Colin Lacy
Tightening The B.E.L.T.
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
While the past two years record wise haven’t been what Head Coach Matt Dobson and the Statesboro High Blue Devils would have wanted, SHS has built a foundation to be able to springboard back to prominence in 2025.
The tradition wealthy Statesboro program has struggled for the last decade, not seeing a season finish over .500 since the 10-2 2013 campaign (SHS’ last year in the 4A ranks before being elevated to 5A).
That said, Dobson and the staff have elevated the Blue Devil program exponentially from what was inherited prior to the 2023 season.
The biggest turnaround in the program has been off the field. There has been such a shift in the culture and feel around the program that it’s palpable. The implementation of Dobson’s BELT (Best, Effort, Love, and Toughness) mantra has exploded through the program and turned into belief in the program that hasn’t been there since the early 2010s.
That said, the past two seasons have netted 4 wins each. Even with a 4-6 record last year, the Blue Devils finished one spot in the standings away from back-to-back playoff appearances.
Last year, however showed an incredible upward trajectory for the program and starts on the offensive side of the ball.
The biggest question mark going into the season this time last season was at quarterback. It was expected that freshman Beckham Jarrard would come in and lead the squad and Jarrard did just that in year one.
Jarrard threw for an impressive 1628 passing yards with 15 touchdowns and just 9 picks.
In addition, the frosh ran for another 207 yards and a pair of rushing scores. Not only did Jarrard put up fantastic numbers, but there was also a tangible control of Dobson’s offense that continued to grow and show the prowess beyond his years.
I genuinely believe that one of the most exciting things in South Georgia football this year could be watching the maturation process of Jarrard and seeing him continue to grow into the phenom and surpass expectations.
In addition to Jarrard, the rising sophomore has most of his targets returning in 2025.
Keon Childers and Gage Newsome burst onto the scene in 2024 as the top two targets for the Blue Devils.
Childers racked up almost 500 yards receiving with 5 scores as a junior and looks to continue to be the Swiss-army knife for SHS who also added 71 yards rushing and a touchdown on the ground.
Newsome made the most out of his first season with Statesboro after transferring from Southeast Bulloch. Newsome led the team with 34 catches a year ago with nearly 400 yards and a couple scores.
The question surrounding Statesboro stems from the top two running backs graduating.
Ty Chambers (429 yds, 4 TDs) and Jaylyn Heath (379 yds, 4 TDs) both finished up their time at Womack Field last season and the Blue Devils will be looking for some new options to carry the ball.
Jarrard and Childers are the only two returners that rushed for more than 50 yards. Don’t be surprised to see Childers lined up more in the backfield in addition to some new names entering the rotation in 2025.
I think the biggest step forward for Statesboro will be in the trenches. The offensive line especially is expected to make an incredible step forward and be a key piece to the success in 2025.
The defense looks to be a strength of the Blue Devils led by Rashad Chavers (9 TFLs last season) and Xavier Spells (11 TFLs in 2024). While there’s a number of players that will go both ways, the defense can be an incredible piece of this team.
Again, the 4 wins each of the last two years isn’t what anyone around the program wanted, but there’s a ton of excitement and optimism around this team.
In my mind, the optimism is for a good reason. When Statesboro opens the season at Womack Field against cross-county rival SEB on August 15th, fans will see a Statesboro team that will be threatening the top of the region standings and getting back to the team of tradition with 5 state championships under their B.E.L.T.
Brooklet Buzz
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
2024 saw Southeast Bulloch return to the GHSA State Playoffs and make the quarterfinals for the first time since the 1973 State Championship season.
While the Jackets saw graduation time come for some key contributors, the core is still intact in Brooklet to be able to not only replicate last season but add on to as well.
The ground game dominated for the Jackets as SEB racked up nearly 250 rushing yards per game and had two of the top five rushers in Region 3 of the 3A classification.
