Haynes King named ACC Player of the Year
He is only the fourth Georgia Tech player to ever earn the award.
Staff Reports
THE FLATS – Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King (Longview, Texas/Longview H.S.) made history on Wednesday when he became only the fourth Yellow Jacket to ever be named the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year. In addition to being Tech’s first ACC Player of the Year since 2008, King was also named the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year.
King claimed the honors in runaway fashion, as he earned 54 votes for Player of the Year and 59 nods for Offensive Player of the Year. The runners-up in balloting for both awards (Miami DE Rueben Bain, Jr. and Duke QB Darian Mensah, respectively) received seven votes apiece.
King joins legendary Yellow Jackets Joe Hamilton (1999), Calvin Johnson (2006) and Jonathan Dwyer (2008) as Georgia Tech’s only ACC Players of the Year and Offensive Players of the Year.
He also joins an elite list of recent ACC Players of the Year, as four of the last five recipients finished in the top five in Heisman Trophy voting – Miami’s Cam Ward (fourth in Heisman balloting in 2024), Florida State’s Jordan Travis (fifth in 2023), Pitt’s Kenny Pickett (third in 2021) and Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence (second in 2020).
A Heisman Trophy candidate himself, King earned the 2025 ACC Player of the Year honors on the strength of one of the most historic individual seasons in college football history, as he’s accounted for 3,619 yards of offense (2,697 passing, 922 rushing) and 27 touchdowns (12 passing, 15 rushing) in just 11 games.
He is the only power-conference player in the nation this season, and just the fifth since 1956, to average at least 240 passing yards and 80 rushing yards per game, according to sports-reference.com. Of the previous four power-conference players to accomplish the feat, three won the Heisman Trophy (LSU’s Jayden Daniels – 2023, Louisville’s Lamar Jackson – 2016 and Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel – 2012), while the fourth, Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts in 2019, finished second in Heisman voting (Jackson also averaged 240 passing/80 rushing yards in 2017, when he was third in Heisman balloting).
King leads the ACC in total offense (329.0 ypg – third nationally), rushing by a QB (83.8 ypg – fifth nationally and tops among power-conference players), scoring by a QB (8.2 ppg – third nationally and tops among power-conference players) and rushing touchdowns, regardless of position (15 – tied for seventh nationally).
He was named ACC Quarterback of the Week five times in 11 games this season.
King helped lead the Yellow Jackets to only the 16th nine-win regular season in Georgia Tech’s 133-year football history. The 9-3 and No. 22-ranked Yellow Jackets will learn their postseason destination when bowl selections are announced on Sunday.
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