Colin Lacy
Killer Bears
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Sports fans across the landscape will say that “nobody cares if you didn’t win the last game.”
Well, that’s exactly what Pierce County did in 2023 by winning the 2023 AA State Championship against Rockmart.
The shootout 48-45 victory for the Bears capped off the stretch of winning the final nine games of the 2023 season behind quarterback Caden McGatha who ran for 258 yards against Rockmart to bring the title back to Blackshear.
Now the Bears turn the page but will reading from a very similar book with the majority of the production back from the State Title team.
This includes standout quarterback Caden McGatha who will be entering his senior year in 2024. McGatha accounted for eleven yards shy of 2,000 on the ground while also throwing for 1,950 yards.
McGatha was accountable for 51 of the 71 touchdowns scored by the Bears on the season with 23 coming through the air and 28 on the ground.
Running backs Marquez Leggett and Jah Evans are also back in the fold and look to be a key factor in the Pierce success again in 2024.
Leggett was the Bear’s second leading rusher with 482 yards and 5 rushing scores teaming up with Evans that recorded 304 yards and second best on the team with 6 rushing touchdowns.
The Bears also return the top two receivers in Joe Drew and Nigel Brown. Drew goes into his senior season after 663 yards receiving with 10 TDs.
Brown followed up with 372 yards last season with 5 scores.
Virtually the only impact player not returning on the offensive side from the 2023 championship team is Carson Sloan who hauled in seven receiving touchdowns in conjunction with 365 yards before graduating after the 2023 magical season.
The 2024 slate kicks off on August 24th with the lid lifter against Coosa Christian who make the trip to Blackshear from Gadsden, Alabama.
Brantley County, who was a region counterpart last year, will return the trip to Pierce after the Bears pummeled the Herons last year 56-6.
Wayne County, New Hampstead and Brooks County will follow before a renewal of a rivalry against Vidalia to round out the non-region slate.
Vidalia, who has dropped down to single A in the GHSA reclassification, fell to the Bears to the tune of 35-7 when the two were region foes last year.
Because of the reshuffling of the GHSA classifications and regions the new Region 3 in AA Class is now only comprised of 5 teams with Cook, Crisp County, Tattnall County and Appling County in addition to Pierce with Tattnall, Appling and Pierce the only holdovers that have stayed since 2023.
Last season Pierce County defeated Tattnall County 31-0 to cap off the regular season in 2023.
2024 regular season will finish up with a highly anticipated rematch of Pierce and Appling County. Appling was the lone blemish on the 14-1 record of the Bears with the Pirates getting the best of Pierce 17-14 last September.
2024 looks incredibly bright for 6th year head coach Ryan Herring as the Bears look to continue the streak of already 13 straight years of playoff football in Blackshear.
Already two state titles on the resume of Ryan Herring at Pierce County, and the Bears look poised to continue the legacy that has been exhumed the last more than a decade.
The Bears have had a double figure wins in each of the last six years and look to replicate that on their way back to Atlanta for another trip to the GHSA mountain top.
Chasing Perfection
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The “buzz” (pun intended) around Brooklet is palpable heading into the 2024 season.
Although the 4-6 finish in 2023 for the Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets wasn’t the wins and losses numbers that Jackets Country was hoping for, SEB was in the running for a playoff spot until the final horn of the season in arguably the most difficult region in the GHSA.
Entering 2024, SEB seems poised to make a huge jump in the win column and looks to hold Head Coach Jared Zito’s 2024 slogan true and be “Chasing Perfection.”
GHSA reclassification and restructuring greatly impacts the Jackets schedule in a few different ways.
First off, SEB won’t be running through the gauntlet of the former region 3 in the 4A ranks. Reclassified to 3A, SEB enters region 3 with high hopes in 2024.
The other significant impact of the state restructuring is the sheer size of the new region. Region 3 consists of ten teams and with that Southeast Bulloch’s schedule will feature nine region contests and only non-region affair.
