THE FLATS – Defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg (Johannesburg, South Africa/Providence Christian Academy (Ga.)) became Georgia Tech football’s first first-team Academic All-American in 23 years when College Sports Communicators (CSC) announced its 2025 Academic All-America teams on Tuesday.
In addition to being Georgia Tech football’s first first-team Academic All-American since punter Dan Dyke received the recognition four-straight years from 1999-2002, van den Berg is only the 11th Yellow Jacket to ever earn first-team Academic All-America honors, which date back to 1952. He is the second Yellow Jacket in as many years to be named Academic All-America, following long snapper Henry Freer, who was a second-team honoree in 2024.
van den Berg posted a 3.57 grade point average in Georgia Tech’s international affairs, science and technology graduate program and needed just three semesters to earn his master’s degree from the Institute in December 2025.
On the field, he was a two-time first-team all-ACC defensive tackle in his two seasons as a Yellow Jacket. He was an honorable-mention all-America selection in 2025, when he led Georgia Tech with 11 tackles for loss, which was tied for second nationally among all defensive tackles (and tied for the most among Power Four conference DTs), according to sports-reference.com.
In addition to his achievements in the classroom and on the field, van den Berg was also an entrepreneur during his time at Georgia Tech, as he purchased and operated an Atlanta laundromat.
van den Berg helped lead Georgia Tech to a 9-4 record (tied for the 10th-most victories in Tech’s 133-season football history) and a No. 24 final national ranking in 2025. The Yellow Jackets rose to as high as No. 7 in the national rankings and were ranked in the final 14 national polls of the season, which is their longest streak since Tech was ranked in all 16 polls in 1999.
Georgia Tech also went 6-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, which was good for a tie for second place in the 17-team conference. The Yellow Jackets are the only ACC team that has finished in the top four of the conference standings each of the last three seasons.
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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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