The Georgia Tech football team remains in a holding pattern when it comes to the availability of its star quarterback. The good news is that it doesn’t need clarity on that issue by Saturday.
Tech coach Brent Key said Thursday he’ll remain hopeful that junior Haynes King can play Nov. 9 against No. 5 Miami. Until then, King will continue to be evaluated daily.
“I don’t wanna sit here and say day-to-day again, but it truly is a day-to-day thing. I’m very hopeful we get him back for Miami. I can’t sit here and say that he’s probable for Miami. I can’t,” Key said. “I would hope by next Wednesday, Thursday, we’ll get a little clearer definition of it.
“There’s nobody in the world worse that wants to stand up here and say that he’s full-go and ready to rock and roll than I do. No one wants to be out there worse than Haynes King does, believe me.”
King has missed Tech’s past two games, losses to Notre Dame and Virginia Tech, respectively. He exited a win at North Carolina on Oct. 12 when he was injured in the fourth quarter and did not play the final 11 minutes.
Sophomore Zach Pyron finished that game, then started against Notre Dame and played every offensive snap. Pyron was 20-for-36 passing for 269 yards and was the team’s leading rusher with 45 yards on 13 carries.
But Saturday at Virginia Tech, Pyron was 10-of-22 passing with an interception and was pulled in the third quarter for freshman Aaron Philo. Philo finished 11-of-26 passing for 184 yards and threw an interception late in the game.
Philo was Tech’s highest-graded offensive player, according to Pro Football Focus, among Yellow Jackets who played at least 30 snaps.
“You’ve gotta be able to rep both guys,” Key said about handling Pyron and Philo in practices leading to the Miami game. “I think Aaron did nice job when he got in there and was able to put the ball where it needed to be a couple times. At the same time, playing a freshman at that position middle of the year, that’s a tough chore to ask. Those things start flying a little faster out there. But I’ve got confidence in those guys, and we’ll continue to work with both of them.”
King is completing 71.2% of his passes (which would be a Tech single-season record) this season, has thrown only one interception and is averaging 5.69 yards per carry. At Tech, he has 4,410 passing yards (eighth most in a Tech career), 35 touchdown passes (sixth most in a Tech career), 1,090 rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns. With King behind center, the Jackets are 12-8. Without him, they are 0-2.
So whether he returns is magnified, given that the Jackets (5-4, 3-3 ACC) have one of their bigger challenges ahead when Miami (8-0, 4-0 ACC) comes to Bobby Dodd Stadium (the Hurricanes first host Duke on Saturday). Key said Tech began scouting Miami on Wednesday and continued to install the game plan during Thursday’s practice.
But the focal point of Tech’s work days this week has been trying to recharge the roster to 100%.
“We’ve treated this week similar to last the bye week, a few tweaks here and there based on player availability and recovery that’s much needed for our guys,” Key said. “Rehab, recovery and treatment, those things, in order to get the guys back playing that we gotta get playing. We’ve been hit with some of the injury bug, and that’s part of football, being able to manage it and manage those guys, rehab those guys and get those guys back.”
The Miami matchup is one of only three games for Tech in November. It needs to win one of them to return to a bowl game.
With a victory Nov. 9, the Jackets would avoid their first three-game losing streak since 2021.
“Adversity reintroduces you to yourself,” Key said. “What is adversity in some people’s eyes isn’t in other people eyes. It’s all in the eye of the beholder to that matter. It’s how you respond to it and how you come back from those things, but I thought that was a pretty key quote of reintroducing you to yourself and knowing who you are as a player individually and then how you mesh into being a part of a football team. That’s important.”
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