Although there is only one non-region contest on the regular season schedule for SEB, it’s a big one! The Jackets will host nearby rival Statesboro at Fred Shaver field to kick off the season on August 16th.
The two rekindled the rivalry back in 2022 after not playing for just shy of 20 years. After the past two years took place as part of the Erk Russell Classic at Allen E. Paulson Stadium, this year’s matchup will head back to campus in Brooklet.
The past two years have gone the Blue Devil’s way with 2022 meeting going sideways to the tune of 55-14 Statesboro. That said, SEB was a late fumble away from upsetting the 5A Blue Devils while driving inside of two minutes left in the game, but fell 12-7
After starting the season 4-2 in 2023, SEB fell in their final four games last season, but learned a lot about what the future holds.
The most notable lesson learned is what the quarterback position looks like (hopefully) for the next couple of years. Former quarterback Will Nelson missed the final two games of the regular season with an injury and allowed the Jacket faithful to see then freshman Rhett Morgan.
Morgan split time with Colby Smith as signal caller against Wayne County then started his first varsity game against Burke in the finale.
Between the two, Morgan rushed for over 100 yards combined, which doesn’t jump off the page, but the way he commanded the offense as a freshman was impressive. All indications coming from Brooklet say that Morgan has physically made huge jumps and look to have a big year as a sophomore for the blue and gold.
The past couple of years, many folks around the SEB football program have said that the 2024 season will be one to watch.
A huge core of Jackets will hit their senior years in 2024 led by linebacker Kyle O’Brien who finished 2023 with 98 tackles and 6 TFLs.
A few other names that will be playing their final season in Brooklet are wide receiver Easton Phillips, tight end/defensive lineman Forest Fretwell along with linemen Jotavion Gaines, Deacon Craig, and Michael Dixon.
Through spring football and summer workouts a number of players have made a huge jump and are expected to make an impact in 2024.
Tyrone McGee is a junior wide receiver standing 6’2” and just shy of 200 pounds and has burst onto the scene. While a couple of receivers have looked good, the success of SEB looks to stay in the backfield as Jayden Murphy, Colby Smith, Quentin Reed, Chase Douglas, and Rhett Morgan seem to be the names to look for running the football in 2024.
The last few years, you have seen flashes from the Jackets, but 2024 seems to be the season that SEB puts those flashes and pieces together. Less than a month away from kickoff and the Brooklet community can’t wait to get back into Fred Shaver Field and “Chase Perfection”!
Diamond Draft
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Just as the MLB All-Star Weekend kicks underway deep in the heart of Texas, the 2024 MLB Draft got underway on day one on Sunday night.
Shortly after 7pm Sunday, Commissioner Rob Manfred approached to kick off the first 74 picks from the Fort Worth Stock Yards and Cowtown Coliseum, so let’s dive into the first round of the 2024 MLB Draft.
The Guardians had the largest bonus pool in the draft with over $18 million and had the first overall selection. Cleveland called the name of Travis Bazzana from Oregon State. The final Pac-12 Player of the Year was also selected as a Golden Spikes Award Finalist after blasting 28 homeruns which set the Oregon State record in a season and most in the Pac-12 in 25 years.
The Cincinnati Reds didn’t waste much time raising some eyebrows when they took Chase Burns out of Wake Forest with the second pick of the draft.
Burns was dominant at times in his career as a Demon Deacon. Burns had been susceptible to giving up homeruns in his career, but the Reds deemed the upside was more important.
The third pick on Sunday went to the Colorado Rockies and some would say the Rockies got a gift that Charlie Condon was still on the board to be selected.
Colorado jumped on the opportunity. We have well documented the fantastic story Charlie Condon has become in the past few years at Georgia.
To me, this will prove long term to be the “steal of the draft.” I understand that the third pick isn’t stealing much, but Charlie Condon was thought to be a projected number one overall by many publications.
More proven talent (at the college level at least) would follow with the next few picks. Wake Forest would see the second Demon Deacon off the board in the first four selections with Nick Kurtz heading to the Athletics.
