Justice Haynes

#22 · RB · Georgia Tech5′11″ · 210 lb · Alpharetta, GA · Buford

Rushing yards54855th of 278 running backsLast gameL 11–34at Pittsburgh · Oct 31
Nextvs LouisvilleSat Nov 7 · 7:30 pm ET
548 rushing yards in 7 games; their best was 141 vs Mercer.
Game 1: against Colorado, loss 13-14, 64 rushing yards64LCOLOGame 2: against Tennessee, loss 24-45, 81 rushing yards, 1 touchdown81LTENNGame 3: against Mercer, win 44-11, 141 rushing yards, 2 touchdowns, FCS opponent141WMERFCSGame 4: at Stanford, loss 27-34, 107 rushing yards107LSTAN@Game 5: against Duke, win 28-25, 69 rushing yards69WDUKEGame 6: at Virginia Tech, loss 24-34, no carries in this gameLVT@Game 7: against Boston College, loss 27-49, 53 rushing yards, 1 touchdown53LBCGame 8: at Pittsburgh, loss 11-34, 33 rushing yards33LPITT@Season high
Game 1: against Colorado, loss 13-14, 64 rushing yardsLCOLOGame 2: against Tennessee, loss 24-45, 81 rushing yards, 1 touchdownLTENNGame 3: against Mercer, win 44-11, 141 rushing yards, 2 touchdowns, FCS opponent141WMERFCSGame 4: at Stanford, loss 27-34, 107 rushing yardsLSTAN@Game 5: against Duke, win 28-25, 69 rushing yardsWDUKEGame 6: at Virginia Tech, loss 24-34, no carries in this gameLVT@Game 7: against Boston College, loss 27-49, 53 rushing yards, 1 touchdownLBCGame 8: at Pittsburgh, loss 11-34, 33 rushing yards33LPITT@Season high
  • touchdown

Pittsburgh · L 11-34

11 carries, 33 yards

The other 6 games average 86 yards. This one was 53 below.

Open this game

Haynes has carries in 7 of Georgia Tech’s 8 games: none against Virginia Tech.

Dashed line: 100 yards.

Compare with

Ahead of Haynes’s 2023 pace

05001,0001,500124681012144 to playGames playedHaynes ’23: 545 at game 8, 1,059 for the seasonHaynes ’24: 551 at game 8, 944 for the seasonDays ’14: 199 at game 8, 924 for the seasonMason ’19: 622 at game 8, 887 for the seasonHaynes ’23 1,059Haynes ’24 944Days ’14 924Mason ’19 887Haynes 548
Through 8 games: 3 yards ahead of Jamal Haynes in 2023 (545 at this point), whose season finished at 1,059. Open dots: where each stood at game 8. Dotted line: the pace through game 12. Tap a line to see that season.

Backs who run like Haynes, and how their seasons went

05001,000124681012144 to playGames playedCreecy ’14 (NC State): 228 at game 8, 282 for the seasonMartin ’17 (Rutgers): 289 at game 8, 452 for the seasonWilliams ’17 (Ohio State): 187 at game 8, 290 for the seasonHaynes 548Martin ’17 452Williams ’17 290Creecy ’14 282
The closest match is Tony Creecy of NC State in 2014: 228 yards at game 8, against 548 this season, and 282 for the season. Open dots: where each stood at game 8. Dotted line: the pace through game 12. Tap a line to see that season.

Haynes against this year’s top backs, game by game

05001,0001,5001246810124 to playGames playedRiley (Boise State): 1,049 at game 8, 1,049 so farWhite (North Texas): 1,043 at game 8, 1,043 so farRoberts (Missouri): 1,005 at game 8, 1,005 so farRiley 1,049White 1,043Roberts 1,005Haynes 548
Through 8 games: 501 yards behind Dylan Riley of Boise State (1,049 at this point). Open dots: where each stood at game 8. Dotted line: the pace through game 12. Tap a line to see that season.

The road ahead: 548 yards, 78 a game, 4 regular-season games left.

  • 851 yards, Zach Laskey in 2014, Georgia Tech’s 5th-best season in our records: 303 to go, 76 a game.
  • 887 yards, Jordan Mason in 2019, Georgia Tech’s 4th-best season in our records: 339 to go, 85 a game, more than the 78 a game so far.
  • 1,059 yards, Jamal Haynes in 2023, Georgia Tech’s best season in our records: 511 to go, 128 a game, more than the 78 a game so far.

This week

  • RecordGeorgia Tech is 2-6.
  • What fans say

    Over the last few games, Georgia Tech fans have been high on Haynes.

    “Justice Haynes is leaving like tomorrow lol. He’s too good to be associated with this trash”

    “Justice Haynes is a baller. Need at least 2 turnovers to steal this one, not likely but still a game”

    From r/CFB game threads. Read by AI.

  • Next gamevs Louisville · Sat Nov 7

What’s being said

6 stories in the last 30 days, from 4 outlets.

