The following, a weekly feature of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, allows our reporters to open their notebooks and provide even more information from our local teams that we cover daily. We think you’ll find it informative, insightful and fun.
From a World Series winner to a contender
C.J. Nitkowski, the new lead analyst for Braves games, formerly called games for the team that won the World Series.
Not that he saw it coming.
He knew the Rangers were a terrific team, but they struggled toward the end of the season, and they limped to the finish line.
“And so to get to that last day, and to feel how deflating it was, it was like, ‘Man, this is not gonna go well. It’s crazy to think this whole year, as good as they were, stumble down the stretch, now you gotta go to Tampa, this isn’t gonna be good,’” Nitkowski recalled thinking. “And then they just went on a roll. It was crazy. It was fun to watch.”
Nitkowski did some postseason shows throughout the Rangers’ run. He took his two oldest kids to Games 1 and 2 of the World Series in Arlington, Texas. He took his youngest child to Game 4 in Arizona. He planned to take his wife to Game 6 in Arlington, but the series never made it there.
The Rangers won in five games.
“It was amazing,” Nitkowski said. “To me, the lesson from that was just: You never know. You just gotta get in, and you never know who’s going to get hot.”
The Braves experienced this in 2021. They still are loaded.
Perhaps they’ll soon win another ring.
Culture Club
The word “culture” is thrown around a lot these days in the sports world, especially in college athletics. If a team is bad, perhaps they have a culture problem. If a team is winning, well they must have a good culture within the program.
First-year Georgia Tech basketball coach Damon Stoudamire recently was asked about how the culture of his program has developed over the past nine-plus months.
“In terms of culture, you’re fighting for that each and every day,” he said. “That’s why practices are – they’re not as cool for them. I just try to share my experiences as a player. I try to share my experiences that I’ve been with coaching in terms of the players I’ve been with. And I try to get them that everything that I do is for them when they leave me. It’s not really for here.”
Stoudamire’s Yellow Jackets had won six of their first nine games, including victories over Mississippi State, Duke and Penn State and have had only one brief two-game losing streak. The former NBA star added 10 new players to his roster for 2023-24 and has signed two prospects to join the program next season.
He said that creating a positive culture is not just incumbent upon him, but his players as well.
“The culture that I create and the culture that I wanna create is really just one of accountability,” he added. “I want players that I recruit to be able to call guys and ask them about the program and they don’t ever waver from the things that they’re preaching. That’s what I want.”
‘That dude can run’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution talked with Buford quarterback Dylan Raiola last month. He spoke glowingly of Georgia, the school to which he was long committed before pivoting to Nebraska in the process’ final stage.
Raiola’s teammate, five-star safety K.J. Bolden, followed the opposite path. Long pledged to Florida State, he switched to Georgia. Bolden was a star receiver for Buford, too, and here’s what Raiola said then about the new Bulldog.
“That dude can run,” Raiola said. “You just find him in space, find him in a matchup, I know he’s going to capitalize. I think it’s a lot of fun playing with him. He knows when I’m going to come to him. He knows how to scramble. He’s just an all-around smart football player.”
KSU a players’ program
It was fair to expect some drop-off from Kennesaw State basketball after coach Amir Abdur-Rahim left for South Florida (and took several players with him). But the Owls, under new head man Antoine Pettway, actually are better through 12 games than they were a year ago (9-3 versus 8-4 in 2022). KSU quietly has become the most consistent collegiate basketball program in the state.
“They (previously) won one way,” Pettway told the AJC. “We’re going to try to win our way. I just showed them our style of play and how it could benefit them. More importantly, I just showed them I had their best interests at heart. This is a players’ program.”
Arthur Smith on his job security
Falcons coach Arthur Smith touted the franchise’s culture when asked if he’d heard owner Arthur Blank’s comments about his future.
“I think like everything, and I said it on Monday, it’s professional football,” Smith said. “You sign up because you want to compete. Look, I am so fortunate. Every building – you’ve covered different places, right? The one thing we have here in Atlanta is an unbelievable culture.”
Smith has enjoyed working with Blank, who has a custom of meeting with the head coach after games.
“Taking this job, I could not have a better mentor or boss,” Smith said. “Every place that I’ve been has been different. I’ve never been in this role, but I’ve watched from afar. All you try to build with any kind of leadership team is consistency, and that’s all we’ve ever had here. He’s been an unbelievable mentor.”
Smith knows that winning is the expectation.
“Your job is to win,” Smith said. “So, no one is going to be more frustrated than myself, and nobody is going to put more pressure, which I want. This is what you embrace. I love it. I love the challenge that like, ‘Hey, look. Not happy. I’m frustrated because you lose a couple of games.’ "
Smith appears to be fine with the speculation about his future.
