Updates on Georgia Tech Starting Quarterback Haynes King ahead of Clemson

ATLANTA, Ga – The Clemson Tigers are set to kick off ACC play on Saturday when they head down to Atlanta to play the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Dabo Swinney’s squad is eager to put another game of struggles behind them, but will face a stout test on The Flats, where there will be a “White Out.”

Looming over this matchup is the lingering health of Yellow Jacket quarterback Haynes King. The Georgia Tech starter missed Saturday’s game with what was described as a “lower-body injury.”

Georgia Tech is fresh off a trouncing of the FCS’s Gardner-Webb, where backup quarterback Aaron Philo threw for a career-high 373 yards (the sixth-most in Georgia Tech history, and the most since 2001) in his first career start. The redshirt freshman was named ACC Rookie of the Week for his performance.

On the strength of Philo’s arm, Georgia Tech amassed 680 yards of offense (third-most in school history), 457 total passing yards (second-most in program history), and averaged 11.9 yards per play (second-highest in program history).

It was a strong offensive effort from Georgia Tech last week, but they are a much different team with King under center. In their Week 1 victory over Colorado, he accounted for 299 total yards and three rushing touchdowns, including a 45-yard game-winning score. The team embodies his toughness when he is on the field.

According to reports from On3 and ESPN, the senior signal-caller is trending in the right direction and should be available to play.

“Looks good, feels good,” Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key said in his press conference on Tuesday. “We’ll make a determination this weekend.”

King has repeatedly dealt with nagging injuries, dating back to his time at Texas A&M, and shoulder issues held him out of games with Notre Dame and Virginia Tech last season. He was able to play through the injuries later in the season. In their win over No. 4 Miami, they played a two-quarterback system with Philo because he was barely able to throw the ball

For his career, King has thrown for 6,678 yards and rushed for another 1,630 yards with 76 total touchdowns. He is a big reason why the Yellow Jackets are 6-1 against ranked ACC opponents.

"He’s equipped to make them right, so you have to win matchups," Dabo Swinney said about King. "You have to tackle in space.”

King is a massive part of the Yellow Jacket rushing attack that is ninth in college football in rushing (271.5 yards per game). The Clemson front is allowing the fifth-fewest yards on the ground per game (93 yards per game), but this may be their most difficult test yet.

"Minimize their run game," Swinney said about how you slow the Georgia Tech offense. "That’s how they’re built. I don’t know that you stop it, but you have to minimize explosives and make them beat you other ways."

No. 12 Clemson comes into this game 1-1 after a Week 1 loss to LSU and a less-than-impressive 27-16 win over Troy. All of that can be put to bed with a win over Georgia Tech on Saturday. The Tigers enter this game on a nine-game winning streak, where they have won by an average margin of 40.8-13.1.

These two programs haven’t played since 2023, but Clemson won that matchup 42-21.