1. The no-spin zone. Falcons wide receiver O.J. Hiliare has been turning heads in training camp with some spectacular catches and nearly had the potential game-winning touchdown against the Dolphins in the exhibition opener Friday.
“After I looked at it in the stadium, it looked like a touchdown,” Hiliare said. “The TV copy looks a little different. But in the stadium, I thought I did everything. I placed and dragged (the left foot). I guess I’ve got to keep it down for a little bit longer.”
Hiliare was pushed on the play.
“As the defender pushed me, my feet came off the ground to try to brace my fall,” Hiliare said. “I just have to take the fall and keep my feet on the ground. Next time it will be a touchdown. It just comes with experience.”
Hiliare is an undrafted rookie the Falcons signed after the draft. He played three seasons at Alabama A&M in the SWAC and two seasons at Bowling Green in the MAC.
He caught eight passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns to help Bowling Green upset Toledo in 2022.
“I had one (scholarship) offer out of high school,” said Hiliare, who’s from Belle Glade, Florida. “Went there for three years. We didn’t get to play at all in 2020 because of COVID-19. In 2019, my freshmen year I had an OK year. I was starting and returning.
“Then in 2021 was my sophomore year. I had a big season that year. My quarterback was leaving (and) we didn’t have any backup quarterbacks at that time so I kind of took it up on myself to make a business decision.”
In 22 games for the Bulldogs, Hiliare caught 103 passes for 1,365 yards and 13 touchdowns. He was listed at 6-foot and 160 pounds at Alabama State. He’s since bulked up to 180 pounds.
“I jumped in the (transfer) portal and got to Bowling Green,” Hiliare said. “That was my first bigger school that offered me. I went to visit there and committed there. Everything else is history.”
Hiliare had a strong showing for the Falcons (Bowling Green’s nickname).
“Went to Bowling Green and got second-team All-MAC my first year,” Hiliare said. “Third-team All-MAC my senior year. Put up 750 (yards receiving) my junior year, 500 my senior year. Now, we are here.”
He had 58 catches for 747 yards and six touchdowns in 2022 and 45 catches for 532 and four touchdowns in 2023.
“Football is football,” Hiliare said. “I’d just say that the X’s and O’s, we did lot of X’s and O’s. At Alabama A&M, we just played simple football. Take what is given. But Bowling Green, we were in depth. We had to know different depths of football. I learned more football on the X’s and O’s at Bowling Green.”
The big rival for Alabama A&M was Alabama State. Bowling Green’s big rival was Toledo.
“I lost to them my senior year,” Hiliare said. “It’s always a good game to play against those guys. They always have one of the championship contending teams. That is always a good experience.”
Bowling Green lost to Michigan 31-6 last season, as the Wolverines were on their way to winning the national championship. The Falcons also lost to Minnesota 30-24 in the Quick Lane Bowl.
“I don’t like going up to Michigan when it’s the winter time,” Hiliare said. “(Overall), it was a good experience for me. I loved it.”
Hiliare is probably a long shot to make the roster, but we may see him on the practice squad.
2. Big media tour: There will be a media tour of the Falcons’ new facilities Wednesday.
“It’s good,” Falcons guard/center Jovaughn Gwyn said. “Everything is nice. Just everything is new, and we have more space. That’s the weight room and the locker room. There is more space. So, that’s the biggest thing.”
3. Exhibition-season injuries: Falcons coach Raheem Morris lost three players to major injuries in the first week of the exhibition season, and a fourth is out for a significant period of time.
Wide receiver Rondale Moore (knee), outside linebacker Bralen Trice (ACL knee), cornerback Harrison Hand (knee) all were placed on injured reserve. Safety DeMarcco Hellams (ankle) is out indefinitely.
“I don’t want to play in the games,” Morris said about the games the owners still charge full prices for. “I really don’t. You’ve got to play some of the guys. You play your first-year outside (linebacker) to give him just a little bit of game repetition and then all the guys with some real playing experience you don’t really want to play.
“You had DeMarcco out there who’s played half a season or whatever it was last year. So, you just want to get them a little bit of rep, kind of like what you got with Richie (Grant) and you always look back and anytime a guy gets hurt, you want to blame yourself.
“I definitely take full responsibility for that when our guys get hurt in (exhibition) games. It doesn’t change anything. It just kind of further tells how I feel about the (exhibitions) when it comes to those type of things, when you can’t mitigate injury.”
4. Position battles affected: Players must play to help settle some position battles. Morris was asked what he tells players after an injury like the one Hellams suffered, which happened on Miami’s second play from scrimmage early in the first quarter.
“I kind of talk about it well beforehand,” Morris said. “Like, we’ve got some real significant battle positions for starting roles whether it be Mike Hughes and Clark (Phillips III), whether it be DeMarcco, when it was Richie and all those kind of guys.
“So, they kind of go into it knowing what the fight is and what the competition level is here, and that’s really a good thing. You always want to have guys and their competitive level to think that way. But now you’ve got to go out there and compete against the next person.”
