THE FLATS – Georgia Tech senior offensive guard Keylan Rutledge (Royston, Ga./Franklin County H.S.) is one of 54 players on the official watch list for the Lombardi Award. Named in memory of legendary coach Vince Lombardi, the Lombardi Award is presented annually to the outstanding college football lineman/linebacker that best epitomizes Lombardi’s values of leadership, courage, performance and discipline, on and off the field.
The recognition is the latest in a long list of preseason honors for Rutledge, who is also a member of the Outland Trophy watch list (nation’s top interior lineman), a first-team preseason all-Atlantic Coast Conference selection and a second-team preseason all-American (Phil Steele College Football Preview).
Rutledge earned first-team all-America honors from Sports Info Solutions and first-team all-ACC recognition in 2024, his first season at Georgia Tech after transferring from Middle Tennessee. He started all 13 games at right guard in ’24, despite being unable to participate in football activities for the entire preseason after sustaining a serious foot injury in a car accident in December 2023.
Rutledge earned the all-America recognition on the strength of ranking in the top 10 offensive linemen nationally in SIS’s Total Points metric, including a top-five national ranking in run-blocking Total Points. In pass protection, he had only two “blown blocks” in nearly 400 regular-season attempts, according to SIS. He also helped anchor a Georgia Tech offensive front that ranked third nationally in fewest sacks allowed (nine in 13 games) and paved the way for the Yellow Jackets to rank second in the ACC in rushing offense (187.0 ypg).
Rutledge is one of only six offensive guards on the Lombardi Award Watch list. He’s also one of just seven ACC student-athletes on the list, and the conference’s only guard that was recognized.
The 52nd Lombardi Trophy will be presented on Dec. 10 in Houston.
Georgia Tech has posted consecutive winning seasons for the first time in a decade and returns five all-ACC honorees from last season’s squad, including Rutledge. Other top performers returning for the Yellow Jackets in 2025 include all-ACC selections DT Jordan van den Berg, LB Kyle Efford, RB Jamal Haynes and WR Malik Rutherford, as well as two of the league’s top quarterbacks in senior Haynes King and redshirt freshman Aaron Philo.
Rutledge and the Yellow Jackets open the 2025 season on Friday, Aug. 29 at Colorado (8 p.m. ET…
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