Everything From Georgia Tech Defensive Linemen Akelo Stone, Brayden Manley, and Jason Moore After Monday's Practice

Fall Practice rolled on for Georgia Tech on Monday, and the Yellow Jackets are now less than four weeks away from their season-opening game against Colorado. After practice, Georgia Tech defensive linemen Akelo Stone, Brayden Manley, and Jason Moore met with the media, and here is everything that they had to say:

Akelo Stone

1. On how he ended up being back at Georgia Tech...

"I started here at Georgia Tech. I'm born right down the street from Savannah, Georgia. Last year, after the season started, I just had that feeling that I wanted to come back home, to be honest, and just finish it out where I started it. Right here with Coach Key with some of my boys back on the team. And I just entered the portal. Coach hit me up. Now I'm back."

2. On how different things are from the last time he was at Georgia Tech...

"Yeah, it is. But it's not. I guess that's how life goes. Now we here, I'm back. I'm with my guys. I'm just happy to be with them no matter where they at. Even some guys who are not on the team, no more who still stay in Atlanta, you know, it's just good to see them. I'm just happy to be home for it."

3. On how he is different...

"Different as a player. I feel like every aspect from when I left, I'm stronger, I'm faster, I understand the game better. You know, just even coaching the younger guys better, you know, giving them better coaching points. Every, you know, everywhere I went, whether it was a camp, different school, you know, or just somebody else training me. I'm gonna take what I learned and give it back and try to pull it. So we all can get better, basically."

4. On how good this defensive line can be...

"Ah, this is probably one of my favorite D -lines. I say probably one of my, because the D -line we had when our first game was good too now. You know, we had Kyle, uh, those boys, but this interior, probably the best interior, I have played with in a long time for real. Um, you know, JJ, J-Moore, have got way better. Uh, we had a new defensive tackle come through the today at three tech, my boy CG Christian Garrett, he looked good out there. Uh, you know, we just, it's just, it's It's good to see a lot of different components and a lot of different, you know, archetypes come together at defensive line and play together like, I like that feeling here. I like what, you know, DC doing, Coach doing back there, letting us go. Yeah, it feels good. I like the feeling here."

5. On working with Jess Simpson...

"Coach Simpson is one of the best at it, I think. He's got a lot of knowledge at the game. He's still getting me right, coaching me up. I'm taking everything. As if I'm just a beginner at football, at D -Line, just trying to soak everything he pointed into me in. He is getting me better as a player too, just having me with my hands, just more violent with my pass rush moves. I feel like he got a good bag and he got a lot of knowledge, so I'm gonna soak all the game in from here."

Brayden Manley

1. On how he has improved since the spring...

"I think as a unit, we continue to get better. We're polishing up our games and stuff like that. Continue to move as a unit. I think I don't see nobody stopping me."

2. On their depth...

"Getting AJ (Hoffler) back and he ready for the season, man. He might not have a business number 88, but he ready. Juiced up out there and he got heavy, too. He's still in school, man. Y'all better tighten up."

3. On the group coming together...

"I'm thinking of just having so much talent in the room. We brought back Akelo Stone, juiced up. Me, not edged rush, but interior rush. Got JJ, of course, juiced up interior rush. And go me and AJ on the edge. And games gonna be coming at you real fast. So I just think the talent and the work, we got so many guys on the team that worked so hard. And then one would be but even the young guys, so we got depth. The twos are great, threes are great. So I think we're gonna be able to rotate guys and get 'em in, and it's still gonna look like one."

4. On how he improved during the summer...

"Of course, my hands, pad level's always something that's for me that we get worked on. I think my biggest thing, though, that I needed to get better with was being more physical in the run."

Jason Moore

1. On having Akelo Stone back...

"Man, it's just been a pleasure having him back. That was one of the first things coming into media. I wanted to talk about coming in as a freshman with him. So when I was a walk -on, he was O -line, D -line, he was like maybe the first person that I met outside of my roommates that I was there and like I could vividly remember, I think we was wrestling on the couch and what not. Room 815, that's at the time, but yeah, it's been great. Then it's like, it's two year hiatus. We always talked about like missing playing with one another with some of the older guys. So it was great having them back and being able to like rekindle that when he came down during spring break. This year, kind of hashed it out, kind of talked about it. He was talking about having mutual feelings about coming back. So that's kind of where everything started right then and there."

2. On if Akelo is a better player...

"Like night and day, a lot better body movement, real twitchy, get off the ball, outstanding pass rusher. Just great to have him back, adding more pieces to the room that we could put in the puzzle that go big this year."

3. On the depth of the D-Line...

"It's awesome. So like you talking about depth, and I know I kind of heard Bray talking about it earlie,r just having about nine, 10 guys deep. It's just amazing. Probably one of the deepest rooms we had since I've been here, and like just different play styles, body types, all of that. So might have people who are better pass rushers, people who are better run stuffers, people who are better just like playing off of one another would feel, whether that's Bray. I love playing with Ronald Triplette. He's a little older guy, seeing a lot of balls. So just knowing that's different stuff like that. Obviously, I have a relationship with Akelo, building one with Matt (Alexander) right now. He's been doing great. And obviously, since last year, knowing how JJ plays and playing off one another has been amazing."

3. On Jess Simpson...

"Man, it's been awesome. So probably, I believe this is the first time since I've been here, since I've had consecutive years with the same defensive tackle coach I believe since my freshman year so just kind of been having a solid baseline and not flip flopping to another play style or a coaching style has been amazing kind of get the focus on what you've done from last season watched the same film from the previous years kind of build off of that and just kind of continuously stack days on top of that just the same system, know what's going to come, same type of coaching style, same type of coaching point, just knowing how he is and having tough conversations with him on different things within the scheme that we might not see eye to eye on, but we'll find middle ground that will make us happy and not put the defense in jeopardy, so it's just been awesome having him back for another year."

4. On this being his final fall camp...

"It's kind of been surreal. It's kind of been one of those things where it's not hitting me in the moment in a sense. 'Cause it's just so weird, like I was saying, like yesterday talking to Akelo earlier, even during lunch about how our first fall camp was during COVID and how things totally changed. I was really different having zoom meetings during camp and now it's just like full go."

5. On if he is interested in coaching one day...

"I might think about it, but I don't think I can do the GA grind right out of college like it's just one of those things where it's like I know it sounds greedy when it's like I want to be established in the sense of like going to different fields, kind of leverage this place and everything that is given to me and all like other connections that I've made here and through the virtual Georgia Tech so I kind of want to do that and I might get back to it down the line but I think but I think as of right now, I don't think I can right now."