Georgia Tech football knows what it needs to do in 2025
Brent Key knows it. The Yellow Jackets know it. Everyone and anyone associated with Georgia Tech football knows it.
It’s time for Tech to take that next jump to join the upper echelon of college football programs. “Jump” is the word, so much so that Key has written it on the side of his white baseball cap with a black permanent marker.
What will it take for Tech to make said jump?
It must win more than seven games, something it hasn’t done since 2016 (also the last season Tech won more than five ACC games in a season). It must put itself in position to play in the ACC title game, a destination it has failed to reach 10 seasons running.
Snapping a nine-game losing streak to Clemson? A seven-game losing streak to Georgia? Those would be nice feathers in Tech’s hat, but perhaps it’s more imperative the Jackets take care of business at home against Virginia Tech (Oct. 11), Syracuse (Oct. 25) and Pittsburgh (Nov. 22), and steal any number of road wins at Duke (Oct. 18), North Carolina State (Nov. 1) and Boston College (Nov. 15).
Many national and regional pundits believe this Tech team has enough talent and depth to conquer many of the aforementioned challenges than not. The offensive prowess of quarterback Haynes King, running back Jamal Haynes and right guard Keylan Rutledge often is where the talking points start, and there’s an assumption the defense will continue its solid play with first-year coordinator Blake Gideon and the core strength of tackle Jordan van den Berg, linebacker Kyle Efford and safety Clayton Powell-Lee.
But Tech also is breaking in two new starters on the offensive line. The defensive front and secondary will be relying on a handful of transfers and younger players to fill big roles. Many of the wide receivers who King will be looking to throw to either are new to the program or new to the idea of being Tech’s top pass catcher.
“The identity here for us is always about being the more physical team,” Tech offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner said on 680 The Fan. “Obviously we gotta go around the play of our quarterback (King), we play the game through his eyes. He’s been phenomenal, had a great camp.
“How can we continue to keep people off balance? That’s a big part of what we do here at Tech. Play through the eyes of the quarterback and making sure we’re putting those kids in position to be successful and that’s the way it’s gonna be here.”
“We’ve been at this thing now for seven months in this defense, and so again, there’s a calmness to it,” said Gideon in July. “There’s an ability to work the problem, and the more guys we have that can do that, the better.”
As for Key, the former Tech offensive lineman who took over the program in October 2022 on an interim basis, the construction of his program has been a slow build through stellar recruiting, transfer acquisition and staff retention.
The 47-year-old Key sports a record of 18-16 leading his alma mater and he’d like nothing more than to make 2025 the season the Jackets burst back onto the national stage of the sport and remain there for years to come.
The expectations undoubtedly are there for that to come to fruition for this team, a team that begins its journey Aug. 29 at Colorado, a team Key has confidence in to finally make that next jump.
“The thing we’ve talked about since the beginning of the summer,” Key said on 680 The Fan, “is that no one’s external expectations should ever supersede or be greater than what ours are internally.”
About the Author