“If you’re ever looking to get into pro football to be comfortable, shame on you,” Smith said. “That’s not bravado. That’s what you love about it. You want to compete. That’s what the job description is. That’s part of the job.
“I’m thankful every day that I have the opportunity to do this because you’re doing something you love. I love that part about this profession. Every building is different. Who knows how they work, but I’ve had one of the greatest setups I think you could have in terms of consistency and unbelievable cooperation throughout the building. That’s why I love working here so much.”
Ridder: ‘The dumbest play I’ve made in my career’
Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder took his benching in stride.
“At the end of the day, it’s performance-based,” Ridder said. “I wasn’t performing to the ability that I knew myself and I know that coach Art (Smith) knows that I can play to.”
Ridder’s turnovers became too much for the coaching staff.
“I have to look at the main overlaying issues, those are going happen,” Ridder said. “I would definitely say the pick last week in the game against Carolina was probably the dumbest play I’ve made in my career. Things happen. Mistakes happen.”
Kirby Smart: ‘Portal is a good thing’
The NCAA’s transfer portal continues to fill with Georgia Bulldogs. Joshua Miller, a freshman offensive lineman from Chesterfield, Virginia, became the 16th scholarship player, and 18th overall, to fill out transfer paperwork since the end of the season.
Miller was a 3-star signee in the Class of 2023. A 6-foot-4, 310-pounder interior lineman, Miller did not play in any games for the Bulldogs this season.
As of Thursday, UGA had added only one player via the portal, though a few more are expected to come its way eventually. Landon Humphreys, a sophomore receiver at Vanderbilt last season, announced his plans to play for the Bulldogs next season.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart insist he’s not sweating it.
“You know, the portal is a good thing; let’s don’t make it a negative,” the Bulldogs’ eighth-year coach said this past week. “If you’ve been in a program for three years and you’re not playing and you don’t feel like you’re going to play or you don’t feel like you’re being developed and it doesn’t look great, you might need to look somewhere else. And that’s an OK thing.”
The issue for the Bulldogs this year is the number of young players seeking transfers. The group includes three freshmen and three redshirt freshmen. First-year wideout Zeed Haynes followed coach Fran Brown to Syracuse. Redshirt freshman outside linebacker CJ Madden is now at Purdue. A.J. Harris, a 5-star cornerback from Phenix City, Alabama, entered his name in the portal just last week after playing in seven games his first season with the Bulldogs.
“When you’re a first-year and you’re doing that, it becomes a little bit, you know, more alarming,” Smart said. “Why did you go there in the first place? You never really gave it a chance to grow.”
Georgia isn’t resigned to losing them all. Harris is among the underclassmen the Bulldogs are trying to convince to come back. That happened with offensive tackle Amarius Mims, who entered the portal in 2022 after his freshman season, visited FSU and eventually rejoined the Bulldogs after spring practice.
“Our messaging has been all along, ‘let’s get the right guys in here,’” Smart said Wednesday on signing day. “This group we just signed, I’m a lot more worried about the retention.”
UGA TRANSFER PORTAL UPDATE
- QB Brock Vandagriff, 6-3, 215, So. – Kentucky
- DL Jonathan Jefferson, 6-3, 295, So. – SMU
- WR Jackson Meeks, 6-2, 205, Jr. – Syracuse
- WR Yazeed Haynes, 6-1, 170, Fr. – Syracuse
- OL Austin Blaske, 6-5, 310, Jr. – North Carolina
- OLB CJ Madden, 6-4, 240, RFr. – Purdue
- OLB Marvin Jones Jr., 6-5, 250, So. – Florida State
- LB Jamon Dumas-Johnson, 6-1, 235, Jr. – Kentucky
- ILB Xavian Sorey, 6-3, 220, So. – Arkansas
- LB E.J. Lightsey, 6-2, 223, RFr. – Georgia Tech
- OL Aliou Bah – 6-5, 320, RFr. – Undecided
- CB Nyland Green, 6-1, 185, So. – Undecided
- WR Mekhi Mews, 5-8, 185, So. – Undecided (walk-on)
- OLB Darris Smith, 6-5, 240, So. – Undecided
- PK Jared Zirkel, 6-3, 185, Jr. – Undecided
- WR Logan Johnson, 5-6, 155, So. – Undecided (walk-on)
- CB AJ Harris, 6-1, 190, Fr – Undecided
- OL Joshua Miller, 6-4, 310, Fr. – Undecided
-Staff writers Chad Bishop, Gabriel Burns, Justin Toscano, Chip Towers and D. Orlando Ledbetter contributed to this article.
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