Georgia Tech coach Brent Key, speaking with 680 The Fan on Monday, updated the injury status of quarterback Haynes King.
“He’s a tough kid,” Key said. “Day-to-day with it right now. He’s going to be out there (at practice Tuesday). We’ll see how it goes; we’ll see how the week progresses. It’s that time of year. Everybody’s banged-up — our team, other teams. So survival of the fittest at this point.”
King left in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 41-34 win at North Carolina with what appeared to be a right shoulder or arm injury. King spent much of the period inside Tech’s injury tent before reemerging late in the game wearing a baseball cap.
Backup Zach Pyron played the final three series over the last 11:08 and handed the ball to running back Jamal Haynes on Haynes’ 68-yard game-winning touchdown run with 16 seconds left.
King rushed for 107 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 127 yards on 11 completions in the win.
King has started all 20 games since joining the program in January 2023; he has 4,410 passing yards, 35 touchdown passes, 1,090 rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns at Tech. This season, King is completing 71.2% of his throws, has thrown just one interception and is averaging 5.69 yards per carry.
King spent three seasons at Texas A&M before transferring to Tech.
“(King is) just a rock. He’s a guy that everybody looks to. He doesn’t get too high, doesn’t get too low,” Key said. “He’s very detailed in what he has to go about doing and what everyone around him has to go about doing. He’s a perfectionist. He elevates everyone else’s play around him just by the way he carries himself.
“Last year he had some interceptions at costly times, and he has done a really good job last year of eliminating those and putting us in position to be able to win a football game.”
Pyron has five completions for 64 yards and a touchdown this season. He mainly has been used in short-yardage situations in the red zone and has four rushing touchdowns.
As a freshman in 2022, Pyron came off the bench and threw for 198 yards at Florida State. A week later, as the starter, he passed for 253 yards and rushed for 66 in leading the Jackets to a 28-27 win at Virginia Tech. He suffered a season-ending injury the next week.
The Jackets (5-2) face No. 12 Notre Dame (5-1) at Mercedes-Benz Stadium at 3:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPN.
“The biggest thing is getting bowl-eligible at this point in the season,” Key said. “That’s obviously a goal, and a huge goal of ours is to ... have this program be a consistent bowl team. That’s really the first step in building a foundation.
“It’s a big game. And I told the team that (Sunday) night. I said, ‘Look, we stand up here next week and say every game’s a big game, but let’s get this right: This is a big game. This is a really big game. Doesn’t mean you have to play over your head. Doesn’t mean you have to play better than you are. That means we need to be on top of our game every day this week moving forward until the clock hits zero on Saturday to give ourselves an opportunity.’”
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