With Georgia Tech defensive end Jabari Hunt-Days out of the picture for the 2014 season due to academic ineligibility, the Yellow Jackets will likely look to two players to take his spot at the rush-end position.
Early-enrollee freshman KeShun Freeman impressed during spring practice and was praised more than once by coach Paul Johnson for his playmaking.
“I think KeShun’s done well all spring,” he said during the spring. “He’s played good all spring, in my mind. He stood out to me from the first time we played, just motor and feed and that kind of thing.”
Safety Jamal Golden noticed how quickly Freeman picked up the defense and was able to play fast.
“He’s just a baller,” Golden said. “Just making plays when the ball’s around him.”
Whitehead is finishing up at Georgia Military College, where he has spent the past year after leaving N.C. State. Whitehead, you may remember, was the No. 25 defensive end (according to Rivals) in the 2012 signing class out of M.L. King High in Lithonia.
Whitehead remains on track to graduate from GMC. He’ll have to earn his associates degree before he can transfer to Tech. Whitehead had to accelerate his schedule in order to graduate at the end of summer and be eligible to transfer in time to play in the fall.
“He does have an overfull load, frankly,” GMC coach Bert Williams said. “So far, he has made the progress he’s needed to do. He’s just got a lot of work. He’s pressing pretty hard.”
According to the school’s website, classes for the summer term end Aug. 5 and grades are turned in Aug. 7. Assuming he would need to wait until that point before he could enroll at Tech and begin practicing, he would join Tech’s preseason practices about a week after they began. The team opened the preseason Aug. 1 last season.
