Saturday will be yet another step down an intriguing path that the Duke Blue Devils have slowly created for themselves.
Duke sits at 5-0 as the football calendar officially turned October, and the football season has officially hit its stride. Last Saturday, Duke took down its most prominent rival, the North Carolina Tar Heels, en route to their fifth victory. It may be challenging, but they’ll need to turn their attention to the next game as a trip to Atlanta awaits for a Saturday battle with ACC foe Georgia Tech.
Georgia Tech won the first college football game of the season when it upset the Florida State Seminoles in Ireland. They haven’t had nearly as many highs since, and Saturday marks a massive moment in their season. Georgia Tech is led by one of its own after former Yellow Jacket Brent Key took over as the head coach in 2023 after four years as an assistant with the program.
Georgia Tech isn’t lacking talent, and we’ve listed three essential names for Duke football fans interested in the Yellow Jackets’ offerings.
Haynes King, QB
Haynes King controls this Georgia Tech offense and does an excellent job. A former consensus four-star quarterback recruit who started his career with the Texas A&M Aggies, King ultimately found his way to Georgia Tech last season.
King has completed 61 of his 87 passes (70.1%) for 724 yards and one touchdown pass in three games against conference foes this year, but as a genuine dual threat, he’s taken on the load himself to help the team’s struggles in the running game by making plays with his legs. He is second on the team with 39 carries, and he’s produced 216 yards and four touchdowns. To make things even more complicated, King has only thrown one interception this season, although he also lost a fumble against Louisville in his last game.
Besides those two plays, Georgia Tech’s offense turned the ball over this year. Relying on turnovers to change the game may not be a solid plan, and instead, Duke will need to play sound defense to fundamentally slow King and this offense down.
Kyle Efford, LB
Linebacker Kyle Efford will be a thorn in the side of Duke’s offense on Saturday. Efford is a throwback linebacker, and even as just a sophomore, he’s one of the ACC’s best. He’s already racked up 39 tackles to this point in the season, the sixth-most in the conference. He flows sideline to sideline, provides nice size at 6-foot-3, and weighs around 230 pounds. He routinely grades out on Pro Football Focus as one of the Yellow Jackets’ best defensive players.
Duke showed more growth in their run game last week, and if that is to carry over to this game against GT, Duke offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer needs to account for Efford in his game plan.
Romello Height, OLB
Romello Height could find himself playing very well on Sundays. He’s a slightly undersized EDGE rusher, but for the sake of this, we’ll list him as an outside linebacker because of his versatility. He can play multiple linebacker spots and has done so throughout his college career, which included stops with the Auburn Tigers and USC Trojans before he came back to his home state.
Height uses speed to beat tackles one on one. He thrives in space and has a pretty quick twitch. At times on tape, you can see him playing with his hair on fire too much and missing obvious tells from motion, play action, or screens that ultimately take him out of the play, but when he’s positioned to pin his ears back and rush the passer, his value skyrockets. Duke’s primary plan of attack this season has been through the air, and if they continue that, they’ll need to use the quick passing game, screens, and running right at Height to negate his biggest strength.