Virginia Tech vs Georgia Tech: Three Players to Watch on The Yellow Jackets Offense
The Hokies have a matchup this weekend against Georgia Tech, and this will be the 20th meeting all time with the Hokies coming off a win 42-21 against Boston College. In the game against Boston College, the Hokies started the third quarter off slow, giving up three straight unanswered touchdown drives, and scored two more times in the fourth quarter. In this weekends matchup, the Hokies will face Georgia Tech, who has been a very consistently good football team this season.
1. Whoever Starts at Quarterback
Georgia Tech is in a weird situation right now. Starting quarterback Haynes King is injured, and Zach Pyron started in his place this past weekend. After the game, Georgia Tech head coach had this to say about the quarterback situation:
""You know, it's, you know, you're going to get crazy and say day-to-day, but that's kind of what it is. I mean, you know, I don't know. I don't know where it's at as far as... it's not, it's not season-ending. I can tell you that. It's not a season-ending injury. You know, it's going to depend a lot upon just, you know, how quickly you can, you know, react and come, you know, ready, ready to roll."
Key has not updated the situation and the team has not officially ruled him out. For now, we will go over both of the quarterbacks and what they both have to offer. For the season, Haynes King has thrown eight touchdowns, one interception, and 1,568 yards. In King's seven starts this season he is 5-2 and his best games were against VMI, Duke, Georgia State, and North Carolina. Zach Pyron has started in only one game this season, which was the loss against Notre Dame where he passed for 269 yards, one passing touchdown, and threw two interceptions. On the season, Zach Pyron has thrown two touchdowns, two interceptions, and 333 yards.
2. RB Jamal Haynes
Jamal Haynes has contributed in the Georgia Tech run game a lot this season, but this past weekend he struggled with the Notre Dame defense. Against the Fighting Irish, Haynes rushed for 15 yards, one rushing and receiving touchdown. For the season, Haynes has rushed for 551 yards, eight rushing touchdowns, one receiving touchdown, and 248 total yards receiving. Hayne’s best rushing games came against Duke and North Carolina, where he rushed for 128 and 170 yards, in total. Going against a Hokies defense that struggles with the run, having averaged 170 rushing yards allowed on defense per game, it makes sense for Georgia Tech to have Haynes in more action this week compared to last week against Notre Dame.
3. WR Malik Rutherford
Malik Rutherford is the Yellow Jackets leading receiver this season, having 541 receiving yards, 2 touchdowns, and 67.6 yards a game, with 12.3 yards a catch. In two games this season, he's had over 100 yards receiving against Georgia State and Louisville where he had 131 and 113 yards. I'm interested in seeing how Georgia Tech will use him this game as the Hokies' defense is really good against the pass allowing under 200 pass yards a game with 188.3.
Additional Links:
Virginia Tech Football: Three Things The Hokies Must Fix Ahead of It's Matchup With Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech Football: Could Bhayshul Tuten catch Ashton Jeanty as the nation's leading rusher?
Virginia Tech Football: 5 Big Takeaways From Virginia Tech's win vs Boston College
Kahlil McCuller joined the Sports Illustrated team in summer 2024 and is a Sports Media major at Virginia Tech. Covering College Baseball, College Basketball, and College Football for the Virginia Tech Hokies. Prior to this Kahlil worked pregame radio shows for Virginia Tech Basketball teams on 105.3 The Bear and started his own basketball podcast on Spotify called "Fleeky Hoops Podcast" and covered March Madness for the Hokies Women's Basketball team back in March 2024. My favorite sports teams are: Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Chargers, Virginia Tech Hokies and PSG for Soccer