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.
Expect to see more of Mike Tomlin in Athens
Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was rocking Georgia’s Power “G” on a black shirt last week as he prepared his team for Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers. Always a fan of the Bulldogs – he has drafted three in the past two years – Tomlin is expected to be in Athens even more the next few years as his daughter signed a gymnastics scholarship with UGA on Wednesday.
Harley Tomlin is a 4-star-rated gymnast who committed to the Bulldogs in the fall of 2022. But as a Class of 2024 recruit, she could not sign a letter-of-intent until this year’s fall signing period, which opened Wednesday. Harley Tomlin signed on the first day, and her father posted the news on his personal Instagram page.
“Signing Day. Best athlete in the house, no doubt!” Tomlin wrote in his post.
Georgia gymnastics also posted the news on its official Twitter page. “As soon as I stepped on campus, I knew that I wanted to spend my college career in Athens,” Harley Tomlin wrote.
Mike Tomlin is quite familiar with Athens. He comes to UGA’s campus every March to attend Georgia’s Pro Day at the football complex. The Steelers have drafted wide receiver George Pickens, offensive tackle Broderick Jones and tight end Darnell Washington off the Bulldogs’ roster. Hines Ward, one of Tomlin’s favorite Steelers of all-time, also is a UGA grad.
“Harley” is the nickname Harlyn Tomlin goes by. Her specialty is the beam, but she was crowned All-Around champion in Region 7 in both 2022 and 2023. Training at Xquisite Gymnastics, Tomlin also is a three-time USA Gymnastics Developmental Program Nationals qualifier.
Tomlin is one of three gymnasts that coach Courtney Kupets Carter signed this past week. The others are Nyla Aquino of Boston and Brooke Gleichowski of Gainesville, Florida.
“We are thrilled about this signing class,” Kupets Carter said in a news release. “Our staff has worked extremely hard, and we’re ready to get to work with these talented athletes. This is an exciting time for Georgia Gymnastics, and these gymnasts are a wonderful addition to what we are building.”
So you say, there is a chance?
The Falcons started the season 4-5, with shaky losses to the Commanders, Titans and Vikings.
Over the past 10 seasons, no team has started 4-5 and won the Super Bowl or a conference championship game, according to betgeorgia.com.
Overall, 16 of the 58 4-5 teams (27.6%) rebounded to make the playoffs.
Nine of the teams (15.6%) won a wild-card round playoff game. Three (5.2%) won a divisional-round game.
The Falcons have not reached the playoffs since the 2017 season.
Love for Leonard
Georgia Tech tight end Dylan Leonard caught three passes in Tech’s win at Virginia, giving the senior three consecutive games with a catch and six receptions total in those games.
But Tech coach Brent Key isn’t concerned with how many grabs Leonard gets or doesn’t get. Key’s love for Leonard goes beyond what the Milton High graduate does on the stat sheet.
“If anybody has watched Dylan Leonard play football this season, they would be blown away. No. 2 is playing as good as any tight end in the country right now when it comes to the way he blocks, blocks in the core, blocks moving, blocks on the perimeter. I could not be more proud of that kid right now and what he’s doing for this football team,” Key said this week. “You wanna talk about someone that bleeds Georgia Tech, bleeds white and gold and is all about this place? Watch the way he plays for 50 plays, 60 plays, 65 plays in the game.
“He is Georgia Tech. That’s the grit, that’s the toughness, that’s the intelligence, that’s everything that this program is about, is the way he’s playing the game. To get a couple of catches, three catches, four catches, that’s a bonus. That’s a bonus to what he’s doing for this football team. What No. 2 has been able to do for us offensively? Holy cow. He is a vital, vital key in what we’re doing.”
Leonard enters Saturday’s game at Clemson with 10 catches for 100 yards this season. He’s still looking for his first career touchdown reception since arriving on campus in 2019.
According to Pro Football Focus, Leonard is Tech’s highest-graded pass blocker and eighth-best run blocker on zone blocking plays.
Plenty of interest in Mexico City
For its Mexico City game Thursday between the Hawks and the Magic, the NBA credentialed over 300 people, with roughly 80 credentials going to local media members in Mexico City.
It looked that way when practice availability opened for the five players requested to speak. Scrums of media, sometimes four rows deep, huddled around Bogdan Bogdanovic, Clint Capela, Patty Mills, Dejounte Murray and Trae Young.
They all looked for answers on the players’ time in Mexico and what has led to some of the Hawks’ early success. In the case of Bogdanovic and Mills, the topic everyone seemed interested in.
Raiders QB Aidan O’Connell has cheering section in Flowery Branch
New Raiders starting quarterback Aidan O’Connell has a cheering section in Flowery Branch.
He was coached by the Falcons’ staff in the East-West Shrine Bowl last season, with special-teams coordinator Marquice Williams serving as the head coach.
Running back coach Michael Pitre was the quarterbacks coach and tight ends coach Justin Peelle was the offensive coordinator.
O’Connell took over for Jimmy Garoppolo in Las Vegas and helped the Raiders post a 30-6 win over the Giants.
“Just being around him for nine to 10 days it was cool to see the maturation process of him going into a work week,” Williams said. “I give a lot of credit to our staff during that week.”
Williams thought that O’Connell had a chance to play in the NFL. O’Connell played four seasons for Purdue and completed 826 of 1,239 passes (66.7%) for 9,219 yards, 65 touchdowns and 30 interceptions.
“Being able to sit in the quarterback (meeting) room and see how they went through their process,” Williams said. “Seeing how they took notes. How they studied. How they are around their teammates. Again, it was uncomfortable for a guy like Aidan because he was around a whole new group of teammates for 10 days. Seeing him going into the game. Seeing how he operated in practice.”
The Falcons coaches were watching after he was named the starter by interim coach Antonio Pierce.
“Now, seeing him in Las Vegas, which is crazy because we were in Las Vegas, and seeing him going out there and get a game ball after the game and helping the team win a game,” Williams said. “It was cool to see that. Seeing that process and seeing where it started with him and with him going into his first official interview for the NFL. Now, putting it together and winning a ballgame for the Raiders. I’m excited for him, and I know his best days are to come.”
Good news for Tech
Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King said he truly believed the offense would be this explosive entering the season.
“Getting their defense running sideline-to-sideline,” King said. “Now we run the ball, they’re tired. We want to pass the ball, we’re spinning the ball out on the perimeter, having them run like that, then we run it. It gets the defense off-track, and it makes them tired. When we pass the ball, the pass rush is not all the way – it’s still there, but not all the way there. Everything just complements each other.”
Tech’s success is underappreciated nationally, but after several years of irrelevance, the team has a winning record in November (5-4) with one of the 20 best offenses in the country. Good news for Tech supporters: King is just a third-year sophomore with multiple seasons of eligibility remaining.
Give Wash credit
The Braves organization is applauding third base coach Ron Washington, who’s leaving to manage the Angels. His defensive work was vital to the franchise’s rise back to prominence. One of his under-the-radar achievements: helping turn Freddie Freeman into a temporary third baseman.
Remember that? Back in those days, the Braves were desperate to keep Matt Adams’ bat in the lineup, so Freeman shifted from first base to third base in June 2017.
“I felt like I was in the right position on every single (grounder). I was always looking at Wash, and he would always say I was in the right spot,” Freeman said after his first start at third. He played 16 games at third that season, committing one error, then never did again. But we’ll give Washington some credit for that short-but-unforgettable stretch.
-Staff writers Lauren Williams, D. Orlando Ledbetter, Chad Bishop, Gabriel Burns and Chip Towers contributed to this report.
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