Georgia

Looking Back at Every Georgia Tech First Round Pick Ahead of Tonight’s 2024 NFL Draft

Published

2 years ago

April 25, 2024

Looking Back at Every Georgia Tech First Round Pick Ahead of Tonight’s 2024 NFL Draft

Happy NFL Draft season to all who celebrate.

The first round of the 2024 NFL Draft is going to commence tonight and while there are not going to be any Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets selected tonight, some of the best NFL players of the last 15-20 years have come from Atlanta and were selected in the first round. Whether it was Calvin Johnson (one of the greatest receivers of all time), Demaryius Thomas, or Derrick Morgan, the Yellow Jackets have had several impact players go in the first round and turn out to be good NFL players. That is something that current head coach Brent Key is working to get back toward.

Lets take a look back at the first round picks that Georgia Tech has produced.

Eddie Prokop– No. 4 Overall, 1945 (Boston Yanks)

In the 1944 Sugar Bowl Prokop led his #13 Yellow Jackets to 20–18 victory over #15 ranked Tulsa. In that game, he rushed for 199 yards, threw a touchdown, and kicked two extra points.[3] The Sugar Bowl did not award a game MVP until 1948. (Per Wikipedia)

Larry Morris– No. 7 Overall, 1955 (LA Rams)

Morris was a four-year starter and a two-way player at center and linebacker positions for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Morris was also selected as three times first-team All-SEC and a team captain as a senior. He played during coach Bobby Dodd’s most successful seasons at Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets had a 40-5-2 record over Morris’ four seasons, won two SEC titles, four bowl games, and a share of the 1952 national championship with a 12–0 record. In his final game as a Yellow Jacket against rival Georgia in Athens on November 27, 1954, he played the entire game and was credited with 24 tackles as his team won 7–3. He was later named to the All-SEC 25-year team spanning 1950–1974 and in 1992 was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, one of 12 Tech players there (per Wikipedia)

Rufus Gutherie– No. 10 Overall, 1963 (LA Rams)

Eddie Lee Ivery- No. 17 overall, 1979 (Green Bay Packers)

He played at Georgia Tech from 1975-78 and remains the Yellow Jackets’ all-time leader in single-game (356 vs. Air Force – Nov. 11, 1998) and single-season (1,562 – 1978) rushing yards. He also finished his career as the Jackets’ all-time leading rusher with 3,517 career yards and still ranks third in Tech history in career rushing yardage. He went on to be selected No. 17 overall by the Green Bay Packers in the 1979 NFL Draft and rushed for 2,933 yards and 23 touchdowns in eight seasons with the Packers (1979-86). He was inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1982 and graduated from Georgia Tech in 1992.

Kent Hill- No. 26 Overall, 1979 (Los Angeles Rams)

Hill had a super successful NFL Career as an offensive lineman from 1979-1987, becoming a second team All-Pro twice (1980, 1985) and was a five-time pro bowler (1980, 1982-1985). After he retired, Hill was the director of student athlete development from 1989-1998.

Marco Coleman- No. 12 Overall , 1992 (Miami Dolphins)

From Georgia Tech Athletics:

Coleman played 14 seasons in the National Football League (1992-2005) after his hall-of-fame career at Georgia Tech (1989-91)

Coleman racked up 27.5 sacks and 50 tackles for loss in just three seasons as an outside linebacker for the Yellow Jackets, which were both school records at the end of his playing career and remain ranked fourth in the program’s all-time annals despite the fact that he played in only 34 collegiate games. He was named first-team all-America and all-Atlantic Coast Conference as a sophomore (1990) and junior (1991). As a sophomore in 1990, he led the ACC with 13 sacks and helped Georgia Tech claim its fourth national championship with an 11-0-1 campaign and a convincing 45-21 win over Nebraska in the Florida Citrus Bowl.

