Georgia Tech Football Midseason Report Card: Quarterback

Haynes King has been one of the top quarterbacks in the ACC this season

Jackson Caudell | Oct 12, 2023

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Georgia Tech hit the midway point of the season this week after their dramatic win over Miami. At 3-3, the Yellow Jackets have a record that most would have projected them to have.

Coming into Brent Key's first season as the Yellow Jackets head coach, there were a lot of questions. On offense, Georgia Tech had an ongoing quarterback battle, there was no clear-cut starter at running back, the receivers were talented but did not have a lot of experience playing together, and the offensive line was a subpar unit in 2022. On defense, they had to replace talented players like Keion White, Charlie Thomas, and Ace Eley.

So how have these players performed so far this season? Let's begin our midseason breakdown of every position on Georgia Tech and we will begin with the quarterback.

It was not a foregone conclusion that Haynes King was going to be named the starter when fall camp started. Head coach Brent Key said that it was a close battle between King, Zach Pyron, and Zach Gibson, but here was the explanation he gave on why he chose King as the starter:

"I met with both quarterbacks yesterday, I met with Zach (Pyron) and Haynes (King), I met with them myself and informed them of the decision that I made as far as who the starting quarterback will be and Haynes King is going to be the starting quarterback moving into the first game vs Louisville. It is time to turn the page with that and get the team focused and prepped for Louisville. I had a chance to meet with both of those guys yesterday, with no one else, it wasn't a staff, it was myself and individual player only and talked with them in depth about where they are at, where they stand, and what they need to continue to work on and informed them of my decision and that I would be telling you guys today, that way we can move on as a full team and get ready to start playing games. I had a meeting this morning with leadership and told the leadership, yes, both Haynes and Zach were both in there, and I informed them and made sure that they understood why and why we are now moving forward.

It was a good meeting. Both quarterbacks had outstanding camps, this evaluation has been going on since January 6th. To have three quarterbacks that have started college football games on your team is a super positive to have and there are going to be points in time this year where those quarterbacks will all play but moving forward for now, Haynes King is the starter and we are moving on now."

King hit the ground running and never looked back once he got the starting job.

Haynes King, Weston Franklin, Connor Scaglione — Haynes King has been a huge upgrade at the quarterback position / Nathaniel Caudell

In his first start against Louisville, King went 19-32 for 313 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception and followed that up with a four-touchdown performance against South Carolina State. Even in his worst game of the season against Miami, King shook everything off and led the Yellow Jackets down the field to score and he gave Georgia Tech the highlight of their season.

Against Ole Miss, King was 28-41 for 307 yards and two touchdowns. King had to play from behind in much of that game.

Wake Forest was a solid game for King, but they limited the explosive plays down the field, and after a hot start, he only finished with 222 yards on 16-27 passing.

GEORGIA TECH STUNS MIAMI.

The craziest ending to a game this season. pic.twitter.com/bZqQoRAxss
— College Football Alerts  (@CFBAlerts_) October 8, 2023

When looking at PFF (Pro Football Focus), they have King graded as the 63rd best quarterback in the country, with a 68.9 offensive grade, a 63.6 passing grade, and a 71.4 rushing grade. King has been effective as a runner this season, rushing for 222 yards and two touchdowns.

Georgia Tech's advanced stats have also taken a nice jump with King leading the passing attack. Georgia Tech is 46th in passing success rate (how good they are passing on a down-to-down basis), 41st in passing EPA/play (Expected Points Added), and 44th in passing EPA/game. There is still a lot of room to improve, but it is fair to say that King has raised the play of this passing attack under offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner.

Today, ESPN ranked every transfer quarterback and King was No. 4:

"King, a former top-50 recruit who opened the past two seasons as Texas A&M's starter, has been productive in his first season with Georgia Tech. He has four games of 290 passing yards or more, and three of 42 rushing yards or more. King has had multiple touchdown passes in five games, and his 16 TD passes are tied for third nationally. He has been a solid contributor on the ground, especially with 53 yards on only six carries in a road win against Wake Forest, and ranks No. 16 nationally in total offense. Entering Week 6, King and LSU's Jayden Daniels were the only FBS quarterbacks with at least 1,400 passing yards, 150 rushing yards and 15 touchdown passes."

One negative for King this season has come in the last two games. Heading into the Bowling Green game, King had only thrown for two interceptions the previous four games but threw two against the Falcons and then two more against Miami. He has thrown the ball into coverage and his decision-making has been poor these last two games, something he will need to clean up over the last six games.

King currently leads the ACC in passing yards with 1,631 and he leads in passing touchdowns with 16 while being fifth in passer rating. The passing game has arguably been the best part of the team and King has been leading the attack. Georgia Tech is third in the ACC in passing yards per game, averaging 275. King has been a fantastic leader for this team and led the team down the field in 26 seconds last weekend to stun Miami.

Cutting down on turnovers and not forcing throws are two areas where King has to be better in the second half of the season, but King has made the offense more explosive and given them a viable running threat as well. So far so good.

Grade: A

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