Morris believes he can settle those battles in practice (with no live tackling).
“I really get fired up about these practices, I really get fired up about seeing these guys go practice 1′s vs. 2′s, 2′s vs. 1′s,” Morris said. “That’s what we’ll get a chance to get this week up until we get to the games. So that’ll be fun to watch people compete again and kind of reset the roster.”
5. Gwyn was ready to go: Gwyn started at center for Ryan Neuzil (calf injury) against the Dolphins. Neuzil returned to practice Monday.
“It went pretty good,” Gwyn said. “We could have done some stuff better, but we played pretty good as a whole.”
Gwyn enjoyed working with rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
“Just putting everything together,” Gwyn said. “Complement the run and the pass is something that we need to do. Keeping him upright and getting the run game going, other than that, I think it was pretty straight.”
Gwyn, who was drafted in the seventh round in 2023 out of South Carolina, has been working at left and right guard. He’s trying to make the team as a backup guard/center.
“Every other day or so, I’m transferring from both guard positions and then also getting that center in,” Gwyn said. “Just making sure that I stay versatile and know what to do on everything. It’s been going good.”
6. Pitts in the new offense: Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts is fine with the new offensive scheme.
“Just knowing that ball is ball at the end of the day,” Pitts said. “It’s better now, knowing that most offenses are correlated to some sort of way to different terminology. I’m just trying to use that to my advantage.”
7. Poole named Reinhardt’s new women’s flag football coach: Tyrone Poole, who played in the NFL from 1995-2008, recently was named as the new head coach for Reinhardt’s women’s flag football team.
Poole, who’s from LaGrange and played at Fort Valley State, won two Super Bowls playing with New England. He also played with the Panthers, Colts, Broncos, Raiders, and Titans.
“We are excited to welcome Tyrone Poole to Reinhardt University,” athletic director Jeffrey Pourchier said. “Coach Poole has proven he is a winner on and off the field.”
8. Falcons’ 90-man roster analysis: Need to get ready for the exhibition game against the Ravens? You can review our position-by-position analysis of the 90-man roster.
Part 3: Wide receivers/tight ends
9. Official depth chart: After a rash of injuries, the Falcons did some juggling on their second depth chart of the exhibition season.
The Falcons (0-1) are set to play the Ravens (0-1) at noon on Saturday in Baltimore.
Here’s the Falcons’ official depth chart:
OFFENSE
QB – Kirk Cousins, Michael Penix Jr., Taylor Heinicke, John Paddock
RB – Bijan Robinson, Tyler Allgeier, Avery Williams, Jase McClellan, Carlos Washington Jr., Spencer Brown
WR – Drake London, Chris Blair, James Washington, Jakeem Grant Sr.
Slot WR – Ray-Ray McCloud, Khadarel Hodge, Dylan Drummond, Jesse Matthews
TE – Kyle Pitts, John FitzPatrick, Jordan Thomas
LT – Jake Matthews, Barry Wesley, Julien Davenport, Jarryd Jones-Smith
LG – Matthew Bergeron, Jovaughn Gwyn
C – Drew Dalman, Ryan Neuzil, Jovaughn Gwyn
RG – Chris Lindstrom, Kyle Hinton, John Leglue
RT – Kaleb McGary, Storm Norton, Andrew Stueber, Zack Bailey
TE – Charlie Woerner, Ross Dwelley, Austin Stogner
WR – Darnell Mooney, Casey Washington, Josh Ali, OJ Hiliare
DEFENSE 3-4 alignment (4-2-5 nickel)
DL – Zach Harrison, Ta’Quon Graham, Brandon Dorlus, LaCale London
DL – David Onyemata, Ruke Orhorhoro, Zion Logue, Prince Emil
DL – Grady Jarrett, Kentavius Street, Eddie Goldman, Tommy Togiai
LOLB – Arnold Ebiketie, Demone Harris, Kehinde Oginni (International)
LILB – Kaden Elliss, JD Bertrand, Milo Eifler
RILB – Troy Andersen, Nate Landman, Donavan Mutin
ROLB – Lorenzo Carter, James Smith-Williams, Bradlee Anae, DeAngelo Malone
CB – A.J. Terrell, Kevin King, Anthony Johnson, Natrone Brooks, William Hooper
Nickel CB – Dee Alford, Antonio Hamilton Sr., Jayden Price
FS – Jessie Bates III, Micah Abernathy, Dane Cruikshank, Tre Tarpley III
SS – Richie Grant, DeMarcco Hellams, Lukas Denis, Josh Thompson
CB – Mike Hughes, Clark Phillips III, Trey Vaval,
SPECIAL TEAMS
K – Younghoe Koo
P/H – Bradley Pinion, Ryan Sanborn
LS – Liam McCullough
PR – Ray-Ray McCloud, Mike Hughes
KOR – Avery Williams
About the Author