He went on to play 14 seasons in the NFL with the Dolphins (1992-95), San Diego Chargers (1996-98), Washington Redskins (1999-2001), Jacksonville Jaguars (2002), Philadelphia Eagles (2003) and Denver Broncos (2004-05). He was named Sports Illustrated’s 1992 NFL Rookie of the Year after tallying 84 tackles and six sacks and went on to record 610 tackles, 65.5 sacks and 18 forced fumbles in 14 pro seasons. He earned a spot in the Pro Bowl after registering a career-high 12 sacks for the Redskins in 2000.

He retired after the 2005 season.

Keith Brooking, No. 12 Overall- 1998 (Atlanta Falcons)

From Evan Birchfield at the Falcaholic:

“At Georgia Tech, Brooking became the all-time leading tackler in Georgia Tech history with 467 tackles. He was voted a team captain by his teammates and was a finalist for the prestigious Dick Butkus Award. Brooking averaged 13.3 tackles per game in 1995 and in 1996 he had the second-most tackles per game in the ACC with 13.4 per game. His collegiate career ended with a victory over West Virginia in the Carquest Bowl, where he recorded an interception and 15 tackles.”

Brooking is one of the best players in Georgia Tech history and went on to have a fantastic career for the Atlanta Falcons.

Calvin Johnson, No. 2 overall- 2007 (Detroit Lions)

From ProFootballHOF:

“Johnson was an immediate contributor to Chan Gailey’s offense, recording 48 catches, 837 receiving yards and seven touchdowns in his first season in Atlanta. He was named ACC Rookie of the Week four times as a freshman and immediately garnered national attention. The week-by-week accolades helped Johnson earn first-team All-ACC honors as a freshman, a rare accomplishment.

This momentum carried into Johnson’s sophomore season. He caught 54 passes for 888 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games, again earning a spot on the All-ACC first team.

Johnson entered his junior season with a lot of hype, appearing on almost every preseason list for the Biletnikoff Award and Heisman Trophy. He lived up to the expectations and produced his best season, becoming one of the greatest Yellow Jackets of all time. Johnson recorded 76 catches for 1,202 yards and 15 touchdowns, production that earned him a third consecutive first-team All-ACC bid.

He was named the ACC Player of the Year and won the Biletnikoff Award, with most knowing that his junior season would be his final at Georgia Tech. Johnson was one of the most popular wide receiver prospects in over a decade, and the NFL was calling his name.

Georgia Tech Records

Career Receiving Yards — 2,927
Receiving Yards in a Season — 1,202
Career Receiving Touchdowns — 28
Receiving Touchdowns in a Season — 15
Career 100-Yard Games — 13
100-Yard Games in a Season — 7

Awards

2006 Biletnikoff Award
2006 ACC Player of the Year
Two-time first-team All-American
Three-time first-team All-ACC
2004 ACC Rookie of the Year
Four-time ACC Rookie of the Week

Derrick Morgan, No. 16 Overall- 2010 (Tennessee Titans)

From Georgia Tech Athletics:

“A defensive end from Coatesville, Pa., Morgan recorded 19.5 sacks and 29.5 tackles for loss in three seasons for the Yellow Jackets (2007-09) and helped lead Georgia Tech to back-to-back ACC Coastal Division titles in 2008 and 2009.

He had a breakout campaign as a junior in ’09 when he amassed 12.5 sacks and 18.5 tackles for loss, totals which still rank fourth and seventh, respectively, in Georgia Tech history. In addition to being the 2009 ACC Defensive Player of the Year, he was a consensus first-team All-American. He remains the only Yellow Jacket to ever be named ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

Morgan entered the NFL Draft following his junior campaign and was selected No. 16 overall by the Tennessee Titans, making him the ninth-highest selection in Tech history. He went on to register 44.5 sacks and 306 tackles in nine NFL seasons (2010-19), all with the Titans. He retired from professional football prior to the 2019 season.”

