Let me set the scene. It is Saturday, September 24th, 2022, and I am watching quarterback Jeff Sims suit up to play the UCF Golden Knights. For the first time in my life, I am rooting against the Jackets so that the football program can clean house and get a much-needed fresh start.
Just a week later, my wish came true. Offensive line coach Brent Key was named interim head coach. With him at the helm, we hit the road and took down the No. 24 Pitt Panthers. Something about this team felt different:
there was more grit, energy, and a renewed sense of hope among the players.
The following week, we returned to Bobby Dodd Stadium and secured a second straight win under Brent Key. Though the weeks that followed were turbulent – plagued by the injury bug and the lingering Geoff Collins effect – the team kept battling to cap the season with an upset win over No.13 UNC. This left no doubt that a shift had taken place in this program. We finished 5-7, but had renewed energy and hopes for a home-run hire.
Fast forward to the announcement of Brent Key’s promotion to head coach. Many people had strong thoughts both for and against this hire, but Key couldn’t have cared less about these opinions. I will never forget that while I was working in the recruiting department, we could hear the excited shouts coming from the head coaching office when J Batt offered the position to Key. After that moment, I knew that this was the right hire. Now, 2023 and 2024 have come and gone, and this team has been getting more dangerous by the day. This staff/team has done nothing but create a positive, hard-working culture and has completely turned this program around. Key now has two years of experience as a head coach, and the program has been revamped and rebuilt. 2025 is the year for Key to prove that this program is heading in the right direction. Whether he would admit it or not, there is a lot of pressure riding on him this season. There are a lot of questions. Will the offensive line take a step back? Will the transfer wide receivers live up to the hype? Will the defense take a step forward or a step back with Blake Gideon? We are no longer the underdog this year. There are some unknowns. The two biggest questions loom large. Are the Jackets for real? What makes this season different from the rest?
People are starting to believe, and the pressure is on
2023. Brent Key’s first year as head coach. He gets us back to 7-5, ends the year on a bowl victory, and has memorable upset wins against Miami and UNC. He has a few bad losses against Bowling Green and Boston College, but overall, he has the program in a promising position.
2024. More consistent play, close games, and a talented offense. The defense has transformed. Heads are turning. We see a week zero College Gameday victory against Florida State, some solid ACC wins, an upset victory against No. 4 Miami, and an eight overtime game against uga. 2024 brought us back onto the national scene as a disruptive team.
2025. We have a chance to turn the corner, to establish Key as a legit head coach and Georgia Tech as a legit football program. This year is different because it holds a lot of pressure, and if this is another year at 7-5, any respect or “hype” we have will probably blow away for the near future.
The media is believing, people know that Haynes King and Jamal Haynes are legit playmakers, and Key can have this team playing with anybody. Recruiting and the transfer portal have been successful, and we have a talented team in the locker room. New white and gold uniforms, new turf, and a new athletic center are in the works. The people have noticed, and most are taking us seriously. It’s time to prove them right, or be comfortable being average.
Haynes King has had a year to improve, heal, and prepare
Haynes King has done nothing but improve since arriving in Atlanta. While at Texas A&M, he suffered a shoulder injury and a leg injury and could never solidify himself as a starter. After arriving at Tech, 2023 was very rocky for him. He had flashes of greatness, but was overall inconsistent and had too many interceptions (16). King knew he needed to improve, and he did just that. He took those 16 interceptions down to two in 2024. He had 2,114 yards and 14 touchdowns, along with 587 yards rushing. Those stats may not seem flashy, but King unfortunately suffered a shoulder injury against UNC and was out against Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, NC State, and part of the Miami game. If King were healthy, those stats would have been getting him much more attention than what he received. Now that he has had the offseason to completely heal, I cannot wait to see the stats he puts up. We saw King’s improvement after one year, and I have no doubts he has been putting in that same amount of work. We have a leader, a believer in the program, and a hard worker at QB who is now healthy. Watching King in the UGA game in 2024 reminded me of 2022 TCU QB Max Duggan, as he put everything on the line for the game and showed incredible toughness. Haynes King loves this team, this program, and this coaching staff. I am incredibly excited to see just how far he can take this team. He left 2024 wanting more, and I know he will leave everything on the table to get it.
