Kirby Smart reveals one major problem Georgia Bulldogs may have to overcome in rivalry game against Georgia Tech
Kirby Smart talks through the extremely tough challenge of stopping Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King with all of his experience and athleticism
The Georgia Bulldogs are 10-1 heading into their final game of the season against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and they’re looking like an unstoppable force in recent weeks. Kirby Smart and his Georgia Bulldogs have outscored their last three opponents 111-34 and every one of those scores could have been much worse had they kept their foot on the pedal for the entire games.
Still, Kirby Smart was quick to present the one major problem that his team may have to overcome if they want to win this rivalry game, ultimately coasting towards a home game (and possibly a first round bye) in the College Football Playoff. Quarterback Haynes King.
Kirby Smart makes it clear that stopping Haynes King is a problem for everybody
Georgia Tech may have lost two of their last three games, but they’re still a dangerous 9-2 team with one of the best quarterbacks in all of college football. When asked about Georgia Tech on Monday, Kirby Smart didn’t try to hide from the fact that quarterback Haynes King is going to be the biggest obstacle to overcome for the Georgia Bulldogs this week. And it’s not just his legs. It’s not just his experience. It’s the total package:
“Yeah, just look at the numbers [for Haynes King]. Any time you have a quarterback that has the experience he has. I don’t know if he’s played five years, six years? I don’t know what it is, but he’s extremely experienced, extremely tough. I don’t think people understand how fast this guy is. He can run. He was great athlete in high school, a track guy. The stories are all over, of his success. And his stories of where he’s been, and the injuries he’s been through. You see the hits he takes. He just gets stronger with each hit. He’s extremely valuable in terms of what they do and what they ask him to do. He’s hard to defend on all levels throwing the ball. People think he doesn’t throw the ball. He throws the ball really well, and he’s really efficient. They do a great job with the passing game, Buster (their offensive coordinator) does. Screens, RPOs, perimeter, and its vertical.”
Most college football fans might be familiar with Haynes King as a dual threat mobile quarterback thanks to the fact that he’s racked up well over 2000 yards rushing in the last three seasons. Many fans and media also get stuck on King’s turnover problems from three seasons ago, thinking he isn’t a great passer, but that’s just flat out wrong. Since the beginning of the 2024 season, King has played 21 games, thrown the ball over 550 times, and has tossed just six interceptions, mostly off of deflections and other things that weren’t his fault too.
King has been making good decisions, throwing accurate balls, completing over 70% of his passes, and ranks inside the top ten of most every single efficient metric for quarterbacks this season. The Georgia Bulldogs defense is going to have their hands full.
A fully healthy Georgia squad would have a hard enough time stopping Haynes King, but it seems that the Bulldogs are once again going to be without their leader and potential first round pick at linebacker, CJ Allen. Kirby Smart didn’t offer any meaningful update on him other than to say that he was “working hard to get back”.
Georgia will need to make sure their newfound pass rush keeps up the momentum while also playing contain sufficiently so as to avoid explosive run plays from King. If they don’t do a good job there, then Bulldogs fans might want to embrace for another close call in what could be another epic rivalry matchup against Georgia Tech.
We’ll be back with more Georgia Bulldogs coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
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