Georgia Tech LB Cayman Spaulding Talks About The Keys To Slowing Down Syracuse Offense

Cayman Spaulding has been a great pickup for the Yellow Jackets out of the transfer portal from Tennessee Tech. He has been a key piece in the depth of the linebacker room has had in 2025. The Yellow Jackets have had the ability to rotate linebackers and keep everybody fresh throughout games, thanks to how good the room is. Spaulding has been one of those key pieces in the room.

This season, he has 16 tackles, one pass defensed, and 0.5 sacks. He is coming off his best game as a Yellow Jacket at Duke, finishing with six tackles (four solo). One of the best parts of his game is his physicality and athleticism, which allow him to fly to the ball and make big plays. He is an excellent open-field tackler and one of the best run-stopping linebackers on the team. He has the second-highest run defense grade per Pro Football Focus (PFF) with a 76.3 grade this season.

“I have always been a sideline-to-sideline linebacker. Like coming in as a freshman, I wasn't the biggest linebacker I had to put on weight. So I always had to, you know what I'm saying, find something else that helped me be better than most linebackers. So it's my speed and my athleticism,” said Spaulding.

You also have to give credit to linebacker coach Darius Eubanks, who is getting the most out of this room and has all of his linebackers playing at a high level, especially Spaulding. He is relishing the upcoming matchup and slowing down Syracuse. Spaulding talked about the keys to slowing down the running game for the Orange.

“What caught my eye is they're gonna run the ball. They're gonna pass the ball as well. I feel like we gotta focus on their run. I don't wanna sleep on them as a team. We make sure we don't sleep on them. We make sure the run is ours, we're gonna stop the ref for sure,” said Spaulding.

He is also not underestimating the quarterback for Syracuse, Rickie Collins, and his ability as a dual-threat quarterback.

“Yeah, so we're looking at QB. He's a hybrid as well. Our linebacker coach emphasized to us to keep our eyes on the QB every week. Because like a lot of QBs, they might come out with a new game plan every week, you know, he might wanna scramble, he might wanna run this game, so we don't know,” said Spaulding.

One thing you can respect about Spaulding is that he never underestimates an opponent, no matter who the team is playing. He also comes with the right attitude when facing opponents and being locked in throughout the game. His play can’t be understated as a key reason the Yellow Jackets have improved defensively.