THE FLATS – Ten Georgia Tech football standouts, including four first-teamers, are on Athlon’s preseason all-Atlantic Coast Conference team.
The Yellow Jackets represented on Athlon’s preseason all-ACC team include:
First Team
RB Jamal Haynes (r-Sr., Loganville, Ga./Grayson H.S.)
OG Keylan Rutledge (Sr., Royston, Ga./Franklin County H.S.)
DL Jordan van den Berg (r-Sr., Johannesburg, South Africa/Providence Christian Academy (Ga.))
LB Kyle Efford (r-Jr., Dacula, Ga./Dacula H.S.)
Second Team
WR Eric Rivers (r-Sr., Chattanooga, Tenn./McCallie School)
WR Malik Rutherford (r-Sr., Miami, Fla./Champagnat Catholic School)
Third Team
CB Ahmari Harvey (r-Sr., Tallahassee, Fla./Florida State University School)
Fourth Team
QB Haynes King (r-Sr., Longview, Texas/Longview H.S.)
OL Joe Fusile (r-Sr., Richmond Hill, Ga./Richmond Hill H.S.)
P Marshall Nichols (Sr., Atlanta, Ga./Holy Innocents Episcopal School)
Haynes has rushed for 2,003 yards and 16 touchdowns over the last two seasons, including 944 yards and nine scores despite battling a variety of injuries as a redshirt junior in 2024. He is the first Yellow Jacket to rush for at least 900 yards in back-to-back seasons since QB TaQuon Marshall in 2017 and 2018 and the first Tech running back to accomplish the feat since Jonathan Dwyer in 2008 and 2009. He also had a career-high 28 receptions out of the backfield for 166 yards and three touchdowns in ’24, giving him a total of 1,110 yards from scrimmage and 12 touchdowns on the campaign. Haynes was an honorable-mention all-ACC selection last season as well as a third-team honoree as a running back and honorable-mention all-purpose performer as a sophomore in 2023.
Rutledge is also coming off an all-America campaign, having received first-team honors from Sports Info Solutions as a junior in 2024. He earned the recognition on the strength of ranking in the top 10 nationally among offensive linemen in SIS’s Total Points metric, including a top-five national ranking in run-blocking Total Points. In pass protection, the junior 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 Atlantic Coast Conference in rushing offense (187.0 ypg).
In his first season as a Yellow Jacket, van den Berg earned second-team all-ACC honors as a junior in 2024. The 6-foot-3, 305-pound gap-filler played a major role in Tech finishing in the top 30 nationally in rushing defense (122.2 ypg allowed). He finished the season with 23 tackles, five tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries from his defensive tackle position. His two fumble recoveries tied for 19th nationally, and he made one of the Jackets’ biggest defensive plays of the season when he recovered a fumble by eventual No. 1 NFL Draft pick Cam Ward with 1:36 in the game to all but seal Tech’s 28-23 win over previously unbeaten and No. 4-ranked Miami (Fla.).
Efford burst on the national scene as a sophomore in 2024, earning third-team all-ACC recognition despite seeing action in just 10 games due to a midseason injury that caused him to miss two regular-season games, as well as the Birmingham Bowl versus Vanderbilt. He led Georgia Tech in tackles for the second-straight season with 64, also led the team with 3.0 sacks and was tied for third on the squad with 5.5 tackles for loss. He averaged 7.4 tackles per game over the first seven contests of the season before sustaining the injury that forced him to miss three of the final six games of the campaign.
Georgia Tech opens the eagerly awaited 2025 season on Friday, Aug. 29 with a highly anticipated intersectional matchup at Colorado (8 p.m. ET – ESPN) and begins its home slate against Gardner-Webb on Saturday, Sept. 6 (3:30 p.m. – ACC Network Extra).
2025 GEORGIA TECH FOOTBALL SEASON TICKETS
2025 Georgia Tech football season, mini-plan and single-game tickets are on sale now.
Season tickets include the best seats for the Yellow Jackets’ six-game slate at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field, which features Atlantic Coast Conference showdowns versus Clemson, Pitt, Syracuse and Virginia Tech. Georgia Tech season ticket members also have elevated seating priority for tickets purchased for the 2025 edition of “Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate” versus archrival Georgia, set for Nov. 28 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Tech’s 2025 mini-plan includes tickets to the home opener versus Gardner-Webb, Hall of Fame Weekend against Virginia Tech and Senior Day versus Pitt. Mini-plans offer a better value than purchasing seats at single-game prices without the commitment of a full season ticket.
For more information and to purchase 2025 Georgia Tech football tickets today, visit ramblinwreck.com/footballtickets.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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