ATHENS – We’re all going to see a lot more of D.J. Shockley this fall.
Shockley, a former NFL player and SEC championship-winning quarterback for the Georgia Bulldogs, has agreed to terms with UGA and Learfield IMG College to succeed Chuck Dowdle in the ambassador role that includes being the sideline reporter for radio broadcasts and hosting coaches’ shows and other events, people with knowledge of the situation told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday. Shockley actually hosted a donor event with coach Kirby Smart earlier this week in Athens.
Simultaneously, Shockley has accepted a full-time position as the Monday-Friday sports anchor for WAGA Channel 5′s newscasts. Ken Rodriguez retired from that role last month after 30 years with the station.
So, Shockley is going to be busier than ever this fall. The 38-year-old Atlanta native has stayed pretty busy as it is. The past couple of years he has worked for ESPN as a college football analyst with both the SEC Network and the ACC Network. He did that while also serving as co-host of Channel 5′s weekly “Early Birds” show previewing Falcons’ games.
Thanks in part to the job that Dowdle did, the position Shockley is inheriting is a fairly high-profile one for UGA athletics. In addition to covering every Georgia football game from the sidelines for the Georgia Bulldogs radio network, Shockley will interview Smart before and after games, host the weekly “Inside Georgia Football with Kirby Smart” show and serve as master of ceremonies for banquets and appearances that include Smart and coaches of other UGA sports. Shockley has done several in-house video productions for Georgia through Learfield IMG College, a third-party corporate marketing firm that has offices in Atlanta.
Of course, Shockley is best known for his work with the Georgia Bulldogs. A 4-star quarterback out of College Park, Shockley shared time with former star David Greene for three years. But rather than transfer for more playing time elsewhere, Shockley stuck it out so he could be the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback his senior season. Shockley then led Georgia to the 2005 SEC championship.
Shockley started in 12 of the Bulldogs’ 13 games – he missed the Florida game with a knee injury – and passed for 2,588 yards and 24 touchdowns with five interceptions, while also rushing for 322 yards and four more scores. In four seasons, Shockley had 4,198 total yards and scored 41 touchdowns while the Bulldogs went 44-9 on the field.
After college, Shockley was selected by the Falcons in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL draft. Shockley made the team as a third-string quarterback and was competing for a larger role the next season when he suffered another knee injury. He made the roster again in 2008, but was cut before the 2009 season. Shockley briefly played in the short-lived UFL for the Omaha Nighthawks before retiring from football and entering the work force in various media roles.
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