Arkansas Razorback ace Hagen Smith was taken off the board by the Chicago White Sox before Florida’s two-way talent Jac Cagliaone would put on the “KC” cap after being selected by the Royals.
The Big 12 saw their first selection in pick number 7 from St. Louis with the Cardinals calling JJ Wetherholt’s name after leading the nation with a .449 average for the West Virginia Mountaineers.
In a draft where it was projected by many to be one of the most “college player heavy” that the MLB Draft has seen in recent memory at least, it held true in Round 1.
The first high school prospect that was selected in the draft was the 9th selection when the Pirates drafted Konnor Griffin out of Jackson Prep HS in Mississippi.
Wake Forest really were feeling well when the third Demon Deacon was taken in the top 10 picks when Seaver King was taken off the board.
Wake Forest became just the second school to have three players selected in the first 10 picks. King was the vocal and emotional leader for the Deacs after transferring from Division II Wingate University prior to the 2024 season.
The Atlanta Braves had the 24th pick of the day and went the lefthander from Saguaro High in Arizona in Cam Caminiti. Caminiti is the cousin of former MLB All-Star third baseman Ken Caminiti who was the 1996 NL MVP.
Overall, the first round saw the first 30 names taken in the 2024 Draft with only 10 of those being high school prospects and the remaining 20 coming from the college ranks.
Wake Forest led the way with three players taken in the first round for the most by one team. Florida State would follow with two consecutive picks with James Tibbs III going to San Francisco with the 13th pick and Cam Smith selected by the Cubs with the 14th.
The SEC took the top spot, seeing seven players off the board from SEC institutions, with the ACC close behind with six.
To me, the MLB Draft is one of the more exciting days (yes, I know I may be a baseball dork), but it’s a fantastic time to see the college game and the pro game come together.
In a weekend where the Pirates’ Paul Skenes, the 2023 MLB Draft 1st overall selection, will be starting the 2024 MLB All-Star Game on the mound, the future of the game takes one of the most crucial steps in their careers on a special night deep in the heart of Texas.
Rule Change
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
With the 2024 season just around the corner, everyone is scouring websites, rosters, and Phil Steele Preseason magazine.
While rosters and coaching staffs in this day-and-age of college football change year to year, there is another aspect that does as well…the rules of the game.
While 2024 High School football will look virtually the same (the only rule change for HS Football is the home team jersey has to be a darker color to contrast with white numbers), there are a couple of key changes in the rule books for both the college and NFL games that will undoubtedly affect the game this year.
Saturdays in college football have seen a “trickle down” effect for rules implemented in the NFL a few years prior but changes this year have taken longer than usual to find their way to the college game. The main changes include the implementation of the 2-minute warning, player-to-coach communication, and tablets on the sidelines.
The 2-minute warning is a term that most football fans have known for a while in the NFL and was first implemented in professional football in 1942.
For the second and fourth quarters of a college football game, there will be an additional timeout at the 2-minute mark for the first time in the history of college football.
The new pair of two-minute stoppages are designed to not only help players and coaches with late game and late half execution while also making it slightly easier for officials when timing changes in the last two minutes of the half (clock stopping on a first down to set the ball).
A couple of technological advances that again stem from the NFL are entering the college game in 2024 as well.
The first that was a hot topic of conversation last season in the Michigan sign-stealing saga of 2023 is coach-to-player communication systems in players helmets.
This is a system that places a speaker in one player’s helmet on the field that allows a coach to speak to that player to call in a play.
These helmets that have the communication device will have the green dot sticker on the back (much like the NFL protocol), and allow a coach to talk into the player’s ear until the system is cut off with 15-seconds remaining in the play-clock or the snap of the ball (whichever happens first).
The other technological advancement is the ability to have tablets on the sideline which will actually give coaches more of a resource than are in the NFL.
NFL Tablets have been on the sideline since 2014, but in the professional side, the tablets only show images and not instantaneous video replays.