While Jayden Murphy finished the year fourth in the circuit with 752 yards on the ground last season, Colby Smith had a breakout season.
Smith scampered for 1,619 yards on the ground to lead the region and also was atop Region 3 with 22 total touchdowns. Smith became the first 1,000-yard rusher for SEB since Chase Walker in 2017.
The Brooklet native senior has contributed in virtually every way he can in his SEB career. As a freshman and sophomore in 2022 & 2023, Smith was a stalwart on the defensive side of the ball as a safety, linebacker and at the “Jacket” position.
Because of injuries at the end of the 2023 season, Smith was thrust into action at quarterback (had been the back-up QB all season) for the final three games of the year.
Last season, in addition to having a historic season out of the backfield, Smith also served as the kick returner and also punted twice on the year. This year, I’d expect more of the same for Smith as a Swiss-Army knife for the Jackets.
Southeast Bulloch will have a new signal-caller at quarterback this season with Rhett Morgan deciding to forego his senior season on the football field to focus on the baseball side.
The leading candidates for the job are Aaden Peterson and Colton Zito.
Peterson, the son of legendary Georgia Southern quarterback Adrian Peterson, stepped up as a cornerback last year for the Jackets but has unquestionable athletic ability to be able to run the offense.
Colton Zito, the son of Jackets Head Coach Jared Zito, has grown up with and has football in his blood.
In addition to the two headed monster at running back with Smith and Murphy, SEB returns a strong nucleus of talent on both sides of the ball.
Offensively, the biggest hit from graduation was on the offensive line but do return the recent Georgia Tech commit in Bear Fretwell along with Kam Miller and Daniel Shuman.
Defensively, linebacker Brant Horst (who will also see time as a tight end) was the second leading tackler and racked up 4 sacks and 7.5 TFL. Jason Anthony’s defense will also return names like Chase Douglas, Tyrone McGee and Stevie Padgett who made impressive impacts in 2024 and look to take the next step in 2025.
In 2024, the Jackets knocked off Heritage after the long trip to Ringgold in the first round of the playoffs. Then they blanked the number two team in the GHSA power ranked team in the state in Harlem in round two before reaching Stephenson in the quarterfinals to finish the year 10-3.
After the second 10-win season in the first four years under Head Coach Jared Zito, the Jackets look to recreate some of the magic of 2024 while continuing to build and return SEB to their march to a third state championship in program history.
The New QBs
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
As we hit the unofficial end of the offseason with the SEC Kickoff Media Days coming to Atlanta this week, one of the biggest questions around the league will be the first year starting quarterbacks.
The SEC is flooded with first year starting quarterbacks this year with nine of the sixteen teams breaking in a year one starter running the offense.
Some of those have more questions around them, but the biggest questions in my opinion come from Knoxville, Tuscaloosa, and Auburn.
In Tuscaloosa, Ty Simpson is expected to be named starter for the Crimson Tide to fill the shoes of Jalen Milroe.
There’s been a lot of moving parts in T-Town on the offensive side to try and make the transition to the new signal caller with Kalen DeBoer changing up the play caller and bringing in Ryan Grubb as the new offensive coordinator and essentially demoting Nick Sheridan to “co-offensive coordinator and QBs Coach”.
After spending two years with Coach DeBoer as the OC leading Washington to two magical seasons in 2022 & 2023, Grubb spent the 2024 season as the offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks.
Simpson is a name that Bama fans have heard for three years and has been in the program since 2022 but has seen limited action behind Milroe.
Simpson in 16 career games over the first three years of his career only has 50 pass attempts with only real meaningful snaps coming in the 2023 matchup against South Florida where he helped lead Bama to a victory in game 2 of the year when Milroe got benched for one game by Nick Saban.
Simpson is expected to make his first career start in Tallahassee on August 30th when the Tide open the year against Florida State.
Knoxville has been an interesting situation this offseason for the quarterback room. At the end of spring ball, Nico Iamaleava shockingly decided to enter the transfer portal and ended up at UCLA.
