Everything From Haynes King After Georgia Tech's Second Spring Practice
Georgia Tech spring football got underway this week and it is an exciting one for the Yellow Jackets. One of the reasons that it is so exciting is the return of quarterback Haynes King. King is going to be one of the best quarterbacks returning to the ACC and the Yellow Jackets offense is going to be one of the ACC's best in 2024.
After Georgia Tech's second practice yesterday, King spoke with the media and here is everything that he had to say...
1. On how this spring practice is different from last year...
"I'd say it's a little bit different, you know. First time, nobody really knew who I was. I was trying to make a name for myself and this time, you know, just trying to keep the standard up, you know. And to be that team leader this year and being in control with the offense and... the whole offense and it is different and it definitely takes a different approach as well."
2. On what the next step is for the offense...
"Be more consistent. You know, we have a standard and we have to follow that standard every day and we believe that that will help on the consistency. And then we've got to find a way to... keep up with all the expectations going around, keep our head level steady and not looking at everything and letting stuff get to our head where it just blows up and we get complacent. We've got to keep working and we've got a lot of stuff to work on."
3. On how he is improving his leadership...
"Yeah, it was it was one of my big goals taking that next step to be to be that leader not just through example but vocally and I mean the first step to being a leader is doing everything right showing up on time early doing just doing everything the right way because if you're not doing it the right way, then nobody's gonna... that your word is not going to hold anything weight. And that's the first step. And I felt like I did that last year, this past year, doing everything the right way. And I feel like I'm continuing to do that. And now this next step is being more vocal, holding a lot of more people more accountable. Not even just during practice, but outside of practice, like, "Hey, you go to class. Your bodyweight." weight like whatever it is like just holding people accountable and talking to them making sure their head is right and that they're not getting too complacent."
4. On the transition to a new year after having a successful 2023 season...
"I would be honest, at any level if you have success it's hard the next year. One, with all the expectations, two, people like to get complacent, "Oh, I had a pretty good year last year, like I could just do the same thing." Like, no, it doesn't work like that. You have to do more. I like one saying, "You're either getting better or you're getting worse. You can't stay the same." That's just how it is. You're either getting better or you're getting worse, because everybody else is getting better. So you're getting better as well, or you're just trying to stay the same, which in the long run is going to be you're getting worse. And I would say that's the biggest deal, never get complacent and always work. You're either getting better or you're getting worse."
Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King
5. On if they address the changing expectations after a successful season...
"One is it's kind of the standard already and it's addressed the first day of of spring semester, back in January. We don't wait to this long, because if you're not working from January, February, all the way into March, what are you doing? You're not getting better. You're getting worse, actually. And that kind of goes the same thing. So that is addressed first thing, and then I'd say it's up to the players to hold it accountable. That's the team standard, or is this what we're going to do? Is this what we're gonna say we're gonna do that's two different things, we got to do it."
6. On what he has seen from the two freshmen quarterbacks...
"the way they pick up on the offense pretty fast they're coachable they want to do stuff the right way they're falling in line they're doing everything the right way showing up on time they're competing every day I know at times they have to split some routes and they're doing a good job of running the offense and just operating you know and that's the big thing right now and I feel like they're they're doing a great job picking up on the offense and operating."
7. On if having the majority of the offensive line helps the passing game, knowing opponents have to be prepared for how well they run the ball...
" Yes. You know if you got... if you want to pass the ball you got to be able to run it, if you want to run the ball you got to be able to pass it. You know it all works hand -in -hand and then to have those guys back, the more experience you have with each other the easier It is the better communication you have even in like So you have a hundred thousand fans, It's loud. You can't hear like like they might just by your actions or something. It's a feel that you have when you work with somebody for so long, you have all these experiences. It just makes it a whole lot easier to communicate. And so with that being said, and what we did last year, you know, there is expectation with them, there's a standard with them as well. And that's what we're trying to hold and finish and accomplish this spring.
8. On the quarterback comaraderie...
"Oh, I love them, every single one of them. I feel like this is a close tight -knit group. It doesn't matter what we're doing. We're eating together. we're working out and you know, I mess with them. It's like we have this golden rule, you know, we're not allowed to go up in meetings or walk to practice without everybody walking with you, you know, kind of like never leave a quarterback behind. And so we mess around with that a little bit and somebody does it, you know, we get on them, but I feel like we have every single one of us have a good relationship with each other, with each other and that also breeds competition and it will not let you be complacent because if you are that next guy who's working every day doing his job showing up doing it the right way he's gonna take your spot you know he's gonna surpass you and I feel like that that's where it all kind of works from and it's a pretty good group right now how close we are are."
