Georgia Tech offensive standout to remain with Yellow Jackets for 2025 season

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets wide receiver Malik Rutherford (8) celebrates after he scored a touchdown in the third quarter that gave Tech a 28-6 lead in a NCAA football game between the Georgia State Panthers and Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (Bob Andres for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

By Chad Bishop

Dec 22, 2024

Malik Rutherford announced Sunday he will return to Georgia Tech for the 2025 season — two days after reportedly entering the NCAA transfer portal.

A 5-foot-9, 170-pound rising senior, Rutherford caught a pass in 28 consecutive games for the Yellow Jackets. He had a team-leading 59 catches for 670 yards and three touchdowns in 2024.

All of Rutherford’s seven career touchdown receptions came in the past two seasons, and his 1,459 career receiving yards are 180 yards short of entering Tech’s all-time top 10 in that category. Rutherford played the eighth most offensive snaps for Tech in 2024.

From Miami and Champagnat Catholic School, Rutherford came to Tech in 2021 and played in three games. Rutherford was considered a three-star recruit by the 247Sports Composite.

Rutherford’s return is big news for a Tech team which faces Vanderbilt at 3:30 p.m. Friday in the Birmingham Bowl and which already lost top receiver Eric Singleton Jr. in the transfer portal.

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