That caused Tennessee to scramble (no pun intended) and find a QB1 in the portal, so they landed on Joey Aguilar who was a two-year starter at Appalachian State before spending the spring at UCLA before transferring to Tennessee.
Aguilar racked up over 3,000 yards passing in 2024 for the Mountaineers and was named honorable mention All-Sun Belt both years in Boone.
Aguilar is pretty set in Knoxville to start the year at QB1 for Josh Heupel, but in my eyes won’t finish the year like that.
Aguilar absolutely is talented, there’s no doubt about that, but seeing him at App State, he’s not an SEC Quarterback.
That could open the door to Savannah product Jake Merklinger. Merklinger redshirted last season in Knoxville and will have four years of eligibility remaining for the Calvary Day alum.
My two cents says that Aguilar will start the year, but by the week five off week, Merklinger could be set up to start the Arkansas match-up the following week.
Finally, Auburn has been an interesting scenario at quarterback. After the departure of Peyton Thorne (who is now on the roster for the Cincinnati Bengals), Hugh Freeze hit the transfer portal to bring in Jackson Arnold.
Arnold spent two seasons at Oklahoma with a rocky 2024 season. Arnold was benched in the mid-September matchup with Tennessee for Michael Hawkins because of struggles for Arnold.
The former Sooner threw for over 1,400 yards with 12 scores but struggled at times. The plus side for Arnold is that while he’s technically a first-year starter (for Auburn) he does bring SEC experience having played in seventeen career games with five starts.
This is the most intriguing to watch for me and the one that could turn up golden for the Aubs or could turn the lights out on Hugh Freeze.
There are so many un-answered questions swirling around quarterbacks in the SEC which has created buzz and excitement around the best football league in the country.
Again, I think that Gunner Stockton for Georgia and Austin Simmons for Ole Miss will be the two that will be consistently solid throughout the year, but watching the rest unfold will be incredible to see as the season goes on.
Killer Bears
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
2024 was a continuation of the powerhouse that Head Coach Ryan Herring built in Blackshear for the Pierce County Bears program that reached the quarterfinals for the 5th consecutive year.
The 2024 Bears finished up an 11-2 season falling in the quarterfinals to the eventual AA State Champion Carver by a final of 44-7 after knocking off Jackson and Columbia in the first two playoff rounds by a combined score of 87-24.
Pierce County had the only regular season blemish on the road against Appling County in a battle to the tune of 13-6.
While 2024 was another magical season, 2025 will have some challenges in Ryan Herring’s 7th season.
Last year, Caden McGatha was a one-man wrecking crew with almost 1,700 passing yards, nearly 1,600 rushing yards to go along with 42 combined touchdowns on the season (23 passing, 19 rushing).
The Recruit Georgia 2A Player of the Year saw his high school career come to a close after the 2024 season, so it’ll be a changing of the guard under center for the Bears going into 2025.
In addition to McGatha, Pierce had a total of six former Bears sign to play college ball after the 2024 season that will need to have the shoes filled.
Who to do that? Some of the expected targets are Marquez Leggett at running back, who scurried for over 300 yards on the ground last season on just 36 carried on the year.
The receiving core has to replace the top two receivers in Joe Drew (502 rec yds/3TDs) and Jones Herrin (326 rec yds/4TDs) but do return Nigel Brown and Chance Williams who had 5 receiving scores each last season.
Defensively the Bears saw graduation for eight of the top tacklers for the club including Dixon Morris who racked up 8 TFLs on the year. On the back end, Chance Williams looks to be a two-way standout for the black and blue after 3 interceptions a year ago.
Garrett Stevenson locks down the final stage of the game on special teams after connecting on 48 of 53 PAT attempts last season. While just 2-7 on field goals a year ago, the leg is unquestionably there. One of those two came from 48 yards out against Brooks County.
While there are many questions when talking what 2025 will look like for Pierce County football, there is one thing that has been consistent for almost two decades…Winning.