The college game will implement the allotted 18 tablets on the sidelines that can view in-game video only from either the broadcast feed as well as coaches video angles from the sideline and endzone.
While the rule modifications for college football are more ancillary, the NFL changes for 2024 affect the game more directly.
The biggest that has been a point of conversation for many years now was the new kickoff rule adjustment that follows a similar format that the XFL spring league used in 2023.
While the kickoff will still take place from the 35-yard line, the remaining 10 members of the kicking team will line up on the opposite 40-yard line. The receiving team will have a minimum of 9 players between the 30 and 35-yard lines with a maximum of 2 players back deep to receive. The play doesn’t begin (meaning players can’t move) until the ball is either caught by a returner or bounces inside the “landing zone” which is defined as the goal line to the 20-yard line. Any kick that touches in the landing zone must be returned (or downed) even if it bounces into the endzone.
The other NFL rule change for the coming fall is the elimination of the “hip-drop” tackle when a defender grabs the runner with both hands or wraps the runner up with both arms, then unweights himself by dropping his lower body AND trapping the runner’s legs at or below the knee underneath.
While there could be some late additions like the NFL experimenting in the pre-season with the chips in the ball to determine a first down, this is the majority of the changes you’ll see this fall.
While the NFL is more an “on-the-field” change, the college game may get talked about more and deeper into the season as an impact of whatever this ever-changing college football landscape looks like.
One or The Other?
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
As the 2024 NFL Draft ran through the first round, many would say that the biggest surprise wasn’t the “who” of the pick, but the “why”.
When the Atlanta Falcons selected quarterback Michael Penix Jr. from Washington with the 8th pick overall in the 2024 Draft, there were skeptics in Atlanta and around the football world as to the “why” for that pick considering the Falcons signed veteran QB Kirk Cousins to a 4-year deal worth $180 million back in March.
At the end of the day, do I think it was the right move? No, I don’t agree with it, but there are much smarter and better equipped folks that made the call.
I do though think that while some see this as possibly the perfect storm, I think it could turn out to be a great long-term move for the Falcons organization. Why? Let’s dive into it.
In other situations, two different quarterbacks has turned into a toxic situation for everyone involved. However, there are a lot of fans that have conceded the fact that Kirk Cousin’s personality could make this work with and take Penix under his wing. That said, it takes both sides to make that dynamic work, and I genuinely believe that is exactly what the Dirty Birds have in play.
Cousin’s personality and demeanor has been well documented in the media and in the Netflix Documentary “Quarterback” that followed Cousins, Marcus Mariota (coincidentally in the 2022 season as a Falcon), and the Chiefs standout Patrick Mahomes.
While it’s the general understanding that Cousins, who is still expected to be the starting QB for the at least foreseeable future, would be one of the best mentors for a (relatively) young player entering the NFL. That being said, both sides of this equation must be on the same page and have a certain demeanor for this to work.
The portion of this equation that I don’t believe gets nearly enough light is the person and the personality of Michael Penix Jr.
Penix really burst onto the scene when he arrived in Washington in December of 2021 after transferring from Indiana. Penix went on to lead the country in passing yards in his initial season in Seattle in 2022, then led the Huskies to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game this past season where he finished as the runner up in the Heisman Trophy voting.
While the left arm is undeniably special, and I think will be an impact the NFL in a big way at some point, Penix is not your typical rookie coming out of college and is much more mature and has had to overcome so much.
Penix began his collegiate career at Indiana and was a member of the Hoosiers for his first four seasons before his final two seasons with Washington. He was part of college football for six seasons because of an injury riddled first three seasons in Bloomington.
The 24-year-old, now Falcon, began in 2018 but suffered a torn ACL after three games and was redshirted.
Expectations were high in 2019 and was named the starter entering the season, but only played six games due to a separate injury to the joint that connects the collar bone and sternum.
The COVID-shortened 2020 season came around after vigorous rehab to be ready to be the Hoosier QB1 again, but at the end of November, Penix again was sidelined with another torn ACL in a game against Maryland.