Oct 12: 1Oct 14: 2Oct 15: 1Oct 23: 1Oct 31: 1W 28-25 vs DukeWL 24-34 at Virginia TechLL 27-49 vs Boston CollegeLL 11-34 at PittsburghLOct 6Nov 4Most in a day: 2
Oct 12: 1Oct 14: 2Oct 15: 1Oct 23: 1Oct 31: 1W 28-25 vs DukeWL 24-34 at Virginia TechLL 27-49 vs Boston CollegeLL 11-34 at PittsburghLOct 6Nov 4Most in a day: 2
Stories per day. W and L: the team’s results.

Georgia Tech injury report ahead of Virginia Tech includes Justice Haynes - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Oct 14

All 16 stories this season

Worth knowing

  • Justice Haynes was third-team All-Big Ten in 2025 at Michigan.

His most important play this season

  1. Q4, 13:10 · Georgia Tech down 15Justice Haynes runs 15 yards for a touchdownBoston College at Georgia Tech, week 8Q4, 13:10 · Georgia Tech 20, Boston College 28Georgia Tech cut the deficit to 8 in the fourth quarterGeorgia Tech cut the deficit to 8 in the fourth quarterJ.Haynes rush right for 15 yards gain to the BC 00 touchdown, 1ST DOWN, kick goodWatch from this playESPN College Football

All 6 of his plays on video

The story

As of

The Michigan year was a tease. In seven games before the injury, Haynes ran for 857 yards and 10 touchdowns at 7.1 yards a carry — a per-touch rate that, by our play-by-play, no other Power Four running back in the modern era has matched over a real workload. Then the season ended, and so did his time in Ann Arbor: by reporting, the split came down to NIL money and a desire for a change, and he was in the portal by January.

Read the rest of the story

Georgia Tech is the homecoming. Buford is barely thirty minutes from campus, and Brent Key's program landed him to be the unquestioned featured back — the centerpiece of a run-first offense that should finally hand him the volume Michigan's committee never did. The Doak Walker buzz is already there; Georgia Tech fans had him tagged a 'Doak Walker RB of the year candidate' before he'd taken a single handoff in white and gold.

The forward question isn't the talent. Our perception-versus-production model has fans rating him in the 98th percentile and his actual production in the 100th — a rare case where the hype is fully earned, not inflated. It's durability and volume: can a back who has never carried a full healthy season as the clear lead, at his third school, turn elite-per-carry efficiency into the counting stats a Doak Walker actually requires? Get there, and the journeyman label flips to the best back in the country.

In Georgia Tech's 34-27 loss at Stanford, Haynes carried 18 times for 107 yards (5.9 a carry, long of 46) with no touchdown, and lost a fumble.

Update (Oct. 28, 2026): Georgia Tech lost 49-27 to Boston College on Oct. 24 as a 6.5-point favorite and is 2-5. Haynes carried 14 times for 53 yards and a touchdown. He has 515 rushing yards this season, with a best of 141 against Mercer.

Sources

Style of play

Style of play

Play style

Scouts and fans describe Haynes the same way, and the play-by-play backs every word: an explosive 'one-cut-and-go' runner with 'home-run hitting long-strider speed' and 'knockout-inducing contact balance' in the open field, per Pro Football Network's scouting profile. The data is just as loud — a 94th-percentile yards-per-carry, a 90th-percentile rushing-touchdown rate (he finishes, not just gets to the second level), and an 92nd-percentile EPA per carry (real value on every touch). The 81st-percentile explosive-run rate and a 75-yard long are the booms fans clip; the 90th-percentile rushing success rate says he's efficient on early downs too, not boom-or-bust. The honest limit is the one evaluators flag and his stat line confirms — 13 catches for 50 yards in 2025 — he's a between-the-tackles hammer more than a true three-down back. At a compact 5-foot-10, 210 pounds he runs angry and bigger than the frame, the kind of volume early-down back an offense can build a downhill identity around — if the body finally holds up.

Boom vs consistent · carry-yardage shape

Steady, not spectacular

108Carries
523Yards
28.7%Top-5 share
20.4%Stuffed rate

Just 28.7% of his season rushing yards came on his 5 best carries — remarkably even — and he's stuffed on 20.4% of his carries. 11 carries for 33 yds vs Pittsburgh; 21 for 137 vs Mercer.

Counted from the play-by-play, so a carry or two can differ from the box score.

Similar players

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.

47% of the carries, 56% of the yards, 36% of the touchdowns

  • Carries47%112 of 236
  • Yards56%548 of 974
  • Touchdowns36%4 of 11
  • Yards a carry: 4.9. Everyone else on the team: 3.4.
  • A touchdown every 28.0 carries. Everyone else on the team: one every 17.7.

At least 41% of the team's rushing yards in every game

No bar in a game where the team had under 100 rushing yards: a share of that little says nothing.

Who carried it

Share of the team's total this season.

Most of his carries go up the middle

102030405025214631
leftmiddlerightno spot
a carry, up for a gain and down for a lossa touchdown

Each line is one carry: taller means more yards, and a line pointing down lost yards. Black lines are touchdowns. The play text only says left, middle or right, so inside each lane the carries are lined up shortest to longest, not placed. Of his carries with a spot in the play text: left 16, middle 77, right 17. His longest went for 46 yards.