ACC Football: Haynes King, Rueben Bain named 2025 Players of the Year

Georgia Tech QB Haynes King is the 2025 ACC Football Player of the Year, which, OK, hard to argue, based on the numbers.

Also: it’s not an MVP award.

I’d have put the league’s leading rusher, Virginia tailback J’Mari Taylor, as the MVP.

But they don’t vote on that, and anyway, I don’t get a vote.

King, also named the ACC Offensive Player of the Year, has solid counting numbers.

King has passed for 2,697 yards and a modest 12 TDs this season, but the dual-threat QB has also rushed for 992 yards and added another 15 TDs on the ground for the Yellow Jackets (9-3, 6-2 ACC), who were atop the ACC standings for the bulk of the 2025 season, before fading big-time down the stretch, losing three of their last four.

The awards were selected by an 82-member voting panel featuring 65 media voters and the conference’s 17 head coaches.

Ahem.

King got 54 votes for Player of the Year, with Rueben Bain, a defensive end at Miami, coming in second, with seven.

Bain was the runaway choice as ACC Defensive Player of the Year, getting 40 votes, with UVA linebacker Kam Robinson in second, with eight.

Bain has 57 QB pressures and seven sacks, per Pro Football Focus, in 2025, with 33 tackles in the run game and an INT, for good measure.

His 92.9 PFF grade leads all FBS edge rushers with at least 100 defensive snaps in 2025.

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ACC Player of the Year

• Haynes King, Georgia Tech – 54
• Rueben Bain Jr., Miami – 7
• Darian Mensah, Duke – 6
• Malachi Toney, Miami – 3
• J’Mari Taylor, Virginia – 3
• Chandler Morris, Virginia – 2
• Hollywood Smothers, NC State – 2
• Kevin Jennings, SMU – 2
• Lewis Bond, Boston College – 1
• Carson Beck, Miami – 1

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Offensive Player of the Year

• Haynes King, Georgia Tech – 59
• Darian Mensah, Duke – 7
• Malachi Toney, Miami – 3
• Kevin Jennings, SMU – 3
• J’Mari Taylor, Virginia – 3
• Chandler Morris, Virginia – 2
• Hollywood Smothers, NC State – 2
• Lewis Bond, Boston College – 1
• Carson Beck, Miami – 1

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Defensive Player of the Year

• Rueben Bain Jr., Miami – 40
• Kam Robinson, Virginia – 8
• Akheem Mesidor, Miami – 7
• Ahmaad Moses, SMU – 6
• Nick Andersen, Wake Forest – 5
• Peter Woods, Clemson – 4
• Melkart Abou Jaoude, North Carolina – 4
• Hezekiah Masses, California – 3
• Avieon Terrell, Clemson – 2
• Omar Thornton, Boston College – 1
• Earl Little Jr., Florida State – 1