Ryan Herring enters year seven in Blackshear and hasn’t won less than 11 games since his arrival in 2019 (11-1 in year 1). Herring has made an indelible impact, but it goes beyond one person.
Pierce County has made postseason play every year since 2011 and has won a playoff contest in 12 of those 14 years with state championships in 2020 and 2023.
Winning is in the fabric of the DNA around Pierce County and even through a changing of the guard of sorts, Pierce will always be a pre-season favorite to continue the legacy that will begin August 22nd against Coosa Christian when Bear Country floods to Bear Stadium and looks to start another magical season in Blackshear.
What’s Not The Problem?
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
As we turn the calendar into July, the Braves have been sitting on the line teetering around 10-15 games back in the NL East race for the past few weeks which lead to the question…What’s the problem with the Braves?
While all wanna-be managers on social media know exactly how to solve the issues overnight, I think a bigger question may be “what’s not the problem?”
When I ask, “What’s not the problem?” I fully realize that there are many problems that the Braves are facing through 2025 (and stem from issues in the past couple of years), but there are remedies that Braves Country are calling for that aren’t the answer.
The biggest flawed remedy that many are shouting from the tops of the mountains is Michael Harris II and the lack of production at the plate.
While that’s true, his .215 average is a career low, but “Money Mike” is not the issue. In my eyes, Harris’ defense makes up for a lot of lack at the plate, but I also believe that he can be an integral part of the offense if used correctly.
I think Harris would be best suited in the struggling lineup in the leadoff spot. Harris got on base the best this season (.268 OBP) in the 13 games in the leadoff spot.
Yes, I know some of you are wondering “has this guy seen what Acuna has done in the leadoff spot?” and the answer is YES, I get it that Acuna is crushing it in the leadoff spot right now. That said, I would love to see how much the lineup gets lengthened by having Harris leadoff ahead of Acuna batting second.
Over the past decade, baseball has adopted the thinking of the team’s best hitter batting second in a “best of both worlds” mindset. With Acuna batting second, it would allow him more at-bats on average throughout the season than hitting third or clean-up but also putting him in more situations to hit with runners on base than the leadoff spot.
At the end of the day, it’s no secret that the main issue facing the Braves the past few years is the fact of living and dying by the long ball along with the “big names” in the lineup not producing as expected.
Atlanta has seen how exciting and magical this lineup can be with the record setting offensive production in 2023, and the World Series run in 2021.
2023 saw a microcosm of what the past two seasons have been with the live and die by the homer mentality. The Braves tied the MLB record with 307 homers with Matt Olson set the Braves single season record with 54 long balls. All of that accumulated in 104 wins, the first team to clinch a playoff berth in MLB and so much excitement coming into the playoffs.
That would be spun on it’s head with a quick exit with the Braves being beaten in three of four games against the division rival Phillies while scoring just three runs combined in the three losses.
For someone that is an old-school baseball purist at heart, while a 500-foot homer is great when it’s happening, it’s excruciating to watch when it’s not for an extended period of time and also magnifies struggles.
To me, the biggest issue has been brewing for a couple years with Atlanta and it’s the inability to manufacture runs.
This may be an old-school approach, but getting on base, using productive outs, and stringing together hits is what leads to sustained success in an organization, and that’s what has been missing from this lineup especially in 2025.
I know I’m not breaking news with this revelation, but contrary to popular opinion, Michael Harris isn’t the problem in this lineup, Austin Riley has struggled at times but has also been one of the more productive hitters at times as well.
It’s time to step back and really look at the big picture that has been being painted over the last two plus seasons and will come to fruition around the trade deadline depending on what the Braves do roster wise over the next month.
Titan-Ing Up
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Heading into the 2025 season, there may be more buzz around the Tennessee Titans than there has been since Steve McNair was calling shots.
