Georgia
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.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – No. 2 Georgia Tech got back to its winning ways, defeating No. 3 North Carolina (33-7-1, 15-6 ACC) by a final score of 5-2 from Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Yellow Jackets (32-7, 16-5 ACC) held UNC in check from the third inning on, using 6.1 scoreless innings from Caden Gaudette and Mason Patel to salvage the series and collect its 10th Top 15 victory of the season for this first time this century.
After both teams traded runs in the first inning, the Jackets struck for three runs on three hits in the third. The inning started with a leadoff double from Drew Burress who was quickly brought to the plate by a single from Jarren Advincula. Vahn Lackey drew a walk off a full count before Kent Schmidt connected for an RBI double, bringing in Advincula for what would become the game-winning run. Lackey made it a three-run inning when he scored on an RBI groundout by Ryan Zuckerman. UNC would work the bases loaded and score a run in the bottom of the inning before Gaudette entered the game and induced an inning ending groundout. UNC wouldn’t get another runner into scoring position until the eight inning as Gaudette and Patel slammed the door on any potential comeback.
QUICK HITS: TEAM
- The Jackets improve to 32-7, the best start to a season since 2010. Tech is 16-5 in ACC play, the best start since 2011.
- Tech has won 32 of its first 39 games for only the 6th time in the program’s 131 seasons: 2010, 2003 2002, 1997, 1993 and now 2026.
- James Ramsey owns the best record by any GT head coach in his first season through 39 games (32-7).
- The Jackets improve to 8-1 in nationally televised games this season.
- Tech has now won 10 games over Top 15 opponents for the first time this century.
- Tech has scored 417 runs through their first 39 games. It’s the most runs Georgia Tech has recorded after 39 games in the program’s 131-year history and the most runs any Power 4 team has scored through 39 games in the BBCOR era (since 2011).
- The Jackets scoring average now stands at 10.7 runs/game this season. The program record is 10.3, set back in 1984.
- GT is outscoring its opponents 417-174, that +243 margin is the highest through 39 games in program history.
- The bullpen delivered 6.1 scoreless innings, marking the 15th scoreless outing of the season and second of the weekend.
QUICK HITS: THE BATS
- Junior Drew Burress produced his 17th multi-hit game of the season, going 2-for-5 with a double and two runs scored.
- He has scored 51 runs this season, one shy of Vahn Lackey for the most on the team. Burress has scored 201 runs over his career, tied with Danny Payne (2005-07) for the 11th most in Georgia Tech history.
- He becomes the first Yellow Jacket in the BBCOR era to record 200+ runs over a career.
- Junior Kent Schmidt went 2-for-4 with a go-ahead RBI double and a shift-beating bunt.
- He leads the team with 26 RBI in ACC play and has delivered 35 for the season.
- Schmidt has now collected extra base hits in three straight games for the first time this season and third time in his GT career.
- He finishes the series with a .500 average, going 4-for-8 with two doubles, a home run, three RBI, two runs scored and three walks
- Junior Jarren Advincula recorded his 24th multi-hit game of the season, going 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
- He leads the ACC with 68 hits this season, averaging 1.7 hits per game and putting him on pace for 94 hits over the course of the regular season. With potential postseason games, that would put him in striking distance of being the first 100-hit player at GT since 2005 (Wes Hodges & Tyler Greene).
- He drove in his 45th RBI of the season, the third most on the team behind Vahn Lackey and Ryan Zuckerman.
- Junior Ryan Zuckerman became the first Jacket to reach 50 RBI when he drove in Lackey for the fourth run of the game.
- Sophomore Caleb Daniel came off the bench in the 5th inning and blooped an RBI double, it was his 24th RBI of the season and his 5th as a pinch hitter.
QUICK HITS: THE ARMS
- Sophomore Jackson Blakely made his sixth consecutive weekend start, pitching 2.2 innings with two earned runs allowed and three strikeouts.
- He has only allowed runs in only three of his eight appearances this season (37.1 innings) this season.
- His ERA stands at 2.65, the lowest among all starting pitchers on the roster.
- R-junior Caden Gaudette made his team-leading 16th appearance of the season and 2nd of the weekend, pitching 2.1 scoreless innings.
- He entered the game with a two-run lead (4-2) and the bases loaded with two outs before inducing an inning ending groundout to short.
- Gaudette lowers his ERA to 2.86 in 22.0 innings of work.
- The man they call “Rock” pitched a total of 3.1 innings this weekend, allowing only one hit with four strikeouts.
- He has now pitched as many innings this season as he had in his previous two years combined (22.0) while allowing less than half as many earned runs (7 in 2026, 15 in 2024-25) and exactly half as many hits (12 in 2026, 24 in 2024-25).