Demaryius Thomas, No. 22 Overall- 2010 (Denver Broncos)

Thomas ranks among the Yellow Jackets’ all-time leaders in career receptions (113* – 10th), career receiving yards (2,135* – sixth), single-season receiving yards (950, 2009* – seventh), career yards per reception (18.9* – tied for sixth), single-season yards per reception (25.1* – second), career touchdown receptions (13* – tied for seventh), career 100-yard receiving games (6 – seventh) and consecutive games with a reception (29* – tied for fourth) (Per Georgia Tech PR).

The Montrose, Ga., native owns two of Georgia Tech’s top 20 single-game receiving yardage totals – 230 vs. Duke in 2008 (second) and 174 vs. Mississippi State in 2009 (16th). Selected No. 22 overall in the 2010 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos (10th-highest NFL Draft pick in Georgia Tech history), Thomas amassed 724 receptions for 9,763 yards and 63 touchdowns in 10 NFL seasons with the Broncos (2010-18), Houston Texans (2018) and New York Jets (2019). He was a five-time Pro Bowl selection and won Super Bowl 50 as a member of the Broncos.

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Why Georgia’s NIL strategy better suits its roster in 2026 than it did in 2025

Published

7 hours ago

May 9, 2026

Press Room

Why Georgia’s NIL strategy better suits its roster in 2026 than it did in 2025

Kirby Smart hasn’t hid from how Georgia goes about doling out dollars to its roster.

He wants veterans to make more than newcomers.

“I don’t want you to have to take a discount,” Smart recently told Josh Pate. “OK, a discount might be a little less than year one or two. We have we have traditionally paid our players junior and senior year as much as anybody at those positions. We don’t want to start [earlier] because I want you to earn it and work your way up.”

Smart acknowledges that route might hurt Georgia in recruiting. The 2026 recruiting cycle seems to reflect that. It was the first time Georgia signed a recruiting class that finished outside the top five of the 247Sports Composite rankings since Smart’s first class back in 2016. The Bulldogs had just two players finish in the top 50 of the player rankings, the fewest ever for a Smart signing haul.

Coming out of spring practice, it seems like the Bulldogs did a good job of identifying players who could fit and play immediately. Craig Dandridge, Tyriq Green, Khamari Brooks and Zykie Helton all had strong springs. None were viewed as top 50 overall prospects.

As for the top players on Georgia’s 2026 roster, most of them are in either their third or fourth seasons. KJ Bolden, Ellis Robinson, Nate Frazier and Chris Cole all signed as members of the 2024 recruiting class. Gunner Stockton is in his fifth year at Georgia and second as a starter.

Georgia’s 2026 team will be an older team compared to the one the Bulldogs had last season. Consider that Georgia started the year with only 10 members of the 2022 class on the roster and 13 players from the 2023 recruiting class.

This year, that number is up to 29 when you combine the number of players from the 2023 and 2024 recruiting classes on the Georgia roster. Georgia’s 2026 team will have 34 players with at least three years of experience in Athens. Last season, that number was just 25.

Part of the reason Georgia’s roster is a better reflection of its spending in 2026 is because it did a much better job of retaining talent with its 2024 class than it did with the 2023 group.

Going into last season, 13 of the 26 members of the 2023 recruiting class were no longer a part of the roster.

With the 2024 group, Georgia still has 23 of the 29 players it signed from the 2024 high school recruiting ranks. Georgia also has transfers London Humphreys and Xzavier McLeod entering their third seasons in Athens.

The gap between the two classes is particularly stark at the top. Georgia has not had just one of the 10 top 100 players it signed in the 2024 class depart the program before their third season in Athens. With the 2023 group, six of the 12 top-100 signees had already left Athens.

For as much fretting as there might about the state of Georgia’s current recruiting, the 2024 class was ranked first in the country. That collection of players, which Georgia has been able to keep together, is set to enter their season in Athens.

Georgia paid big to keep players like Bolden, Robinson and Frazier from entering the transfer portal. There was a kernel of truth when Smart ribbed Miami coach Mario Cristobal about sitting too close to Robinson at an award ceremony.

Robinson figures to be one of the best players in the country this coming season. We’ve often seen top recruits — CJ Allen and Monroe Freeling are examples from the 2023 class — have their best seasons in year three, before heading off to the NFL.