Second year Head Coach Brian Callahan led the Titans last season to a 3-14 record after the Mike Vrabel tenure ended in Nashville following the 2023 season.
There has been a ton of turnover in players, coaches, front office, and virtually every aspect of the team since the three straight playoff seasons from 2019-2021 under Vrabel and quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
The biggest addition to the Titans heading into the 2025 season is the man who heard his name called first in this year’s NFL Draft.
Cam Ward was selected first overall by the Titans in the 2025 NFL Draft and ever since the expectations have only been exceeded.
Everyone saw what Cam Ward can do on the field in his final collegiate season for the Miami Hurricanes and through all of the pre-draft workouts, but the biggest news coming out of the Titan’s OTAs have been the dedication, work ethic, and leadership that Ward has already built in Nashville and inside the building.
One of the first illustrations of this is at the press conference after signing his rookie contract, Titans (formerly Oilers) Hall of Famer Warren Moon spoke with a glowing endorsement by allowing Ward to wear his number “1” that had been retired by the franchise since 2006.
“I have a lot of respect for this young man right here,” said Moon who started his pro career in the CFL with the Edmonton Eskimos. “A lot of our journey is similar as far as all the things he was told throughout the journey about not being good enough, nobody wanted to give him that great opportunity. But he just kept fighting, kept working, kept showing leadership, perseverance, and here he is today, the No. 1 overall pick in the National Football League draft. So that’s the reason why I wanted to be here to let him know how proud of him I am. As far as the number and everything is concerned. I wore the number 1 for a lot of various reasons, and I wore it for a long time, starting back to 1976 when I was in college. I think I wore it very honorably for the Houston Oilers organization to the point to where I created a Hall of Fame career for myself. Now, I’m part of the Tennessee Titans family. My Houston Oilers jersey will probably never be worn again, I hope it won’t. But the Tennessee Titans jersey is going to be worn by Cam, and Cam will be starting a new freshness in this organization to kind of revitalize it and get it back to where it was a number of years ago, one of the more successful organizations in the league. So, I am excited to see what he is going to do with his legacy wearing this number, and I am proud of the things I did to establish my legacy with the time I wore that number.”
All of the hype that has followed Cam Ward has created a buzz around the team, but does that translate to wins? Only time will tell.
Another key part of the equation that failed the Titans last year was the offensive line. Brian Callahan has been known as an O-Line guru in all his stops in football and has been a huge point of emphasis in the off-season.
The Titans not only brought in a couple of veterans to the mix but also are getting several linemen back from injury, especially Lloyd Cushenberry at center that was riddled with injuries last season.
In the shadows of the construction of the new stadium across the parking lot from Nissan Stadium, that will open in 2027, the Titans are trying to make an enormous step forward in 2025, and I truly believe that with Cam Ward and additions like veteran receiver Tyler Lockett and others, the Titans will be in playoff contention in year one of the rookie phenom and look to settle back as a force in the AFC South for years to come!
Tall Texans
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The past two seasons at NRG Stadium in Houston have been electric under Head Coach DeMeco Ryans who took over the reigns of the franchise in January of 2023.
When Ryans took over, the Texans had just completed a 3-13 season in 2022 (with one tie as well).
Since taking charge of the team, Ryans has led the Texans to back-to-back 10-7 seasons while securing the NFC South Division titles in both the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
With that said, all the praise can’t be directed at DeMeco Ryans (although a lot of it should be). Houston also secured the number two and three overall picks of the 2023 draft to bring in franchise quarterback CJ Stroud from Ohio State and former Alabama linebacker Will Anderson to answer many questions that had been around the organization for the previous years.
While the past two years have been great for Texans fans with Stroud taking the NFL by storm with almost 8,000 passing yards in his 1st two seasons in the NFL, the brass within the organization believes that the best is just coming to fruition.
That’s some pretty tall words with Stroud and Ryans becoming the first quarterback/head coach duo in NFL history to win the division in each of their first two years together, but the organization made some key moves in the offseason to firm up some soft areas of the depth chart going into the 2025 campaign.