Now, yes that may raise red flags to Falcon fans with an injury history, but I write that not for the injuries, but the determination to return from the injuries, and still continue to grow as a quarterback into the 8th overall NFL Draft pick.
I’ve had the pleasure (and I truly mean pleasure) to talk with Penix briefly twice. Once in his time at Indiana, and once in the midst of the Washington skyrocketing, and this is an extremely mature rookie in the NFL and has the perfect combination of passion and levelheadedness to make this work in Atlanta for however long he is under the wing of Kirk Cousins.
At the end of the day, again, there are much smarter executives that made these decisions to bring in two quarterbacks to Atlanta. As much as it’s not the move I would have made, I think this could really turn out rosy for the Falcons for a while.
How I believe this plays out is that for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, Penix serves as one of the best second-string players in the NFL. At some point, barring something unforeseen, Penix will be a starting quarterback in the NFL, hopefully for the Falcons and he becomes the starter of the future that it’s believed at this point.
When that happens is unclear, but it provides Penix to be able to acclimate to the NFL and doesn’t have to be thrown into the fire out of the gate AND gets to learn from one of the more cerebral quarterbacks in the league and will turn into a great future in Atlanta.
Who Dat?
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Although the New Orleans Saints haven’t finished worse than a tie for second in the NFC South since 2016, the last 3 years haven’t been to the standards of the “fleur-de-lis”.
With a pair of 9-8 finishes in 2021 and 2023 sandwiched between a 7-10 debut season for Head Coach Dennis Allen in 2022, Saints fans have been looking to find the answer to get back to the offense they’re accustomed to with a run of four consecutive division championships from 2014-2020.
After a 2022 season where quarterback play left much to be desired, Saints fans were hopeful last season with the signing of veteran quarterback Derek Carr, but it did not pan out like the savior of the offense that Saints fans had hoped for.
Carr turned in a season with 3,878 passing yards, which turned out to be the fourth lowest in his eleven-year career (ten previous with the Raiders), and the lowest total in a season where he played more than 15 games (17 in 2023).
Although the yards were a low point in the career totals for Carr, he did throw 25 TDs, which were the most Carr had thrown since 2020 with the Las Vegas Raiders.
The biggest question mark I think leading into 2024 for New Orleans is can Carr be “the guy” for the Saints, or do the reigns get handed off to the next in line.
Entering 2024, one of the biggest question marks is going to be “what does the offense look like this year?” Everyone across the league knows and has heard thru minicamp and OTAs that it will be different under first year Offensive Coordinator Klink Kubiak.
Kubiak takes over his 4th ream in the past four years after serving as the OC for the Vikings in 2021, Pass Game Coordinator & QBs coach in 2022 for the Denver Broncos, and with San Francisco in 2023 as Pass Game Coordinator under Kyle Shannahan, but early indications from pre-season work between Kubiak and Carr seems to be positive coming out of the Saints practice facility.
One eye-brow raiser from Saints early pre-season work has been the selected workload of a few different players because of contract negotiations. Most notably, Alvin Kamara has attended most walkthrough portions of practice, but when full practice that is open to media comes around, Kamara heads inside.
Kamara’s deal expires after the 2025 season, but the way the deal is structured, none of the 2025 money is guaranteed. All indications say that Kamara intends on continuing with the Saints and would like to get a new deal done before kickoff of the 2024 season to extend the current deal.
One thing that raises concerns of the Saints is a couple of key injuries on the offensive side that are expected to be key targets for Derek Carr.
Tight End Juwan Johnson looked to be a big part of the success of the Saints in training camp last year, but it didn’t pan out how anyone in the black and gold had hoped, with just 368 yards on 37 catches for the year.
While Kubiak had hoped to get Johnson more involved in the offense, at least for the first part of the season, Johnson will be rehabbing from a foot surgery. While the timetable for the Johnson return is unclear, the tight end for New Orleans to start will be some combination of their Swiss-Army knife Taysom Hill and former LSU Tiger Foster Moreau.
