Coach Key’s first full season leading the Yellow Jackets saw the team back in a bowl game and finishing the year 7-6. This year’s Georgia Tech football team is older and bigger on both sides of the line of scrimmage. In fact Coach Key’s squad has the chance to do something special if they can find answers on defense.

Georgia Tech was 12th in rushing offense last season, averaging 203.8 yards per game, which led the ACC. The Yellow Jackets were paced by running back Jamal Haynes, who broke the 1,000-yard mark last season, which was top 25 in the nation. Haynes King is one of the most underrated QBs in college football. Looking at the offense for the upcoming season, Haynes King returns for his second year with the Yellow Jackets after having 37 touchdowns last season as Georgia Tech averaged 30 points a game. His 27 TD passes were the most since Joe Hamilton had 29 during the 1999 season. Look for King and the entire offense to take another step towards being elite in the second year of OC Buster Faulkner’s system. 

Last year the Yellow Jackets O-line paved the way for the team to lead the ACC in rushing. They return four of last year’s starters and  Middle Tennessee transfer Keylan Rutledge should be a new starter at one of the guard spots. They will be paving the way for Jamal Haynes and Trey Cooley, who is hoping to stay healthy this year.

​​Three of Tech’s top four wideouts are back as well in Singleton, Rutherford, and Christian Leary. Leo Blackburn will return from injury. TE Brett Seither will lead the TE room after having a breakout season with 4 touchdowns.

On defense Coach Key is looking for a similar transformation to what the offense saw in 2023 by hiring four new assistants in Jess Simpson, Kyle Pope, Cory Peoples, and new DC Tyler Santucci. Santucci will implement a 4-2-5 base defense. Georgia Tech’s defense should be more aggressive this season and that could create more negative plays.  NT Zeek Biggers along with  Sylvian Yondjouen, Makius Scott, Kevin Harris, along with transfers Romello Height, Thomas Gore and Jordan van den Berg will anchor the line this season. The new focus will be on stopping the run and relying on more than only a few playmakers. Leading tackler Kyle Efford and Trenilyas Tatum both return at linebacker along with Louisville transfer Jackson Hamilton and Georgia transfer EJ Lightsey. Look for the LB play to be vastly improved as the D-Line improves. LaMiles Brooks is the leader in the secondary along with returning starter Ahmari Harvey. The Secondary looks to be the strength, along with solid depth for the Yellow Jackets this year. If the front seven doesn’t vastly improve it isn’t going to matter how much depth or solid players they have in the secondary.

This will be a better Georgia Tech team than the 2023 version; however, the Yellow Jackets face the third-toughest schedule in the nation and the toughest in the ACC this season (based on its opponents’ combined win total last year) which will make it really hard to show improvement in the win-loss column. The Yellow Jackets’ schedule has 11 games against teams with winning records in 2023, which includes five games versus teams with nine or more victories and zero against squads that collected fewer than four wins. After what felt like a breakthrough season in 2023, there are high expectations on the FLATS. Yet the reality of their schedule would make finishing with another bowl appearance quite an accomplishment and ending up in Charlotte for the championship game simply amazing. Go Jackets!