Former Longview, Texas A&M quarterback Haynes King speaks during halftime radio interview at Lobos’ game

Published 7:33 pm Saturday, December 10, 2022

DALLAS — Former Longview High School quarterback Haynes King returned to the site where his high school career ended on Saturday.

King was in attendance at John Kincaide Stadium, where the Lobos, coached by his father, John King, took on Aledo in the Class 5A Division I semifinals.

Haynes and the Lobos fell to Dallas Jesuit, 27-25, in the area round of the 2019 playoffs at Kincaide Stadium. Haynes and the Lobos also took a 75-43 win over Dallas Jesuit in 2017 at Kincaide Stadium. He was 6 of 6 for 157 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 77 yards in that game as a sophomore.

Sandwiched in between that was when Haynes and the Lobos went 16-0 and won the state championship in 2018, but they didn’t play at Kincaide Stadium that year.

Haynes joined Bryan Houston and Johnny Vaughn at halftime of Saturday’s game on 106.5 Jack FM.

King recently announced he was entering the transfer portal after three years at Texas A&M.

“I just thought it was best for me,” he said. “It was a hard situation that I ended up getting into. But looking forward to everything, I’ve always done a lot of stuff for people and put everybody else in front of me. This time, I wanted to take a step back, look at my view and make a decision based off of me. I wanted to make the best decision where I could go play and have fun.”

King, who was named the starting quarterback for the Aggies prior to both the 2021 and 2022 seasons, suffered a season-ending injury early in the 2021 season and split time with two other quarterbacks — LSU transfer Max Johnson and true freshman Conner Weigman — this past season.

King was 128 of 226 passes for 1,579 yards, 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions to go along with 41 carries for 150 yards and one touchdown in 10 games played.

At Longview, King compiled a 37-2 record as a starting quarterback. In 39 games, he completed 436 of 726 passes for 7,726 yards, 86 touchdowns and 20 interceptions while rushing for 1,311 yards and 20 touchdowns on 148 attempts. He also caught one touchdown pass.

As a junior in 2018, King helped lead the Lobos to the program’s first state championship in 81 years. King passed for 3,667 yards, 41 touchdowns and four interceptions and went 16 of 27 for 423 yards and two touchdowns to go along with 65 rushing yards and one TD in the Lobos’ 35-34 win over Beaumont West Brook in the Class 6A Division II state championship game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

The Lobos were 16-0 in 2018, and King passed for 1,926 yards, 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions as a senior in an 11-1 season for Longview.

King will graduate from Texas A&M on Dec. 16 as a business management major with a minor in sports management. He’s now looking for somewhere else to play college football, and he will have three years of eligibility remaining.

“I just want a really good situation with coaches I trust to be able to develop me and just being able to play football,” King said. “I’m graduating on Dec. 16, so my main focus right now is playing football. I just want the chance to play football and continue to have fun.”

King was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2020 and rated as the No. 5 dual-threat quarterback in the country by 247Sports composite rankings. King chose Texas A&M over several suitors and is back available for schools looking for a quarterback.

“It’s pretty much like getting re-recruited out of high school,” he said. “They might follow you on social media, get your number and text you from there. But I don’t really have social media that much anymore, so they might contact my dad and try to get my number and call me from there.”

When Haynes King’s playing days are done, he said, “I will probably end up coaching, if I’m being honest. My mom has been trying to talk me into that since I was young, so I’ll probably end up being a coach.”

Haynes’ father, John, picked up his 200th career win as a head coach earlier this season during the Lobos’ 69-0 win over Tyler Legacy.