school” – but missed his first summer with a cartilage injury in his right knee. He appeared in four games in 2022 to preserve his redshirt, but a week before the 2023 season opener, he injured his right shoulder in a practice collision.
Lightsey was on track to return when injury struck again.
“It’s probably the second day I’m back. Groin. I sit out for the season,” he said.
Lightsey transferred to Georgia Tech after the season and tried gutting it out with his new teammates, but the injury still lingered. He underwent surgery and missed the spring, but returned for Tech’s season opening win over Florida State.
A week later, Lightsey pulled his left hamstring on a kick return in the Yellow Jackets’ home opener against Georgia State. The injury cost him the next four games. The dull lights of a trainer’s room would once again take precedence over the stadium lights of Bobby Dodd Stadium.
During one of his previous rehab stints, Lightsey got a tattoo of playing cards on his forearm with the words “Bet On Me” scrawled underneath. For a while, the ink read more like irony than affirmation.
Few players, it seemed, had been dealt more bad hands than him.
“That’s when I kind of got low a little bit, but having that right support system is what kept me grinding,” Lightsey recalled. “People were still supporting me, still telling me [to] stay level-headed. Keep the faith and you’ll finally get your chance.”
Hamstring healed, he finally started to flash his talent over the final month of the regular season. Lightsey earned his first career start against No. 4 Miami and responded with a career-high six tackles in an upset win over the Hurricanes. He followed it up by catching a deflected pop pass and racing in for a 21-yard touchdown in Tech’s 30-29 win over NC State.
VIDEO: E.J. Lightsey's 21-yard INT return for TD vs. NC State - 2025 (ACC Digital Network)
That confidence, coupled with being at full strength for an extended stretch of time, has carried over into his redshirt junior season. Then again, Lightsey didn’t need a rash of injuries to realize how easily football could be taken from him. In late February of his senior year at Fitzgerald, Lightsey was with a friend at a public park in his hometown, doing a conditioning workout on a basketball court. Both were preparing for their upcoming college seasons. An altercation broke out nearby.
“Shots were fired. Me and my friend tried to run. I ended up getting hit,” he says matter-of-factly.
An innocent bystander, Lightsey suffered gunshot wounds to his right shoulder and right foot. The injuries weren’t life-threatening, but he spent a week in the hospital recovering. He still has the bullet lodged in his shoulder, though Lightsey says he doesn’t experience any lingering pain from where he was hit.
“The recovery process was so fast, I kind of knew like, okay, I can still do this. I can get back into this and do what I love to do,” he recalled.
That love has been tested time and again. Lightsey still admits to a flicker of worry every time he feels “a little nick, bump or bruise” in a practice or game, concerned that he’s picked up another injury. The thoughts are usually fleeting, though. And as Georgia Tech prepares to face Virginia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (3:30 p.m. ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network), the man who has persevered through so much has no reason to stop smiling now.
“I missed out on so much time,” Lightsey said. “To finally be getting that time back and show what I can do and reach my full potential, it’s been great.”
2025 GEORGIA TECH FOOTBALL TICKETS
Tickets still remain for each of the Yellow Jackets’ final three home games of the 2025 regular season at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field.
Oct. 11 vs. Virginia Tech (Hall of Fame Weekend) – Click HERE for tickets.
Oct. 25 vs. Syracuse (Homecoming) – Click HERE for tickets.
Nov. 22 vs. Pitt (Senior Day/Military Appreciation Day/Michael Isenhour Toy Drive-25th Anniversary) – Click HERE for tickets.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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