ATLANTA — Georgia Tech honored quarterback Haynes King with his ACC Player of the Year Award on Tuesday night.
King, who finished in the top 10 voting for the Heisman Trophy, led the Yellow Jackets to one of their best seasons in years. They will look for their 10th win in the Pop-Tarts Bowl against BYU, live on Channel 2 on Dec. 27.
Channel 2’s Luke Hetrick caught up with King on Tuesday. The quarterback reflected on the award and his career and looked ahead to his final game in the white and gold.
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Hetrick: What does it mean to you in the sense that it is a team award but you’re the guy whose name gets on it at the end of the year?
King: I mean, to me, it’s always been a team award ... I like to give everybody the spotlight. The big guys up front, they’re working their tail off each and every week trying to keep me clean in the pass game and blocking their tails off as well for the run game."
Hetrick: From a fan base perspective, you were a catalyst for a lot of the excitement ... How do you describe it?
King: It’s really just a blessing and an honor to have all this transpire throughout the three seasons that I’ve been here and just kind of turn this program around. And doing it with the people that’s in this building, it just means a whole lot more. And I’m thankful for all the fans and the support that’s increased throughout these three years that I been here.
Hetrick: A lot of people knew who you were based on your play and your toughness. They learned a lot about you and your family this year with everything that has gone on with your dad. How do you describe what it was like playing at this high level while still balancing what was going on in your personal life back in Texas?
King: I just thank my dad and my parents and the way they communicated and knew that this was my dream to be able to try to play here and try to win a championship or so. They knew that was my dream and they did a really good job of still coming to support me and finding as many ways as they can to keep watching me. My dad, first thing when he found out [about his cancer], he wanted to make sure that I knew and to understand that. I still had a job to do. And that was the first thing he told me. I was like, yes, sir. And the rest is history.
Hetrick: I know the goals of winning an ACC championship, beating Georgia, things that you guys wanted to accomplish didn’t happen this year. You still have an opportunity to get to 10 wins, What would that mean to you?
King: It means a lot not only to me, but for the seniors. With what we’ve gone through to turn this program around, it’s night and day from when we first got here. And like I said, it means lots to all of us, and that’s our No. 1 thing, is just trying to go out there and get No. 10, like you said, versus a really good team, really good football team, BYU. I mean, you can make a couple of cases that they should probably even be in College Football Playoff, you know.
And just to be able to play in a bowl game against a good caliber team like that, it means a lot. And to go out here and like I said, just for all the seniors, try to give that 10th win and just do something that hadn’t been done here in a long time.
Hetrick: My last question, probably the most important: favorite Pop-Tart?
King: I’d say there’s a bunch of good flavors and, you know, kind of depends on the day, just kind of like the sweet. You like ice cream brownies or cookies, stuff like that. So yeah, I’d say either you got your chocolate, s’mores or strawberries. Probably one of my, like, three go-to.
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