That is why it’s so important to keep recruiting classes together and retain talent on an annual basis. Georgia has done a better job with the 2024 class compared to the 2023 class to this point. That’s a big reason why there aren’t as many questions and concerns about Georgia this offseason compared to last offseason, even if it has made Georgia a bit boring to talk about from a national perspective.

Texas, Miami and LSU all spent big money to bring in new talent. With Georgia, it paid top dollar to keep its roster together. No SEC team had fewer players transfer out than Georgia’s 12. That offsets some concern about the Bulldogs also making the fewest additions in the transfer portal.

“We had some new guys on our roster,” Smart told Pate. “We had 26 new freshmen. We had eight new portals. So like with all that going on, we had new people. But at least we knew they were ours. And going through spring practice to me was much more enjoyable because you didn’t have this big dark cloud brewing of was he going to be here?”

Georgia still built a very successful team in 2025, as the Bulldogs won the SEC and made it back to the College Football Playoff. But Georgia has bigger goals and Smart knows it.

“Apparently, all we can do is win the SEC championship right now, so that’s not good enough,” Smart told Finebaum.

The Bulldogs are hoping that a more veteran team will set them up for even more success than they had a season ago. And that veteran element was acquired by keeping its one-time recruits in Athens for seasons three and four.

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A council meeting is called in a small Georgia town whose mayor fired the entire police department

Published

19 hours ago

May 8, 2026

Press Room

A council meeting is called in a small Georgia town whose mayor fired the entire police department

COHUTTA, Ga. (AP) — The town council in a small north Georgia mountain community called a special meeting Friday evening to discuss reinstating the police department after the mayor fired the chief and all the officers.

The notice for the meeting, posted outside the Cohutta Town Hall, says the council will also consider a request for the mayor’s “immediate resignation.”

Another sign posted earlier this week in the town of about 930 people announced that the police department had been dissolved “per Mayor Ron Shinnick.” It told people who need help to call a non-emergency county number.

The jobs of the chief and about 10 officers were terminated as of Wednesday morning. Exact reasons haven’t been shared publicly, and townspeople are hoping to get some answers at Friday’s meeting.

Shinnick said he took action because of some comments officers posted on social media. The now-former Sgt. Jeremy May said it involved a complaint that he and other officers had raised about the mayor’s wife Pam Shinnick, who had served as the town clerk.

“This all comes to personal vendetta from the mayor, and I wholeheartedly believe that,” May told WRCB-TV. “We took a stand for transparency, and in result, every one of them has lost their jobs.”

The now-former Cohutta Police Chief Greg Fowler told WRCB that he couldn’t comment in detail as the officers were clearing out the police department and removing equipment from the building this week. The mayor told the station he’s not sure what will happen next.

Phone calls and emails left Friday by The Associated Press for Shinnick and the town’s attorney were not immediately returned.

With no police officers working, the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office said in a brief statement that deputies will help the townspeople if they need it. Cohutta, just south of the Tennessee line, is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta.

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Georgia

If Georgia Democrats want to win the governorship, we must let Republicans in

Published

1 day ago

May 8, 2026

Press Room

If Georgia Democrats want to win the governorship, we must let Republicans in

Opinion

Former GOP Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan has the best shot at defeating the GOP in November’s general election.

Democratic candidate for governor Geoff Duncan walks in to file paperwork to run for election at the Capitol in Atlanta on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

By Michèle Taylor – For The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

42 minutes ago

I was fresh out of college when I worked on my first presidential campaign for the Democratic candidate in 1988.

Over the years, I have worked on campaigns across Georgia and the nation. I have served as a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee’s national finance committee and as our country’s United Nations human rights ambassador under President Joe Biden.

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Biden and Obama both evolved in their political positions

Ambassador Michèle Taylor is a lifelong Democrat who served in the Biden administration. She is a professor of the practice at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech. (Courtesy)

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Duncan showed he is willing to fight against Trump

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