The Hall of Fame Game kicked off the NFL preseason last night, and it was littered with former Gators. Cam Jackson, Feleipe Franks, Trevor Etienne, Stone Forsythe, and Zach Carter all took the field in various capacities as the Carolina Panthers won 33-30 over the Arizona Cardinals.
The star of the show, however, was Panthers QB Haynes King, and while King never played for the Gators, his backstory creates a six degrees of separation that should excite Florida fans for 2026.
Florida fans should be excited by Haynes King balling out
King went 21/34 for 180 yards and two touchdowns, and he ran for 39 yards and a touchdown, which came on the final play of the game to give Carolina the victory.
That’s a far cry from when Florida fans saw him back in 2022, when Billy Napier and Patrick Toney shut him and the rest of the Texas A&M offense down in the 2nd half en route to a 41-24 win that featured a second-half shutout of King and the Aggies offense.
We said after that game:
“Forcing back-to-back three-and-outs felt like a Christmas miracle, but Umanmielen wasn’t done. The sophomore continued to harass Aggies’ QB Haynes King and was credited with two QB hits. What could have been the dagger came in the fourth quarter when Umanmielen sacked King to force a fumble and stop an A&M drive.
Even with Florida football sputtering on offense at times, the defense, for once, didn’t budge. Antwaun Powell-Ryland forced another strip-sack of King, and for the first time all season there was a sense of optimism among the defense.
The corners were playing much tighter coverage, and Patrick Toney was employing delayed blitzes that were actually getting home.”
That game was the final start King would make for Texas A&M and King would transfer to Georgia Tech that offseason.
New Florida OC Buster Faulkner saved Haynes King
With hindsight being what it is, getting shut out in any half by Napier and Toney should be an automatic death sentence to one's career. In case one needs a reminder, the defense that year was 87th in points allowed per game and 97th in yards allowed per game.
But King made his way to Georgia Tech, and it is there he linked up with Buster Faulkner as his offensive coordinator. And it was under Faulkner that King started to blossom.
Before Buster Faulkner
- 2020 - Texas A&M: 2 games; 2-of-4 passing (50.0%) for 59 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT; 6 carries for 43 yards.
- 2021 - Texas A&M: 2 games; 22-of-35 passing (62.9%) for 300 yards, 2 TDs and 3 INTs; 6 carries for 24 yards.
- 2022 - Texas A&M: 6 games; 104-of-187 passing (55.6%) for 1,220 yards, 7 TDs and 6 INTs; 29 carries for 83 yards and 1 TD.
After Buster Faulkner
- 2023 - Georgia Tech: 13 games; 226-of-367 passing (61.6%) for 2,842 yards, 27 TDs and 16 INTs; 120 carries for 737 yards and 10 TDs; 37 total TDs.
- 2024 - Georgia Tech: 11 games; 196-of-269 passing (72.9%) for 2,114 yards, 14 TDs and 2 INTs; 125 carries for 587 yards and 11 TDs; 25 total TDs.
- 2025 - Georgia Tech: 12 games; 252-of-361 passing (69.8%) for 2,951 yards, 14 TDs and 6 INTs; 185 carries for 953 yards and 15 TDs; 29 total TDs; finished 10th in Heisman Trophy voting.
At Texas A&M, King was seldom allowed to run. Under Faulkner, King developed an identity as a hard-nosed runner defenses had to respect. His completion percentage soared as high as 72% at Georgia Tech, whereas he was stuck at 55% at Texas A&M.
Last night’s Hall of Fame Game was just a continuation of the QB that Faulkner molded after King had previously been left for dead.
So the excitement for Florida fans is that if Faulkner can rescue a QB that even Napier and Toney solved, imagine what the ceiling is for Florida's offense once he starts getting even higher talent profile guys into Gainesville.
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