Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King has one game left with the Yellow Jackets. But he has two left in a white-and-gold uniform.
King confirmed this week he plans to play in the East-West Shrine Bowl on Jan. 27 in Frisco, Texas. The all-star game features some of college football’s best players who are looking to make another impression on NFL scouts.
“First off, I’m really excited, very thankful and blessed to have that opportunity,” King said Wednesday. “They reached out and wanted me to play in the game, and (I) just kind of thought about it, and I felt like it was the best situation and opportunity other than any of the other ones. So that’s where I decided on.”
King’s six-year college career will end Dec. 27 when he and the Jackets go up against BYU in the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando, Florida. That outing for King will be the culmination of three seasons at Tech, in which he cemented himself as one of the great quarterbacks to suit up for Tech.
But King’s style of play, as successful and awe-inspiring as it was for Tech, makes him a bit of an enigma when it comes to projecting how he will fare at the next level. Eric Galko, the director of football operations and player personnel for the East-West game, has seen enough to think that King deserves some more limelight, and he explained why he chose King to be one of the six to eight quarterbacks to play in the East-West game.
“As we decide who we wanna invite, we wanna invite guys who NFL teams wanna see, NFL teams wanna draft,” Galko told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “In evaluating him as a player, but also as a person, also as a leader, I think it became pretty clear that, hey, this quarterback, whether he’s a starter in the NFL, a backup or whatever, every NFL team’s gonna want him in a quarterback (meeting) room.”
Galko said he has been keeping tabs on King since King’s days at Texas A&M and that he met the Longview, Texas, native at the Manning Passing Academy. Galko threw King into the same comparative ring as Brock Purdy, a former Iowa State star who was the final pick of the 2022 NFL draft. Purdy then led the San Francisco 49ers to a division title in 2022 and a Super Bowl appearance in 2023 while being named to the Pro Bowl that season.
Galko said King’s personality, toughness and confidence are comparable to Purdy’s.
“I think (King) has shown that, hey, he’s here to win games at Georgia Tech. He’s not about trying to show some things or whatever else,” Galko said. “NFL teams really appreciate that, that this guy, it sounds cliché to say he’s a winner, but the way he plays quarterback, it’s very clear that winning matters more than showing he can make a throw to a backside dig (route).”
Since beginning his college career in 2020 at A&M, King has thrown for 9,232 yards and 63 touchdowns and has rushed for 2,396 yards and 37 scores. Of his 33 career interceptions, 26 came in his first four seasons.
King’s game evolved, or maybe morphed, over the past two seasons into a run-first style to fit Tech’s offensive scheme. He threw for 2,842 yards and 27 touchdowns in ’23, his first season with the Jackets, but has totaled only 26 touchdown passes since.
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound King rushed 178 times this season for 922 yards and 15 scores. Tech, along the way, had one of its better seasons in more than a decade by going 9-3, and King finished 10th in voting for the Heisman Trophy.
“Here’s a guy that’s gonna bring great value to an organization,” Tech quarterbacks coach Chris Weinke, a Heisman Trophy winner, said Thursday on 680 The Fan. “He’s a guy that’s gonna spend a long, long time in the National Football League because of the way he’s wired, his high football IQ, what he can do for, not only the football team, but that locker room. Guys are gonna love him the day he walks in there.
“Someone’s going to be very, very lucky, regardless if he gets drafted or if he signs as a free agent. That is irrelevant to him. He wants an opportunity. I can promise you he’ll take advantage of that opportunity.”
For all its great football history, Tech has not had a quarterback selected in the NFL draft since 2000, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers picked Joe Hamilton in the seventh round with the 234th overall pick. King said Thursday on 680 The Fan he hasn’t had time to think about whether he’ll break that drought because he’s busy preparing to play against BYU.
For now, King is letting others speculate on what his professional football future holds.
“He was a Heisman candidate because he won a lot of games and was tough and consistent and could be a dual-threat guy,” Galko added. “I think NFL teams are not always looking for these prototype passers, but for guys who can help their team win. (King) has done that all season long.”
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