Georgia
Georgia baseball shares personal significance of CWS opportunity, faces NC State at noon Saturday
ATHENS – Georgia baseball has already shocked many across the country, but a trip to the College World Series could cement a lasting legacy as coach Wes Johnson looks to recompose the program.
The Bulldogs (42-15) are just two wins away from erasing a 16-year CWS drought. UGA will fight to raise some more eyebrows when it opens a three-game super regional series against NC State at noon on Saturday at Foley Field (TV: ESPNU).
A CWS berth would be a massive step for the Georgia program as it looks to move back into national relevance and stay there.
But for long-time Bulldogs like Corey Collins and Charlie Condon, the road to Omaha has more personal significance.
Collins, who has been at Georgia since 2021, saw the program scuffle for three seasons. He experienced the Bulldogs miss the NCAA tournament outright in 2021 and 2023 and was there to watch the team suffer a heartbreak elimination at North Carolina’s regional in 2022.
Collins finished his first season on the SEC All-Freshman Team before statistically slumping his sophomore and junior years.
Then the Suwanee native found his stride – and health – again near the beginning of the 2024 SEC season and has been one of the country’s top leadoff hitters since. It was Collins who offensively willed Georgia into the super regionals with a two-out, two-run double to lift UGA over Georgia Tech in extra innings.
“It means the world,” Collins said. “We fell in love with this place the first day we stepped on it. We wanted to bring this back here for as long as we’ve been here. To us, it means everything.”
Condon, in his third year at Georgia, saw the heartache, too. The Golden Spikes Award finalist began building into his 6-foot-6 frame during his true freshman season and has led the Bulldog offense over the last two seasons.
Condon has often talked about “bringing Georgia baseball back” to the glory it last had in 2008.
“It was really getting everybody to buy into what this program is and what it looked like before,” Condon said. “We really believed that for a very long time and that’s why we’re here – the persistence of this group, and the willingness to never quit and get better. This has kind of been the vision for a while.”
A trip to Omaha would only further establish the first-year coach Johnson, who is already Georgia’s only first-year coach to host and win a regional.
Johnson’s transfer portal prowess built a veteran team around the core he inherited in Athens, and then the head coach established a culture of belief and confidence within the team.
Johnson was certainly confident in himself, using his systems to restructure a sliding program in less than a year.
“For us, it just shows that you can come in,” Johnson said. “I heard the term so many times when I got here about rebuild, rebuild, rebuild.
“You just know that you don’t have to rebuild — that you can go out and if you do your due diligence and run your models and everything else you can find a team that can win in your ballpark.”
Indeed, No. 7 seed Georgia has plenty left to prove against the No. 10 seed Wolfpack (36-20) this weekend.
The Bulldogs aim to start proving things early against NC State ace Sam Highfill. The right-hander enters Athens with a 5.35 ERA coming off a solid performance in NC State’s regional.
Highfill surrendered two runs on four hits in 6.0 innings of work in a regional-opening win against Bryant.
Johnson plans to counter with sophomore right-hander Kolten Smith. The team’s strikeout leader is arguably Georgia’s hottest pitcher and will enter Saturday with a 4.41 ERA.
Fellow sophomore starter Leighton Finley has typically opened series for the Bulldogs this season, but Finley closed Georgia’s win over Tech after starting the regional opener two days before.
Smith only threw 82 pitches in Saturday’s regional win over UNC Wilmington before leaving with a forearm cramp.
UGA is 3-2 against NC State all-time, including a 2-1 record against the Wolfpack in the 2008 Athens Super Regional to advance to the CWS.
Georgia
Georgia House Special Runoff Election 2026 Live Results
The expected vote is the total number of votes that are expected in a given race once all votes are counted. This number is an estimate and is based on several different factors, including information on the number of votes cast early as well as information provided to our vote reporters on Election Day from county election officials. The figure can change as NBC News gathers new information.
