Georgia Tech QB Haynes King embraces legacy talk but keeps focus on BYU

Georgia Tech QB Haynes King embraces legacy talk but keeps focus on BYU originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

For Haynes King, the accomplishments are already there. Three seasons at the controls of the Georgia Tech offense. A quarterback who turned toughness into a calling card and reliability into a standard. A leader who absorbed hits, kept getting up, and carried the program through its most demanding stretches.

Those things are real. They are also not what King wants to talk about right now.

“Throughout this year, we put our blood, sweat and tears into this team,” King said. “I’m not one to quit and be selfish. I always finish what I start.”

That mentality explains why King is in Orlando preparing for the Pop-Tarts Bowl rather than stepping away early to focus on what comes next. Draft prep, training cycles, interviews and evaluations are waiting. King knows that. He simply refuses to let them intrude on the present.

Asked when reflection might come, he answered honestly and without hesitation. “Probably when I’m training and [I’ve] got more time on [my] hands…I don’t really feel it until it’s over.”

What he does feel now is obligation. To teammates. To coaches. To the work that has already been put in. The bowl game is not a formality in King’s mind, it is the final responsibility of the season, and possibly of his college career.

“He represents exactly what college football is all about,” said Chris Weinke, Georgia Tech’s assistant head coach and co-offensive coordinator. “Everything he does, he does it for the people around him.”

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Weinke spoke about consistency more than accolades. About a quarterback who shows up the same way every day and leads without redirecting attention toward himself.

King echoed that sentiment when the topic turned toward legacy. Any recognition, he insisted, belongs to the group.

“It’s not a one-man show,” he said. “I’m grateful for this whole team and this staff.”

Soon enough, the helmet will come off for the last time. The conversations will shift.
For Haynes King, the résumé is written. The focus is singular.

Everything else can wait.

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