A familiar name around the Georgia area is headed to strap on the navy and red as the most recent transaction on the list for Houston is the free agent signing of Nick Chubb, the former Georgia Bulldog.
Chub was drafted in 2018 to the Cleveland Browns and over the last seven seasons with Cleveland, Chubb has accumulated 6,843 rushing yards and 51 touchdowns.
The question mark around Chubb is health. Chubb has only played 10 games combined over the previous two years with the Browns with only 130 carries in two seasons because of various injuries.
That said, if Chubb can get his legs back underneath him (and healthy legs after battling knee and foot injuries) he is still an elite back in the NFL. Chubb is just one of ten active running backs with at least 6,500 yards and had 30 games of 100+ yards in the first 6 years before being hampered by injuries.
The Texans didn’t pull the trigger on any huge names coming out of the 2025 NFL Draft, but it was a busy few days for the front office.
General Manager Nick Caserio made seven trades of picks including trading away the 25th overall selection to pick up an additional 2nd round pick.
Caserio has made 20 trades of straight draft picks which is the most of all active GMs in the NFL. The Texans picked up a pair of second, third, sixth and seventh round selections to go along with a singular fourth rounder in this years first year player draft bringing in a couple of wide outs with a second and third round pick.
The last two seasons have been a renaissance of football in Houston that hasn’t been seen in the NFL in quite some time and the job that DeMeco Ryans, CJ Stroud and company have done is phenomenal, but that group isn’t satisfied with the quick success, they have eyes sighted for a deep playoff run, and they believe it’s coming much sooner than once thought.
A Flat(s) Legend
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For the last three baseball seasons, I’ve had the unquestionable privilege of calling Georgia Tech Baseball games on the radio for the Georgia Tech Sports Network.
Along with that, I’ve been welcomed into the program by so many people, but especially (now) 32nd year Head Coach Danny Hall.
On March 27th, just before welcoming in Clemson in for a big ACC weekend, Coach Hall announced that 2025 would be his final season leading the Georgia Tech Baseball program and is retiring at the end of the season.
Georgia Tech has been a fixture in the College Baseball fabric for many years and much of that comes from Head Coach Danny Hall that took over the Jackets in 1994 after a six-year stint as the head coach for the Kent State Golden Flash.
Since leading the Ramblin’ Wreck, Coach Hall just locked up his 4th ACC Coach of the Year award that was announced just after Georgia Tech secured the 2025 regular season ACC Championship.
Danny Hall has come from a widely branched coaching tree that begins close to home.
Coach Hall’s dad first instilled the love of sports in him and was his head coach in high school for both baseball and football in Coolville, Ohio.
Hall would then take his talents to Miami (OH) where he played for the (then known as) Redskins (now referred to as RedHawks).
At Miami (Ohio), Hall would learn under the tutelage of legendary member of the Miami (OH) “Cradle of Coaches” Bud Middaugh. After playing for Coach Middaugh, Hall would immediately start his coaching career in 1978 as a graduate assistant under Middaugh at Miami (Ohio). “DH” graduated from Miami (Ohio) for the second time with a masters in 1979 and would make his way to Ann Arbor to be an assistant for the Michigan Wolverines under…you guessed it…Bud Middaugh. Hall spent eight years on staff for Michigan before his first opportunity to lead a program came in 1988 to lead Kent State.
There are so many accolades that you could rattle off under Coach Danny Hall’s name in his 38-year head coaching career.
He moved into the 9th all-time winningest head coach in D1 College Baseball history this year with over 1,400 career wins and is second active only to now South Carolina’s Paul Mainieri who came out of retirement this past offseason.
He has taken Georgia Tech to three appearances in the College World Series in 1994, 2002 and 2006, so the accolades speak for themselves.
That said, there’s one accolade that you won’t find on a stat sheet but is the one that means the most to the skipper. It’s the family environment and culture he has established at Georgia Tech.
