ATLANTA — Running back Jamal Haynes (Loganville, Ga./Grayson H.S.) and offensive lineman Keylan Rutledge (Royston, Ga./Franklin County H.S.) represent Georgia Tech on the Atlantic Coast Conference’s 2025 preseason football all-conference team.
In addition to Haynes’ and Rutledge’s inclusion on the 27-player preseason all-conference team, two Yellow Jackets received votes for preseason ACC Player of the Year – senior quarterback Haynes King (Longview, Texas/Longview H.S.), who finished second in the voting behind only Clemson QB Cade Klubnick, and Haynes, who placed 12th.
Haynes enters the ’25 campaign as the first Georgia Tech running back to rush for at least 900 yards in back-to-back seasons since Jonathan Dwyer in 2008 and 2009. As a junior in 2024, he amassed 1,110 total yards from scrimmage (944 rushing, 166 receiving) and 12 touchdowns (nine rushing, three receiving), en route to earning all-ACC recognition for the second-straight year.
As a sophomore in 2023, Haynes moved from wide receiver to running back during fall camp and went on to become Georgia Tech’s first 1,000-yard rusher in six years. His 1,257 all-purpose yards in ’23 (1,053 rushing, 151 receiving and 47 on kickoff returns) included 128 in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl versus UCF. He was named MVP of the Yellow Jackets’ 30-17 Gasparilla Bowl victory.
Rutledge earned first-team all-America honors from Sports Info Solutions in 2024, his first season at Georgia Tech after transferring from Middle Tennessee. He started all 13 games at right guard in ’24, despite being unable to participate in football activities for the entire preseason after sustaining a serious foot injury in a car accident in December 2023.
Rutledge earned the all-America recognition on the strength of ranking in the top 10 offensive linemen nationally in SIS’s Total Points metric, including a top-five national ranking in run-blocking Total Points. In pass protection, he had only two “blown blocks” in nearly 400 regular-season attempts, according to SIS. He also helped anchor a Georgia Tech offensive front that ranked third nationally in fewest sacks allowed (nine in 13 games) and paved the way for the Yellow Jackets to rank second in the ACC in rushing offense (187.0 ypg).
Earlier this week, Haynes was named to the Maxwell Award watch list (national player of the year) and Rutledge was included on the Outland Trophy Watch list (nation’s top interior lineman). Additionally, Rutledge was named second-team preseason all-America by Phil Steele College Football Preview.
Georgia Tech has posted consecutive winning seasons for the first time in a decade and returns five all-ACC honorees from last season’s squad, including Rutledge, an all-America guard and first-team all-conference selection. Other top performers returning for the Yellow Jackets in 2025 include all-ACC selections DT Jordan van den Berg, LB Kyle Efford, Haynes and WR Malik Rutherford, as well as two of the league’s top quarterbacks in King and redshirt freshman Aaron Philo.