Source: Vote data via the Associated Press. Projections by the NBC News Decision Desk.
Georgia
New Safe Haven Law: Georgia ‘baby box’ bill heads to Gov. Kemp
Georgia passes anonymous ‘baby box’ bill
Georgia lawmakers have approved House Bill 350, a life-saving measure allowing anonymous infant surrender through secure, monitored safety boxes at fire and police stations.
ATLANTA – A new bill headed to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk aims to provide Georgians with a safe way to surrender an infant through the installation of “baby safe haven boxes.” The legislation, which passed both the House and Senate last week, serves as an extension of Georgia’s current Safe Haven law.
What we know:
Under existing state law, a mother can surrender a child up to 30 days after birth at a fire department, police station, or hospital without facing prosecution. The new bill would expand these options by allowing for the installation of medical-grade safety boxes at these locations.
The boxes are designed to be installed on the exterior of hospitals, fire stations, or police stations. According to the legislation, these units will be equipped with security cameras to record anyone accessing the box. Once a child is placed inside, an automated system will trigger a 911 call to alert emergency responders. The infant is then transported to a hospital before being placed into the custody of the Department of Family and Children Services.
Local governments will not be responsible for the cost of the units. Instead, individual communities must fundraise if they wish to install a safety box in their area.
What they’re saying:
Advocates like Brittany Almon, who worked with legislators to support the bill, say the mission is deeply personal. Almon became an adoptive mother in 2022 to a boy who was surrendered under the state’s current Safe Haven Law.
“In 2022, I became an adoptive mom to a little boy who was surrendered under our current safe haven law. His biological mother did a face-to-face surrender,” Almon said. “He was a healthy baby boy and whatever her circumstances were, she knew that she couldn’t give him the life he deserved, and she knew there was somebody out there that could.”
Almon explained that the boxes provide a specialized environment for the infant while offering support to the parent.
“Inside the box, there’s a medical-grade bassinet that she will place her baby in. There’s actually also some resources that will fall out to her in an orange bag,” Almon said. “Once that door is shut, there’s a 30-second delay let her, the person, walk away. And from there, an alarm goes off, and that alarm will alert fire station or hospital staff that a newborn is in the box.”
Once the alarm sounds and the child is recovered, Almon noted that “then from there that baby is placed into the Department of Family and Children Services’ custody.”
While the use of surrender boxes has sparked debate, Almon argued that increasing available options is the priority.
“The more resources offer someone, the better it can be to help someone navigate the situation they’re in,” Almon said. “We can always judge people for what they do, and why do it, because we don’t know their circumstances.”
You can read more about Almon’s efforts here.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from the text of the Georgia legislation, an interview with advocate Brittany Almon, and official records from the Georgia General Assembly.
Georgia
Falcons address biggest hole with Georgia prospect in new mock draft
For a long time it seemed the Atlanta Falcons were purposefully avoiding drafting prospects from Georgia for some reason. There are signs that’s changing with the new front office regime, though. Last month Kirby Smart commented on how his program is developing a relationship with the Falcons.
That’s a good sign for Atlanta’s defensive front-seven, because that group needs all the help they can get and it’s where the Bulldogs have thrived the most in recent years. Jalon Walker is helping to reinvigorate their pass rush, and more help could be on the way soon.
In a new five-round mock draft from NFL.com, the Falcons hit up that local resource again and take Georgia defensive tackle Christen Miller at No. 48 overall.
At the combine Miller checked in at 6-foot-4, 321 pounds with 33″ arms and 10″ hands. Here’s the highlight reel.
Like most nose tackle prospects, Miller’s college production (four sacks, 11.5 TFL) doesn’t exactly jump off the page.
However, the scouting report on Miller mentions both upper and lower body power in addition to good balance. Those traits should make him a solid nose tackle at the next level.
If the Falcons do end up drafting Miller, he should project to be starting up front in Week 1.
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