Each game you can find Coach Hall’s wife, Mrs. Kara, hosting numerous alumni in the Home Plate Club that are dying to get back to their next game at Mac Nease Baseball Park and Russ Chandler Stadium.
The family of Georgia Tech Baseball is widespread from Major League Baseball former superstars of Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Varitek, or Mark Texeira, to current big-league studs like Chandler Simpson, Kristian Campbell and more.
The Tech Baseball alumni success doesn’t only translate to professional baseball as it includes names like Ben King who graduated from Georgia Tech in 2024 and is now in medical school.
Doctors, lawyers, and financial experts are found frequently coming back to visit the program and the coach that brought them to the Flats. It doesn’t stop there however, because currently, you’ll see the current staff’s family and kids throughout the facility and wanting to be part of the program now and for a long time.
So while, you can look at a Hall of Fame sheet and know that Danny Hall has had an unquestioned impact on not only Georgia Tech Baseball but College Baseball as a whole on the field, rest assured that the impact that 17 has had beyond the diamond is profound, and that’s as much of a reason why the number was retired by Georgia Tech Baseball at the end of the regular season and 17 will forever only have “Hall” on top of it on a Jacket’s Jersey, and hopefully will be worn for the last time in College Baseball’s Heaven…Omaha.
Draft Day
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
On April 24th, the NFL world flocked to Lambeau Field where over 100,000 fans from across the 32 NFL teams showed out to see who the newest additions to NFL rosters would be as the home of the Packers hosted the 2025 NFL Draft.
The first couple of picks were as expected in the sense of which players were going with which pick, but there was a little shakeup with who would be taking those players.
The night began with Miami QB Cam Ward going first overall to the Tennessee Titans.
Ward has an incredible story of climbing from FCS Incarnate Word to Washington State before finishing his college career for the Hurricanes in Coral Gables.
Ward took the ACC by storm leading all of FBS with 39 touchdowns, and I think could see even more success in the NFL in a pro system.
Not many were shocked to see Travis Hunter go off the board with the second pick, but there was a “Draft Day”-like trade made as the Jacksonville Jaguars traded up to pick up the second overall selection from the Cleveland Browns.
The Jags and first year Head Coach Liam Coen get what many have called “the Unicorn” of football as Hunter is expected to continue to play both offense as a wide receiver and contribute as a defensive back on the flip side as well like he has for Coach Prime at Colorado and Jackson State.
This can be a franchise changing and possibly league changing selection if it goes how DUVAL expects. Like the way the Shohei Ohtani has changed the Dodgers and the game of baseball as a two-way player, Hunter can be that for the Jags and the NFL.
The trenches took the show for much of the first round as eight of the next eleven selections (3-13) were a combination of four offensive linemen and four defensive linemen.
The hometown Atlanta Falcons would stay in the state of Georgia and select a Georgia Bulldog from Athens as LB/DE Jalon Walker would become the newest “Dirty Bird.”
Rece Davis shocked many by bringing up the fact that the Falcons had never picked a UGA player in the first round in the modern history of the draft, but this selection finally addresses a need that the Falcons have had for a number of years in pass rush.
I think you may see Walker more as a defensive end in the Atlanta version of the red and black, but the versatility of Walker makes him an extremely appealing selection for the Falcons.
Walker was the second Kirby Smart disciple off the board as four picks earlier, the San Francisco 49ers would select Georgia Edge rusher Mykel Williams.
The 49ers have a huge history of developing pass rushers, and Williams becomes a fantastic option to play opposite of Nick Bosa for San Fran.
The Falcons made a late trade for the 26th overall pick from the LA Rams in order to add another SEC pass-rusher with the selection of Tennessee’s James Pearce Jr.
I was concerned when I saw the Falcons give up a 1st rounder for next year’s draft as part of the trade, but love where Atlanta goes with this pick.
