Haynes King explains that 'unfinished business' led to return to Georgia Tech

Just over two months out from the start of the 2025 college football season, it would appear that just as it ended up being the case last year, the ACC may end up being a three team race between the Clemson Tigers, Miami Hurricanes and SMU Mustangs.

But it’s a virtual certainty that someone will end up crashing this party of three. SMU was the surprise team last year who in their first season in the conference stunned everyone by making it all the way to the ACC Championship Game, and even with a loss in that game to Clemson, the College Football Playoff as well. Not bad for a team that was projected to finish 7^th in the 2024 ACC Preseason Poll.

Though the 2025 ACC Preseason Poll won’t be coming out for another month, early projections put the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in roughly the same position. Georgia Tech finished 7-6 overall in 2024, and had a 5-3 record in ACC play, but each of those marks could’ve been better. And sixth-year senior quarterback Haynes King is using that ‘what could’ve been’ mindset to fuel him for the upcoming season.

“We definitely have unfinished business,” Haynes King said, per Pete Nakos of On3. “The first one, we’ve got to take it one game at a time. Being at Colorado for the first game, that’s going to be a big one. Just take it each week, make it simple. Some people try to make it too complicated and try to make it harder than it is. If you execute and do your job and have the players around you playing at a high level, things are going to happen for you.”

At the conclusion of the 2024 season, King had the opportunity to either enter the NFL Draft, or even more lucratively, hop into the transfer portal where he surely could’ve commanded one of the biggest NIL price tags in the country. Instead, he opted to stay at Georgia Tech, where he’s found a home under third-year head coach Brent Key, who has led the Yellow Jackets to back to back winning seasons for the first time since 2014.

“I’m not the one who tries to jump ship and quit, or try to move on to bigger and better things. Thinking the grass is greener somewhere else. This is the ship that I helped build, and I’m part of it,” King stated. “Let’s ride this thing out, see where we can go. Let’s try to build a championship-caliber team, not just this year, but for the years in the future.”

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If you had a reflex to the notion that the Yellow Jackets could be a championship-caliber team, you likely aren’t alone. Georgia Tech’s last sniff of a National Championship came in 1990, when the Yellow Jackets were crowned the National Champs by the UPI Poll. Aside from that, you’d need to go all the way back to 1928 and 1917 for the program’s only two consensus national titles.

But even last year, the Yellow Jackets held their own against three teams that entered the season with championship aspirations. Tech handed the Miami Hurricanes their first loss of the season in November, trailed by only seven points at halftime against Notre Dame, and pushed Georgia to eight overtimes in the regular season finale.

A National Championship in 2025 may be far-fetched, but an ACC Title is well within Georgia Tech’s reach. Haynes King and co. don’t have Miami or SMU on the schedule, and Clemson will be coming to Atlanta on September 13^th in what will be one of the biggest games on the ACC calendar.