King on Maxwell Award Watch List

Published 12:55 pm Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Former Longview Lobo and current Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King was named to the preseason watch list for the Maxwell Award, presented annually to the most outstanding player in college football.

King goes into his final season tied for fourth in Tech history in touchdown passes (41), fifth in career completions (422), sixth in passing yards (4,956), tied for ninth in rushing touchdowns (21) and 37th in rushing yards (1,324).

Those gaudy numbers have come from only two seasons in white and gold, and despite King being absent from two games in 2024 because of a shoulder injury.

That approach has stuck with King, and upon his move a few offseasons ago from Texas A&M to Georgia Tech, it meshed with Yellow Jackets coach Brent Key — a former O-Line coach — and became increasingly crucial to their offense. In 2023, King was one of only two power-conference quarterbacks with at least 2,800 passing yards, 25 touchdown passes, 700 rushing yards and 10 rushing scores. The other was that year’s Heisman winner, Jayden Daniels.

Last fall while battling a shoulder injury that kept King limited in the passing game for about half the season, he became the first D-I QB in the last 69 years with at least 2,000 passing yards, 10 touchdown passes, a 70% completion rate and two or fewer interceptions in a season.

He also rushed for 587 yards and 11 touchdowns, and the lasting impression he left was him continuing to pound the football, get hit, tackled and then back up against rival Georgia while tallying 110 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in the regular-season finale. King carried the ball 24 times.

First awarded in 1937, the Maxwell Award honors the college player of the year and is named in memory of Robert Maxwell, a standout at Swarthmore College who went on to become a respected sports writer and football official.

The Maxwell Football Club again partnered with Pro Football Focus and Phil Steele Publications as selection committee partners. PFF provides detailed metrics and performance-based assessments to the selection committee staff, with several senior PFF analysts who are members of our selection committee.

Semifinalists for the Maxwell Award will be announced Nov. 11, while the three finalists for the Maxwell Award will be unveiled Nov. 25. The winner of the award will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show held Dec. 11. The formal presentations of the Maxwell Award will be made at the Maxwell Football Club Awards on March 13 in Atlanta.

OWEN MCCOWN

UTSA redshirt junior quarterback Owen McCown has earned a spot on the Maxwell Award Watch List, the Maxwell Football Club announced on Monday.

A product of Rusk High School, McCown started all 13 games last year and completed 294 of 467 passes for 3,424 yards and 25 touchdowns. He also rushed for 340 yards and three TDs to tally 3,764 yards of total offense.

The left-hander logged four 300-yard passing games, including a school-record 434 yards and four touchdowns against Tulsa, and topped the 200-yard mark in seven additional contests.

McCown opened the 2024 season by throwing for 340 yards and

three scores on 28-of-38 passing in the 28-16 victory over Kennesaw State and was named Manning Award QB of the Week. He landed on the Davey O’Brien Great 8 list after completing 20 of 37 passes for 280 yards and four TDs in the 44-36 win over No. 25 Memphis.

He racked up 379 yards and two touchdowns on 29-of-43 passing and added 88 rushing yards to help UTSA tally a school-record 681 yards of offense in the 48-27 win versus North Texas, earning a spot on the Davey

O’Brien Great 9 and Manning Award Stars of the Week list.

The son of former NFL quarterback Josh McCown closed the campaign by passing for 254 yards and a TD and dashing for a 35-yard score on the ground in the 44-15 victory over Coastal Carolina in the Myrtle Beach Bowl en route to being named the game’s MVP.