In the span of about an hour, Atlanta completely changed the outlook of the defensive side of the ball in the Benz.
As Ohio State O-Lineman Josh Simmons was selected by the Chiefs to wrap up the first round, the final tallies have come in.
The trenches continued to run the show as 8 O-Line and 10 D-Line were taken in the first 32 picks.
There were also only 2 QBs (Cam Ward 1st overall and Jaxson Dart 25th overall) and 4 DBs off the board.
Non-surprisingly the SEC led the way with 15 picks hailing from the SouthEastern Conference and the Big Ten setting a conference record with 11 1st round selections.
We mentioned earlier that there was a lot of “chalk” in the first round, but a couple of surprises of names that have to wait for day two would be Will Johnson (Michigan CB) who has been dealing with questions about injuries over the years and Shedeur Sanders (Colorado QB) who, along with his dad, have been vocal about being “picky” of what team to select.
With The 1st Pick
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
“With the First Pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Tennessee Titans select Cameron Ward, Quarterback, Miami…”
That’s not only the phrase that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell uttered making Cam Ward the first overall selection in the Draft on Thursday night, but it’s also a phrase that many people would have laughed at even a year ago. Cam Ward’s path is one that isn’t replicable but it’s one that is special and untraveled.
Ward’s story really takes off at Columbia High School, a (in relation to Texas High Schools) smaller school less than 60 miles southwest of Houston. The Columbia High tradition isn’t of star quarterbacks going to the NFL, their tradition is…. the wing-T offense.
In an offense that is well known for quarterbacks that are more magicians than gunslingers, Ward’s offense ran the ball four times as much as throwing.
Cam’s family knew the talent that ward possessed in the arm, and his mom, Patrice (who was a basketball coach at Columbia) went to the coaches to talk about it. Cam finally told his mom to not say anything else and he would “show everyone in time.”
The first glimpse of stardom came at a 2019 football camp at Incarnate Word. UIW’s head coach at the time was Eric Morris who was the one who recruited Patrick Mahomes to Texas Tech when he was the offensive coordinator for the Red Raiders.
Morris saw Ward standing out pass after pass and asked his QB Coach, Mack Leftwich and asked, “Who is this kid?” and the response was “I have no clue.” As the day went on and Ward continued to impress Morris and Leftwich tracked down his name and directly after the camp to look at the tapes and were surprised to see the Wing-T offense.
Through a relatively light recruiting process, Ward would land at Incarnate Word and hit the ground running as a freshman. In year one as a collegiate quarterback, Ward would upset the FCS #19 McNeese State on the road in his first college start and average 47 pass attempts per game including 65 pass attempts in one game.
Two seasons at Incarnate Word would see 71 touchdowns and just shy of 7,000 passing yards, then questions would come.
Ward has said that he would have been content to play his entire career as an FCS quarterback, but after his sophomore season, Eric Morris would get the chance to become the Washington State offensive coordinator.
Because of the trust between Morris and Ward, Cam would follow to the Pacific Northwest. Although Morris would only spend one season with the Cougs before returning to the Lone Star State to North Texas, Ward stayed for two seasons at Washington State then declared for the NFL Draft.
Ward thought that a mid-round selection would determine his path, but his cousin, Quandre Diggs (NFL Pro-Bowl Safety) convinced him to return to college. Ward says that Diggs told him “If you’re not a first-round pick, you’re looked at as a project. Sometimes it works, sometimes you get buried in the organization.” With that in mind, Ward welcomed offers to transfer and finally landed in Coral Cables, Florida with Mario Cristobal and the Miami Hurricanes.
It turned out to be a great decision as Ward paced the FBS with 39 touchdowns and finished second in the nation with 4,313 passing yards. That sets Ward up for the night he’s always dreamed of.
In the shadows of Labeau Field, Cam Ward became a Tennessee Titan and looks to get the franchise that has struggled mightily the last few years back on track, and through all the naysayers, against all odds, Cam Ward is the number one pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
