Inside The Chart: Boyd's Breakout

Boyd’s Breakout: Injuries and a position switch don’t often portend a breakout season for a  fifth-year senior. But Avery Boyd kept at it – and the tight end has been rewarded with an impressive start to his final season.

Inside The Chart | By Andy Demetra (The Voice of the Yellow Jackets)

Avery Boyd could hardly contain his glee when he connected the dots.

As he waited his turn at Georgia Tech’s midweek press conference, the senior tight end flagged down defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg, who had just finished at the podium. Boyd opened up his phone and showed van den Berg, a native of Johannesburg, South Africa, pictures of Gunna and Ghost, his two 19-month-0ld South African mastiffs.

Gunna and Ghost, it should be noted, weigh 160 pounds apiece – roughly the equivalent of having two Malik Rutherfords as pets.

“Everybody’s big down there,” Boyd joked to the 320-pound van den Berg, drawing a chuckle from his South African-born teammate.

Think breaking the tackle of a defensive back is tough? Try shaking a double team from 300-plus pounds of slobbering, roughhousing mastiffs.

“That’s what makes it easy, when I’m playing with the dogs at home,” the 6-foot-3, 240-pound Boyd said.

“You think you’ve got one, the other one comes out of nowhere.”

It may only seem like Gunna and Ghost’s dad has come out of nowhere for the Yellow Jackets. But after a modest, injury-marred four years, the converted tight end from Tallahassee, Fla., has broken out in the first month of his final season. Through four games, Boyd ranks third on the Jackets with 11 receptions, with his second touchdown of the year, a 33-yarder last Saturday against, VMI already doubling his previous career total. He also added a critical recovery of an onside kick to keep Tech’s comeback hopes alive against Syracuse.

“He’s a big, fast, strong dude. He’s moving when he catches that ball, now,” said head coach Brent Key.

“It’s really exciting, being here since my freshman year in 2020, going through all my injuries, and now being able to actually play and showcase my talent on the field. It’s been great,” added Boyd, who ditched his dreadlocks this offseason as part of his pledging of Omega Psi Phi fraternity (naturally, it makes him a Que Dog).

A scholarship football career, let alone one at a physical, high-contact position like tight end, would have seemed unlikely a few years ago. Boyd competed in track as a freshman and sophomore at Godby High School in Tallahassee, following in the footsteps of his mom, Danessa Haynes, a former sprinter at Florida A&M. It wasn’t until late in his sophomore year that Boyd’s track coach, who also doubled as Godby’s wide receivers coach, cajoled him into giving spring football a try.

The future tight end didn’t exactly show a thirst for contact.

“I just tried to run faster than everybody else. I tried to avoid contact as much as possible,” he admitted.

That didn’t abate during his first spring game.

“I had a player named Javon [Solomon], and another named Quinn. Both played [defensive] end. Javon actually plays in the [National Football] League right now. I had a screen route and I went in and they both hit me at the same time.

“I laid on the ground. I was like, ‘You know, this might not be my sport,’” Boyd laughed.

In what became a theme throughout his career, Boyd stuck with it. By his senior year, he earned a three-star ranking from Rivals, 247Sports and ESPN and drew a scholarship offer from Georgia Tech. Boyd arrived at Tech in the summer of 2020, but injuries made for a frustrating series of stops and starts. He broke his ankle in his second career game against Louisville and missed the rest of the season. In 2022, he tore a ligament in his thumb, an injury that required another surgery. In three years, he had shown plenty of perseverance to get healthy, but still hadn’t recorded a catch.

Key approached Boyd in the spring of 2023 about playing some tight end, believing his combination of size and speed could create mismatches in Buster Faulkner’s offense.

“I had to trust in my coaches and all the training and all the drills that we do,” Boyd recalled thinking.

He adapted well to splitting time between wideout and tight end, hauling in a 14-yard touchdown on his first career catch against Ole Miss. A week later he made his first career start at Wake Forest. For the first time in his career, he appeared in every game in a season.

“He’s really paid his dues. He’s stuck with it and believed in the process. He’s settled into a spot right now that is really perfect for him,” Key said.

Georgia Tech restocked its tight ends room in the offseason, adding veteran transfers Spencer Hawes (Yale), Ryland Goede (Mississippi State) and Josh Beetham (Michigan) as Boyd moved to the position full-time. He suffered an injury to his right knee in the spring, forcing him to undergo yet another surgery. He re-aggravated the injury during preseason camp, causing coaches to take a cautious approach with him.

In spite of it all, Boyd has kept his niche – even if he still feels a touch of impostor syndrome at times.

“Of course, I still feel like a wide receiver at heart. With guys like Jackson Hawes and Goede, those guys are way bigger and way better at blocking all the D-tackles and D-ends than I am. I’m just trying to fit in and be like those guys,” he said.

He hasn’t lost the quick feet and crisp route running from his wide receiver days, though. It showed during his nifty olé of a VMI defender on his way to the end zone last Saturday. For his 22-yard touchdown against Georgia State on August 31, Boyd ran a shallow dig, gained the edge, then pinballed through three GSU defenders before crossing the goal line.

To his surprise, another high-contact situation awaited him when he jogged back to the sideline.

“I was a little tired. Everybody wanted to smack my head. I had to take my helmet off really quick,” Boyd said of the celebration.

“It was comical. He almost didn’t know what to do. If you want to see how people are viewed in the locker room, watch the way people react when they do something well. That was very evident with Avery,” Key added.

Key said Boyd recently texted him at 10:30 p.m., though not for any emergency – he wanted to see if Key had any alumni contacts in commercial or residential real estate, a career he’s eyed after graduation (it may not come as a surprise for a doting father of two mastiffs, but Boyd once harbored thoughts of going to veterinary school). He may let his mind drift beyond football, but for now Boyd is keeping his focus on the present, trying to lift Georgia Tech to a road win over No. 19 Louisville this Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network).

He also doesn’t mind reflecting on the teammates, coaches, athletic trainers and family members who kept him motivated throughout his career, feeding a perseverance that has led to a breakout senior year.

“I definitely am proud of myself, but I definitely didn’t do it alone,” he said.

And when the next catch comes, he won’t mind the contact either.