What Is At Stake For Georgia Tech At The NFL Combine This Week

There are several things to consider when you look at the NFL combine and the continued growth of the Yellow Jackets program in the Brent Key era. For one, the Yellow Jackets went from a program rarely talked about to a national darling in three short seasons. Don’t just take my word for it. The numbers do tell it all. Here is a deeper look.

“The Yellow Jackets had nearly 34 million total viewers, which is an 36% increase over the Yellow Jackets total viewership in 2024. Those numbers are just behind the national champion runner-up, the Miami Hurricanes, in the ACC. Georgia Tech saw the numbers spike in the final two games against Georgia and BYU, where it had nearly 18 million views in those outings.”

So what does that mean? It means people are tuning in to watch this program and how they are performing. That national spotlight and attention only help players stand out and be able to continue to make a name for themselves for scouts at the next level, and to play on a big stage. Georgia Tech has continued to embody that with 11 Power 4 opponents in 2026, and having an exclusive window to kick off the season on ESPN on September 3rd, followed by a marquee matchup against the Tennessee Volunteers. More people are tuning in to see the Yellow Jackets.

What’s At Stake?
Georgia Tech can show a model to top recruits that they aren’t just a program that has hype or the national spotlight that is glared on them. Rather, they are a program that can develop talent, get the most out of its players, and send them to the next level. They have four players who were invited to the NFL Combine: Haynes King, Eric Rivers, Ahmari Harvey, and Keylan Rutledge. Each of these players can easily dominate the competition and raise their stock before the draft in April. Rutledge has already turned heads at the Senior Bowl with his physicality and ability to play any of the interior positions on the offensive line. Harvey had a great close to his Yellow Jackets career and was one of the top corners in the ACC. He finished with seven passes defensed (highest on the team). Rivers continued to come on late in the season and has also been impressing with the plays he can make in one-on-one coverage. Last but not least, star Haynes King is a true dual-threat and a film savant who can do a lot for his stock with a great performance and, of course, the pre-draft meetings.

A strong combine performance goes a long way in landing blue-chip recruits from recruiting cycles and bringing in the top talent from the portal. We are already seeing some of that now with the Yellow Jackets landing guys like Justice Haynes, Jaylen Mbakwe, and Noah Carter from the portal. All elite players are in their own right. The Ramblin Wreck can continue to add to that and attract it at a high level with more of its players getting to the league and being able to be contributors early in their professional careers. Three of the four players who got invited to the combine played at least two seasons with the Yellow Jackets and got the chance to develop and play at a high level. We already know that Georgia Tech players answer and excel in the character questions and traits you are looking for at the next level. Now, it is whether they can get back to the level of producing the talent consistently.

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