Georgia Tech 2025 Position Previews: Quarterback

Quarterbacks

Returning: Haynes King, Aaron Philo, Graham Knowles, Ben Guthrie

New Guys On The Block: Grady Adamson (true freshman)

Summary: King is one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the country and one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks as well. After a good debut season with Georgia Tech in 2023, King was showing improvements in plenty of areas last season (particularly cutting down his turnovers and becoming more efficient), but injuries unfortunately played a crucial role in how his season played out. He was forced to miss games against Notre Dame and Virginia Tech, and even when he came back against Miami and NC State, he was clearly hampered by the injury. He came all the way back for the last game of the regular season against Georgia and had one of the guttiest performances of the season as the Yellow Jackets nearly pulled off the upset against the Bulldogs.

King threw for 303 yards and two touchdowns as well as running for 110 yards and three touchdowns in the eight overtime loss to Georgia after the game, head coach Brent Key spoke about him and his performance, as well as what this game signals for the program moving forward:

""He's a warrior. He's one of the toughest kids I've ever been around in my life. He wills others around. Proud of him. Proud of all of them.

"Correct, but, the game's-- there's so much about college football that's special, And there's so many things that as a college football coach that you take pride in. Yeah, the judgment comes from when the scoreboard hits zero. But the things we do with these kids and to see these kids grow and mature, to see them do what they do in school, do what they do socially, do what they do each week on the football field, they're special. They're special. And it hurts. It hurts them. That locker room, I've never seen anything like that. What I know about these kids, what I know about this team, what I know about this school, this emotion will turn into fuel, and we'll use that fuel."

Now what can King do for his final season?

He threw for over 2,100 yards and 14 touchdowns, while also cutting his interceptions from 16 to just two. Is there another step for King this season? If so, this Georgia Tech offense should remain one of the ACC's most dynamic. King also ran for nearly 600 yards last season to go along with 11 rushing touchdowns. Having Buster Faulkner for a third straight season is a huge plus as well. King is hoping to continue to elevate the program back to ACC contention and he has everything at his disposal to do that in 2025.

The vertical passing game is something that Georgia Tech worked hard on in the spring and I think it is probably the area where the Yellow Jackets offense could improve the most. Offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner went in depth about that in the spring:

"I think the biggest, you know you'd look back ten years ago this, you'd say this is year three and you're kind of picking up where you left off and we're really kind of back to square one with all the new pieces so the really the biggest thing with us just offensively when you look at overall is we got to be better fundamentally across the board we've relied a lot on scheme and we've got to get back to the basics and being really good You know, fundamentally at every position. So that's something we're really hammering this spring. Cut down a lot of offense to try to be better at that. So the kids aren't thinking as much. And then also, obviously, we've got a lot of new guys.

So the next progression, though, for us offensively is we've done a good job of running the football the last two years statistically. I want to see us be more consistent across the board. And we've had games where it's 260, and then we're right around 100. I'd rather be at 190 every week. And then I want to see the passing game take off, right? That's got to be the next step. Did a lot of study in this offseason and critical evaluations of us as an offense and also positionally. And then you really look across college football and it's not exact. But they basically took the four best records in each league, right? And kind of where were they passing in their league. And for the most part, everybody was in the top six, record-wise and passing. So that's something that you got to be able to throw and catch. It creates explosive plays. We've got those guys on our roster and that's where we've got to take the next step."

Two of Georgia Tech's five losses came with King out of the lineup. When he came back, he split time with Philo in wins over Miami and NC State, before playing his normal full-time snaps against the Bulldogs. Philo played the majority of snaps in the win over the Wolfpack. Philo finished the game 19-33 for 265 yards as well as 57 yards rushing and led the game-winning drive.

How good was Philo? He finished as the highest graded quarterback in the entire country in week 13 according to PFF (Pro Football Focus). Philo earned a 93.7 grade (top in the country) and a 93.3 passing grade (3rd in the country). How much will he be needed this season? Georgia Tech is hoping that King can stay healthy this season and give Philo more time to develop, but it has to be reassuring to have a young quarterback like Philo who can play when called upon.

While King and Philo are the players that most tend to focus on for this season, the coaching staff raved about the growth they saw from redshirt freshman Graham Knowles in the spring.

Adamson was not on campus during the spring, but was one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the 2025 class and here is what quarterbacks coach Chris Weinke said about him and what he is looking forward to seeing out of Adamson:

"Yeah so my process in terms of evaluating the quarterbacks a little bit different than maybe some guys around the country, and I'm going to spend a lot more time peeling back the onion and finding out what they're like inside. And to me, I usually typically evaluate between 100 and 150 guys in each class. And that gets shrunk down to probably 50, and then I'll continue to evaluate those guys. And I know the landscape of college football doesn't necessarily lend itself to relationships these days. I'm still a relationship guy I want to build a good relationship I want those guys to understand I care about them that I'm here for them and I truly believe if they know that they care about you That they're gonna work harder for you and Grady is one of those guys very athletic really smart But it starts with toughness And every time I turned on his film or I went down to see him you could those things he's really excited to to get here in the next couple months and be a part of this he stays in touch with all of our guys I talked to him every single week you know he probably wishes he was here right now he's missing out on some development right now but very excited about the future of of Grady."

Overview

If King can continue to improve his efficiency and vertical passing game, he can be as good as any quarterback in the country this season (as long as he is healthy of course). Philo is one of the best backup quarterbacks in the country and flashed high upside during his playing time last season. While not talked about nearly as much, the coaches have belief in both Knowles and Adamson for their future, and they will continue to develop this year. Georgia Tech is in an enviable position when it comes to quarterbacks.