UCF Head Coach Gus Malzahn Has High Praise for Georgia Tech's Haynes King: "They Have a Quarterback Who is Outstanding"

Originally posted on FanNation All Yellow Jackets
By Jackson Caudell | Last updated 12/7/23

Georgia Tech and UCF will play each other in Tampa Bay next week in the Gasparilla Bowl and these are two teams that are familiar with each other. They recruit against each other, they have played just last year, Brent Key was a coach there, and former Yellow Jackets head coach George O'Leary also coached there.

One other area of familiarity that the two programs share is that UCF head coach Gus Malzahn recruited current Yellow Jackets quarterback Haynes King when he was a high school quarterback in Texas. Malzahn spoke about this in his press conference and mentioned how great of a season that King was having:

"We are familiar with Georgia Tech, we played them last year. They have a quarterback who is outstanding a guy that I recruited out of Texas coming out of high school and he has had a great year throwing it, running it, and all that."

Haynes King is one of only two players in the nation with at least 2,700 passing yards, 600 rushing yards, 25 touchdown passes and five touchdown runs this season (joining LSU’s Jayden Daniels), and one of only six ACC players to achieve those numbers in a regular season since 2000.

Earlier this week, Key talked about coming back to UCF and what it will be like coaching against a school that he was with for so long:

"That has been such a long time ago, it really has, and the biggest connection I still have from Orlando is meeting my wife, and starting our family there. A lot of good friends and a lot of great relationships. There were some former players we had at the game here last week from down there when I coached, there is a lot of good relationships, but that is anywhere that you coach and a good thing about coaching is that you can build relationships that can last a long time."

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This article first appeared on FanNation All Yellow Jackets and was syndicated with permission.

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