Brent Key works to keep his Yellow Jackets away from the ‘rat poison’

Brent Key, heading into his third season leading Georgia Tech, certainly doesn’t have his Yellow Jackets on the same plane as Saban’s Crimson Tide squads. But there has been no shortage of rat poison this offseason from pundits already praising the white and gold.

“Like I said for a long time, I knew there was going to be external expectations this year,” Key told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the ACC’s spring meetings. “It’s just gonna be a lot of staying in the moment. If you can affect it, worry about it. If you can’t affect it, don’t worry about it.”

Tech has been a 7-6 team in each of Key’s two seasons as the Jackets’ coach. But there are quiet murmurs that 2025 could be a breakout season.

Quarterbacks Haynes King and Aaron Philo are back. Running back Jamal Haynes and wide receiver Malik Rutherford returned. Tech’s back seven on the defensive side is strong and experienced. The 2025 recruiting class — along with a quality crop of transfers — has increased the depth and talent.

Pro Football Focus recently labeled Haynes a running back “you need to know” ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft. College football analyst Greg McElroy put King 10th on his top quarterbacks in college football and Haynes sixth among college football running backs. The Sporting News tabbed King the ACC’s second-best quarterback behind Clemson’s Cade Klubnik.

“I don’t know if it’s in our DNA to have the superstar-type players all over the place. It’s not really who we are,” Key told the ACC Network this week about the makeup of his team. “We got some really good players that, in their own right, can become that. But it’s about the whole team. I don’t wanna single out one position group over another.”

The schedule for Tech is also not as harrowing as it has been in recent years.

After facing Colorado (9-4 in 2024) and Clemson (10-4 in 2024) in two of the first three weekends of the season, Tech may not face another ranked opponent until playing Georgia at season’s end. The only ACC opponent (outside of Clemson) for Tech that won more than seven games last season is Duke (9-4).

Josh Pate of CBS Sports recently ranked Tech’s team 17th coming out of spring practice. Tech’s predicted win total, according to FanDuel Sportsbooks, is 7.5, which may not look high but is two full wins higher than the team’s predicted 2024 win total. In March, FanDuel gave Tech the fifth-best odds to win the ACC title.

“As far as all the external, it’s great publicity for the program and for the school,” Key told SiriusXM. “Because as a football team you’re not just representing the football team, we’re representing the entire school. Every athlete at the school, every student at the school. It’s all-encompassing. It’s great to get that exposure, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t mean anything. What matters is football in November, December and January.”

Tech last won an ACC championship in 2009, last played in an ACC title game in 2012 and hasn’t won nine games in a season since 2016.