The other key injury is also unclear, but standout playmaking receiver Chris Olave suffered a shoulder injury in his off-season weight room work that has kept him in a non-contact jersey in pre-season work.
Early indications don’t seem to have Olave missing much if any time, but how much does it affect what he’s able to do?
At the end of the day, this Saints team is a HUGE swing team depending on how the offense clicks (or doesn’t), especially in an NFC South that has struggled as a whole the past few seasons.
Realistically I could see the Saints winning the South with as many as 11 or 12 wins, but I could also see this team struggling in year one under a new offensive coordinator while 5th Round pick Spencer Rattler matures into hopefully the QB of the Saints future.
A New Home
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
We’ve documented so many changes to the GHSA and how the 2024-25 athletic year will look. Between the elimination of the 7A classification, which forced region realignment, and the fact of private GHSA schools in 3A and lower playing for a separate state title, the latest change for the upcoming year was announced late last week from the GHSA Offices.
At least for the 2024 football season, the GHSA State playoffs will have a built in off-week prior to the semifinal matchups giving the teams that are still playing the week of Thanksgiving off.
While “practicing on Thanksgiving” had been a badge of honor for some teams, meaning that you’re one of the few teams still playing at that point of the year now that week will be free for everyone.
While the casual fan of both high school football and college football in the state of Georgia will be spared from making the choice between a high school semifinal matchup, and “Good Ol Fashion Hate,” there are more reasons behind the shift in the schedule.
Allegedly purely coincidentally, the Georgia vs Georgia Tech matchup on the gridiron was announced last week as well to be taking place on ABC on Black Friday, but the GHSA office says that it is just that, purely coincidence.
GHSA executive director Robin Hines said that the shift in the schedule will give players and staff of teams still alive in the postseason to “have a normal Thanksgiving for a change.”
With the built in off-week in the schedule, the GHSA Football State Championships will now take place December 16-18 inside Mercades-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The location is another key factor in why the change occurs for the coming year. Because of a Leap Year…Yes, I said a Leap Year affects the schedule…the SEC Football Championship Game will be held in Mercades-Benz Stadium on December 7th which would have been in the middle of the originally scheduled GHSA Championships forcing the GHSA to find a new home.
All in all, as much as folks will also benefit from being able to watch the Georgia-Georgia Tech game on Black Friday, and as much as nay-sayers want to point to the college game dictating the GHSA schedule, it gets deeper than that.
While, yes, ONE college game does affect the schedule, it’s not the Georgia-Georgia Tech game that falls on the now bye-week for the high schoolers.
The majority of the decision comes to keeping the GHSA from having to find a new home for the GHSA State Championships which I can get on board with. The Championships should always be at “the Benz,” and this keeps the games where they belong.
Super Post-Season
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For college baseball fans, this is the best time of year…College Baseball Postseason!
College baseball postseason is structured a little differently than most other sports in college athletics but has become one of the most entertaining postseasons recently.
This week (May 20 thru May 26) is the week for most league’s conference tournament.
Following “Championship Sunday” where most leagues will have the championship game, there’s a dead period of about 18 hours or so that leave teams convincing themselves (or sometimes sweating it out) that they will hear their name on Selection Monday.
At high noon on Memorial Day, the college baseball world will be locked into the selection show to wait on which 64 teams will head to an NCAA Regional.
Since 1999 when the tournament expanded to 64 teams, NCAA Baseball has structured the postseason with ranking the top 16 national seeds and those 16 teams will “host” a Regional at their home ballpark and welcome in three other teams determined by the NCAA selection committee.
With the 31 Division I conferences each receiving one “automatic bid”, that leaves 33 at-large bids up for grabs that are also selected by the committee. Most of the 31 auto-bids are given to the conference tournament champions.
