With the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 2024 season being taken over by the emergence of Haynes King towards the end of the season, which saw him take the nation by storm after his performance against the Georgia Bulldogs, there is someone else on the team that has deserved his flowers this season as well, and should also be a household name, and he proved just that in the Birmingham Bowl. That players name? Jamal Haynes.
With the passing offense being stagnant throughout the game against the Vanderbilt Commodores, Haynes stepped up in a way that only he can, rushing for 136 yards on just 17 carries. When the Yellow Jackets first two drives stalled, it was Haynes that took over the team’s third drive, contributing for 40 yards, 29 on the ground and an 11-yard reception.
The second half is where Haynes really shined for the Yellow Jackets, where he had 83 of his 136 rushing yards in the game, and scored his lone touchdown of the game, a nine-yard touchdown reception. Haynes had a 24-yard rush and a 6-yard rush on back-to-back plays to put the Yellow Jackets in good field possession in the second half when the team was down 28-13, but the next play, Yellow Jackets receiver Malik Rutherford fumbled the ball and gave the Commodores possession.
King did have himself a decent game, even putting two late drives together to make it a one possession game, but the big play ability by Haynes, who had three rushes over 15 yards and averaged eight yards per carry provided the sparks throughout that the offense needed to stay in the game.