Is Haynes King the most underrated quarterback in the country?
It’s a question that has been ringing in my head for a few weeks now as I’ve begun digging into some numbers, trying to get a grasp on what the quarterback situation looks like around the country heading into the 2025 season. We’re entering an era where I wonder if experience at quarterback will prove to be even more of an asset for programs that aren’t expected to be competing for national titles or College Football Playoff appearances on an annual basis.
It’s a scenario that feels pertinent to the 2025 season specifically. Of the 12 teams that reached the College Football Playoff last season, only five have a returning starter at QB, and none of them are the annual title contenders. In fact, of the teams that finished in the top eight of the final CFP rankings last year (the rankings, not the playoff seeds), Penn State is the only school with a returning starter.
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That leaves a lot of question marks among the nation’s best programs when it comes to the most important position on the field. So, theoretically, if you’re looking for “the next Indiana” for 2025, you probably want to look at teams with an experienced QB.
Of course, experience is nice, but being good helps too, and it’s been digging through the numbers last season that’s led me to a place where I believe Georgia Tech’s Haynes King is better than he’s given credit for. Or, at the very least, better than I was giving him credit for.
I’ve had a pet project of trying to develop an updated QB rating along the lines of QBR, or passer efficiency at the college level. A number that does a “better” job of measuring the value a college QB has to their team. One that implements what the QB does not only as a passer, but with his legs.
There are so many different styles of offenses in the sport that ask different things of their QB that rating a QB strictly on their passing production can skew the way players are viewed. My project isn’t finished, and I’m still tinkering with the formula (it doesn’t even have a name yet), but King rated extremely well in the current construction of the stat last season.
King posted an Unnamed QB Rating (UQBR for the rest of this story) of 152.11 last year, which ranked fourth in the nation among qualified quarterbacks. The only three players who finished ahead of him were Miami’s Cam Ward, Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke and Ohio State’s Will Howard. They’re all gone, meaning King posted the highest UQBR of any returning starter, just ahead of Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson (149.16).
But that’s one stat, and it’s not even a finished stat, so while I’m a believer in it, I understand that you may not be, which is fine. Hell, it’s probably smart, because I’m an idiot, and you should never take my word for something alone. Not unless I support it with other stats, which I’m about to do. What a coincidence!
The primary reason players like King are often overlooked or underappreciated is that they aren’t your prototypical passers. Nobody is looking at Haynes King and screaming, “NFL Draft pick!” But that doesn’t mean King isn’t capable of leading Georgia Tech to wins, which is far more important to the Yellow Jackets than his NFL projection.
What separates King from many of his counterparts are his legs. The raw numbers are there. His 587 rushing yards last season ranked ninth among Power Four quarterbacks, and his 11 rushing touchdowns were third. Keep in mind, though, that King missed two games last season due to injury and was also in a bit of a timeshare with Aaron Philo. Had he played a full season and seen a larger share of the snaps, those numbers would’ve been even better.
What really stands out more than the raw numbers, though, is King’s ability to avoid losing yards or turn the ball over. King was sacked on only 2.5% of his dropbacks last season, which ranked third among P4 QBs. Taking it a step further, King only lost 17 yards total over the 7 sacks he took. Not all sacks are created equal. There’s a serious difference between being sacked for a two-yard loss and a 10-yard loss. King’s average of 2.43 yards lost per sack was the lowest of any qualified P4 QB last year. The second-best number was 4.38 yards lost per sack from Iowa State’s Rocco Becht.
The national average was 6.42. Syracuse’s Kyle McCord ranked last at 8.45.
Then there was taking care of the football. King threw only two interceptions last year, and his interception rate of 0.7% finished second behind Missouri’s Brady Cook at 0.6%. However, King ran the ball 125 times last year. We can’t just look at his interceptions. We need to look at his fumbles, too. This is where another stat I’ve created comes in handy. It’s called Whoopsy Daisy Rate, and it divides a quarterback’s interceptions and fumbles (not fumbles lost, but fumbles) by snaps taken. King’s WDR of 1.57% was not elite (he fumbled the ball 8 times, though lost only 2 of them), but still good enough to rank 18th overall, and was much better than the P4 QB average of 2.00%.
So what we’ve learned so far is that King extended and finished drives with his legs, both by gaining yards the old-fashioned way and by not losing yards to put his team in tough spots when things went awry. He also took care of the football better than most, which is very important to a team like Georgia Tech that often needs to beat an opponent at the margins if it wants to win games.
Yet, there’s the other part of King’s game that receives far too little respect: his passing.
King does not have a cannon. His 5.6 air yards per attempt ranked 60th among 60 qualified P4 QBs last season. The good news is that Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner knew how to take advantage of King’s abilities, which helped King finish 24th in yards per attempt at 7.9. That was ahead of guys like Nico Iamaleava, Quinn Ewers, Carson Beck and Garrett Nussmeier, just to name a few. King’s completion rate of 72.9% ranked fourth and was also the highest of any returning starter in 2025. And his passing efficiency, the number I’m trying to create a better version of, ranked eighth. The only QB who finished ahead of him in that department who returns for 2025 is Florida’s DJ Lagway.
So, I ask again, is Haynes King the most underrated quarterback in the country? I’m certainly starting to think so. How about you?