Once the field of 64 is set, and the Regionals are determined, the top 16 national seeds will host the NCAA Regionals Friday May 31st through Sunday June 3rd. The Regionals are a miniature double elimination tournament between the four teams assigned to that Regional site. The winner of each Regional advances to the Super Regional round.
With just one team advancing out of each Regional, the field quickly gets trimmed from 64 to 16 over one weekend. When the Regionals are set, two Regionals are paired together (#1-seed & #16-seed paired, #2-seed & #15-seed paired and so-on) and the winner from each of those regionals will face off in the Super Regional which will be hosted at the higher ranked team’s park. With the field cut down and only 8 Super Regionals going on, this round consists of a best-of-3 game series.
If you’re one of the eight teams lucky enough to win a Super Regional, it’s time to head to the college baseball mecca…Omaha, Nebraska.
Now to the casual fan, Omaha, Nebraska may not sound majestic, but to a college baseball player, coach, fan….broadcaster….it is the “Magical Land of Oz of College Baseball.”
Since 1950, Omaha has been the destination on the mind of every college baseball team as the host of the College World Series.
From 1950 until 2010, Rosenblatt Stadium was the site for the CWS before moving in 2011 to Charles Schwab Field (formerly TD Ameritrade Park).
Make no mistake, no matter the stadium, no matter the year, Omaha is the perfect site for the grand finale to college baseball.
Each of the 8 Super Regional winning teams will flock to Omaha and be embarrassed with open arms from the community that treats this event like Christmas.
The Omaha area essentially is laser focused with everything that isn’t around the College World Series and serving the visitors shutting down.
The college baseball postseason may seem odd and somewhat drawn out to casual fans, but to baseball fans, it’s an almost month-long celebration of another season of the game so many love…College Baseball.
A Near Strike Out
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
In a series opening game in May at Founders Park in Columbia, Georgia Baseball opened a three-game series against the then Number 13 South Carolina Gamecocks.
The Dawgs chased the Gamecock’s starter Roman Kimball after scoring four in the top of the 1st inning, then the second inning saw Charlie Condon launch a Ty Good first pitch past the left field wall to go back-to-back with teammate Corey Collins. That blast was his 34th of the season to maintain the national homerun lead.
Condon not only led the nation in homers, but also led the country with an average over .450 and had driven in 72 runs at that point for the Diamond Dawgs. He’s having a historic year for Georgia, but it’s almost a career that never came to fruition.
Near the end of his career at The Walker School in Marietta (North Metro Atlanta area), Condon had no Division I offers to play baseball.
The two offers on the table were from D III Rhodes College in Memphis and University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn to play both baseball and also play quarterback for the football programs.
Condon did have a potential preferred walk-on opportunity for the Tennessee Volunteers, but a late pull from Vols Head Coach Tony Vitello took that opportunity off the table.
Scott Stricklin, former Georgia Head Coach from 2014 thru 2023, got a phone call from a friend telling him about Charlie, and was told that Condon may be a potential target.
Stricklin and staff got some video of Condon’s skills and thought he would be able to be a factor for the Dawgs down the road.
So how did everyone miss on someone that potentially could be the number one overall pick in the upcoming MLB Draft?
Well, it may be a full storm of factors. First off, Condon was a late bloomer. While the last few years in high school were impressive, he wasn’t on the top travel ball team, he wasn’t the measurable masterpiece.
All of that along with COVID-19 was affecting the sports world still while his recruiting process. High school schedules were affected, College coaches weren’t out on the road and able as many players as they normally would, so late bloomers, and players that were under the radar didn’t get a look.
If there needed to be another factor, the MLB Draft was shortened from 40 rounds to 20, so there weren’t many scholarships to go around.
Condon turned into the perfect fit for the Bulldogs before even taking an at-bat. Condon was exceptional student and was able to be accepted to the University of Georgia and didn’t need a scholarship to come to school.
As a pure walk-on, Condon didn’t see action as a freshman. Scott Stricklin told Condon that the plan was for him to redshirt and really hit the weight room in 2022 to grow into the player that Stricklin thought Condon could be.