We have a solid backup quarterback in Aaron Philo
Speaking of a stellar QB, we also have backup Aaron Philo, who had a great first year as a Yellow Jacket. Key has boasted about having the best quarterback room in the country, and he just might be right about that. I want to mention this not only for the depth this team has, but also because I am slightly concerned about the right shoulder of Haynes King. He announced in a recent press conference that he was dealing with a torn labrum all last season and is now healthy, but that is an injury that can easily be reaggravated. Maybe I am stressing for nothing over this, but Philo will need to be ready to step in if the worst happens. I have confidence in him, as we saw very little loss whenever King was out. Philo picked up the slack and had many impressive throws, including his 15-yard touchdown pass to Chase Lane against Miami on third down. He finished the year with 565 passing yards, one touchdown, and 76 yards rushing. Having Philo means that we not only have a bright future, but a chance to still win big games if King goes down.
Our schedule allows us to finally breathe. Well, a little.
It feels like it has been year after year that we have had a brutal schedule, and this finally feels like the year that we are dealt a good hand. It is not “easy” by any means, but not as brutal as it has been. We don’t see Miami, Notre Dame, SMU, UNC, or Louisville this year. We get Pitt, Clemson, Syracuse, and Virginia Tech at home, and UGA at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. We also see Colorado, Temple, and Gardner-Webb as non-conference opponents. We have the potential to reach Charlotte for the ACC Championship game, especially if we can take down Clemson in week three. I think NC State, Pitt, and Virginia Tech are sneaky good teams and will be somewhat challenging, but being able to dodge the top teams in the ACC is a relief. Duke is another sneaky good team that we play on the road,d which is getting a lot more hype as we get closer to the season. We should be favored in nine or ten games, which makes you think that we will probably win around nine or ten games, right? But…one thing about us is that we always manage to lose one or two games we shouldn’t, i.e., Bowling Green in 2023 and Virginia Tech in 2024. This needs to be the year that Key proves that we can not only compete with the big guys, but we can take care of the teams that we should have no problem beating. I think we finally have the depth to do this, and the schedule is in our favor to learn how to be consistent week in and week out. Like I said, it won’t be easy, but it won’t be as difficult as prior years. Let’s see if we can capitalize on our schedule and have a season to remember.
We have great depth at WR, RB, and DB
Yes, some positions have some question marks, but the wide receiver, running back, and defensive back positions only have an exclamation point. In the portal, we lost Eric Singleton Jr. but gained Eric Rivers and Dean Patterson from FIU. Eric Rivers was a first-team All-Conference USA player last season and had 1,172 yards, 12 touchdowns, and an average of 18.9 yards per catch. He has sky-high expectations and is seen as one of the best receivers in the country by many. We also got Rakeem Smith from Bowling Green, and we return Malik Rutherford, Bailey Stockton, Zion Taylor, and Isaiah Canon. Taylor lit up the spring game with 156 yards and will get a chance to showcase his skills this season. Canon was an ESPN 300 recruit that I think can also compete for a starting position this season, especially with his size and strength. I have even seen various reports that he may beat out Patterson as a starter. South Carolina transfer Debron Gatling has also turned heads at fall camp, and only further proves that this WR position has a bright future.
At running back, I don’t think I even need to mention that we return Jamal Haynes. He is poised for a breakout year and is seriously one of the most fun players to watch in college football. We also picked up UPenn transfer Malachi Hosley, who was a finalist for the player of the year in the FCS last season. Former walk-on Chad Alexander also returns and provides solid depth behind Haynes and Hosley, but we probably will not see him until late September or early October because of an injury. I expect to see Trelain Maddox as the third string in the meantime, as he is gaining more hype as the season gets closer. True freshman JP Powell will probably redshirt, but he had some decent runs in the spring game and could also be a breakout star for the Jackets in the years to come.
On the other side of the ball, we have the deepest secondary that I have seen in a while. We lost Warren Burrell and LaMiles Brooks, but returned Clayton Powell-Lee, Omar Daniels, Ahmari Harvey, Rodney Shelley, and Zachary Tobe. Transfers Daiquan White, Savion Riley, Kelvin Hill, and Jon Mitchell are all looking to make some waves in the secondary as well. I also expect to see freshman Tae Harris on the field some, as he was one of the top-rated recruits in Tech history.
Call it a gut feeling, but 2025 does feel different to our fanbase. I know throughout this article I have been riding high on the Jackets, and I sure hope we live up to some of the hype out there. If there was ever a season to finally break through and cement Georgia Tech as a true ACC contender, this is it. With Haynes King and Jamal Haynes suiting up for their final season, sending them out on a high note feels more like destiny than just a dream. The pressure is real. The expectations are high. The question we are about to see get answered is: How will the Jackets respond?
