Brent Key is 2 full seasons in for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and has accumulated a 7-6 record last season and the year before that. So, in 2025, the head coach finally needs to take that final leap and maybe qualify for the playoffs 2025. On the surface, it may look like a challenging task, but Key has with him one of the most experienced players in college football right now, whom his fellow teammates even call “grandpa” playfully. And so with his help, the head coach will make at least an ACC title run, giving programs like Clemson and Miami the run for their money. But life for Key’s ‘WMD’ on the field hadn’t been as easy as he recalls.
Haynes King transferred to Georgia Tech ahead of the 2023 season after he struggled at Texas A&M with injuries and couldn’t quite seal his spot behind the center. In 2021, he suffered a fractured leg against Colorado after just two starts and was forced to give up his role to Zach Calzada. But at Georgia Tech? King came and lived up to his name, passing for 2,842 yards and rushing for a whopping 737 yards. Moreover, he backed those performances up in 2024, too, as he finished with 2,114 passing and 587 rushing yards at an impressive efficiency of 72.9%. So, naturally, there was immense interest in him from other programs since he postponed registering for the NFL draft in 2026.
As per On3, there was immense interest from several Big 10 and SEC schools, but the quarterback stayed put and provided his reasoning: “I didn’t leave because of the relationships and the guys that we have here, and the chance that we have to win this year. There wasn’t going to be anything that got me off that topic. The relationships go a long way for me, and what we have here is something special.” But this wasn’t the only reason why he didn’t leave Brent Key’s camp; it was also to do with his healthy skepticism of moving elsewhere and starting in a whole new offensive system.
“I feel like that’s just kind of who I am. I’m not the one who tries to jump ship and quit, or try to move on to bigger and better things. Thinking the grass is greener somewhere else. This is the ship that I helped build, and I’m part of it. And let’s ride this thing out, see where we can go. Let’s try to build a championship-caliber team, not just this year, but for the years in the future,” said King. And it’s not that his decision will fire back, because Georgia Tech is one of the most exciting teams in the ACC.
The QB coming into the 2025 season is already ranked top 10 in some Heisman conversations. For instance, 247 Sports’ Carter Bahns noted, “A healthy 2025 without a step backward would put him in the Heisman conversation.” Even last year, Georgia Tech was lethal with upset wins against Miami and Florida State. Moreover, who could forget their near upset of Kirby Smart’s Georgia as the team lost in overtime 42-44? So, this year, with Haynes King returning along with players like Jamal Haynes (1,059 rushing yards) and Malik Rutherford in the receiver room. The team surely looks like an ACC contender. Moreover, the QB also has some unfinished business in the 2024 season, as he recalled.
Haynes King has unfinished business against a major opponent
Georgia Tech will open its season against Deion Sanders’ Colorado, the same team against which King suffered a season-ending injury in 2021 and has had issues ever since then. So, defeating Colorado becomes paramount for the QB, as he hinted in his conversation and later declared that the team is gearing up to win the ACC title.
“We definitely have unfinished business,” Haynes King said. “The first one, we’ve got to take it one game at a time. Being at Colorado for the first game, that’s going to be a big one. Just take it each week, make it simple. Some people try to make it too complicated and try to make it harder than it is. If you execute and do your job and have the players around you playing at a high level, things are going to happen for you.”
All in all, the QB is looking geared up for his 2025 and final season as he is 24 years of age and already looks relatively old in his squad, as he said. If he can lead the team to the ACC championship game, then King would be one of the top names in Heisman conversations and would easily be a top 10 pick going into the NFL draft.
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