While that is the plan, Stricklin saw that Condon was special and had told other college coaches that possibly the best hitter on his roster was a redshirt.
Condon took the redshirt in stride and gained 15-20 pounds of muscle, and seeing college pitching made it click at the plate.
If Condon wasn’t special enough, or as one scout called him “a unicorn,” he had to deal with another bit of adversity after 2023 when Stricklin (the coach that took a chance on him) was let go from UGA.
In the new age of college sports of NIL and transfer portal, Condon proved he’s a “unicorn” off the field too with an incredibly infrequent take on the portal opportunity.
“It was never a real possibility that I wanted to get in the portal and go anywhere else,” Condon told ESPN’s Mark Schlabach.
“Whether it was this coaching staff or not, the university was the only place that gave me a chance out of high school. It was the university that had given me all the time and resources and put so much into my development. I couldn’t turn my back on that.”
No matter if you’re a fan of the Dawgs, or just of college baseball, you can’t help but root for Charlie Condon, and marvel at the historic season.
As great as his on-the-field presence is, the off-the field factor helps Condon’s draft stock just as much.
Atlanta Hockey…Take 3?
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
October is a great time for sports fans in the state of Georgia.
On any given night, you could have the first pitch for another Atlanta Braves Postseason run, or tipoff for an early season Atlanta Hawks game. Maybe you’re heading to the Benz for an Atlanta United match.
When the weekends roll around, you might be “Between the Hedges,” filing into Bobby Dodd Stadium, or tailgating at Allen E. Paulson getting ready for boot meet ball for your college football Saturday.
Then get to Sunday afternoon to see Kirk Cousins (or maybe Michael Penix Jr….. That’s a whole other story) taking snaps for the Falcons. So, what is Georgia Sports missing? A Puck drop?
Back in March, Alpharetta Sports & Entertainment officially announced they requested the NHL Commissioner and Board of Governors to commence a new expansion process to bring an NHL franchise back to Atlanta.
Alpharetta Sports & Entertainment is fronted by former NHL player and current Turner Sports analyst Anson Carter.
Carter has been extremely outspoken about the NHL making the return to Atlanta for what would be the third time in a number of years and has had multiple conversations with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman about the possibility of expansion.
The potential ownership group has planned construction of 18,000-seat arena around North Point Mall in Alpharetta and plans expand the surrounding area into a commercial mini-metropolis much like the Battery Atlanta is around Truist Park.
The location has been one of the main selling points to the NHL as to why the two previous franchises didn’t succeed in the metro-Atlanta area.
Carter and the other potential owners believe that headquartering the franchise in Alpharetta helps solve the issues that stood most recently at Philips Arena (now State Farm Arena). This is the same idea that the Braves are now thriving with in Cobb County and developing the Battery and surrounding area.
Atlanta hockey has seen two previous renditions with the Atlanta Flames from 1972-1980 before being re-located to Calgary.
Take two saw the Atlanta Thrashers call (then) Philips Arena home from 1999-2011 before being moved to Winnipeg to become the Winnipeg Jets.
The NHL has only added four expansion teams since the Atlanta Thrashers were created in 1999. The next season in 2000, the NHL expanded to thirty teams with the addition of the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild.
It would be 16 years before the next new NHL franchise. The league would add one more team to get to thirty-one total teams with the 2016 expansion franchise of the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Knights proved to be a success with the Stanley Cup Championship coming in their first year of existence (2017-18 season).
Most recently the NHL became a 32-team outfit with the addition of the Seattle Kraken beginning in the 2021-22 season.
Although the NHL has said that currently they have no plans for expansion, there are many that are optimistic that the Atlanta area would be on the top of the list to get an expansion franchise.
The construction of the new arena around North Point is expected to be ready for potential play for the 2027-28 season, and now it’s just a waiting game.
Personally, I would love to dust off the old Atlanta Thrashers sweater, and head back to “Blueland”!
