Norval McKenzie Gives Detailed Answer On How Jamal Haynes Can Reach The Next Level As A Running Back

Jamal Haynes came back for one more season on The Flats and he is hoping to make his last season with the Yellow Jackets his best one. Haynes is a preseason first-team All-ACC pick and should be among the top NFL Draft picks at his position for the 2026 Draft.

What does Haynes need to do to raise his game to another level? That was something that running backs coach Norval McKenzie went into detail about after the Yellow Jackets wrapped up practice on Friday evening:

"Yeah, I think like you mentioned, so he's going to be on every award, pre-season award. The biggest thing is, I would say he's taking this off -season a different manner in terms of head down and working, which has been good to see you know this offseason was probably his best off season had a really good spring and now this summer did well also okay and so he's in position how he can get better is by the rest of the room being better you know there's been times over the past who sees us where he's had to play more snaps than he should have played last year he battled the entire season with injuries so I'm excited about the rest of the room to continue to compete, to be able to spell him when he needs it for me to be able to trust those guys in certain situations. I always feel like I have to put Jamal in the game, but another back can go in the game. And so we're excited about that offensively as well. In terms of what he could probably get better at, if there was one thing that we've talked about, I would say pass protection and not that he's not a willing pass protector, but just in terms of technique, right? And so we always want to hone in on the fundamentals. And he's taking it a step further just to ask the questions, OK, how did that look? What did I need to do better? We actually watched film this morning of some previous running backs I coached in the past. That was his stature of how they blocked. And so he's in a growth mindset right now, too, in just in terms of how can I get better? He knows that he gets better, we get better."