- Mason Patel got the ball to start the 6th inning, keeping the score at 5-2 for the final four frames and collecting his fourth save of the season.
- Since recovering from an injury that saw him miss 20 days, Patel has made six appearances out of the bullpen, pitching 13.2 scoreless innings with a victory and four saves.
- Over the last two seasons, Patel has made 29 appearances out of the bullpen, posting 12 wins and nine saves.
- This was his longest relief appearance of the season (4.0 innings) after pitching at least 3.0 innings in 15 of his 23 appearances during his All-American season last year.
Up Next
Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. Tuesday at 7 pm at Truist Park. Tickets are available HERE with all proceeds benefiting the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
For the latest information on the Georgia Tech baseball team, follow us on X (@GTBaseball), Facebook, Instagram (@gt_baseball) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.
Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch, who projects as a Day 2 draft pick, may have just damaged his draft stock with an arrest on misdemeanor obstruction charges.
Athens Clarke County police arrested Branch Sunday morning for obstructing public sidewalks/streets-prowling and obstruction of a law enforcement officer, according to the Athens Banner Herald.
Branch was booked into the Clarke County Jail at 1:26 a.m. Sunday and released at 3:44 a.m.
Branch was considered the No. 1 wide receiver recruit in the country coming out of high school. He started his college football career at USC in 2023 and played two seasons for the Trojans before transferring to Georgia last year.
As a freshman Branch was a first-team All-American punt returner and last year he led the SEC with 81 catches. His 4.35-second 40-yard dash at the Combine bolstered his draft stock. Now Branch will have to hope his arrest doesn’t tank his draft stock.
ATHENS, Ga — Behold, in all the usual glory, the Georgia football team: elite of the elite, two-time defending SEC champion, expected to contend for a national title. And behold the attention on this same team: not much, to the point of being overlooked, including by many of its fans.
Georgia held its spring game Saturday, and official attendance was 31,012, the lowest-attended spring game of Kirby Smart’s tenure, other than the pandemic-restricted game five years ago. The two upper sections of Sanford Stadium, full a decade ago for Smart’s first G-Day, were empty Saturday.
Part of it was outside factors: The hot weather. The devaluing of spring games throughout college football. Other things to do in Athens, including the annual Twilight bike race. Maybe the middle school Science Olympiad state competition on campus drew some away.
But part of it is the state of things for this Georgia team: No drama. No quarterback competition. No new coordinators. No worries about the program slipping. The drama, it’s assumed, won’t come until December and will revolve around whether this team can break a three-year drought of at least reaching the national semifinals.
But right now? Eh.
“I don’t like drama, so that’s a good thing,” quarterback Gunner Stockton said, smiling.
The best comparison for the current Georgia program might be from another sport but the same state: the Bobby Cox-era Atlanta Braves.
It was just a given that the Braves would be good, and they normally would be, with 11 straight division titles at one point. There would be offseasons when rivals would make more noise, and then spring training would roll around, and Cox would tell reporters (like me): “I like this team.” And sure enough, the Braves would go win the NL East by 10 games.
Then they’d flame out in the postseason, which, to be fair, was a crapshoot, as the expanded College Football Playoff is developing into, to Georgia’s chagrin. But no program has been to the CFP as many times (four) as Georgia in the past five years. And this year’s team is easily preseason top 10.
This can make for a boring spring. The most interesting thing to happen was probably Stockton’s passing being called “dog doo” by former NFL receiver Steve Smith, and Smart shooting back, “Do your homework.” Even that was mild enough that neither was asked about it Saturday, at least specific to Smith. The subject of Stockton airing it out hangs over this team. But it’s a relatively minor issue within a team that seems to have plenty else going for it.
Georgia’s defense, which has been hit or miss the past couple of years, should be back to being very good. There’s the usual array of talent but now also plenty of experience. It won’t be as great as the 2021 version — none will be in this era — but it can be dominant.
Georgia’s offense should at minimum be efficient: Stockton enters his second full season as the starter, has two game-changing tailbacks in Nate Frazier and Chauncey Bowens, an experienced offensive line and some good pieces at receiver and tight end.
The questions that would take this team from good to great …
Explosive passing
There are two issues here:
1. Georgia lost six of its top seven players in receiving yards and didn’t add a star transfer like it did last year with Zachariah Branch, who set the school record with 81 catches.
2. Stockton was inconsistent throwing downfield. He was fantastic at Tennessee and in the first Ole Miss game. He seemed afraid to air it out in other games, though, including the second Ole Miss game.
Returning starter Gunner Stockton said he’s working to improve his pocket presence and footwork. (Dale Zanine / Imagn Images)
On the receiver front, Georgia did add Isiah Canion from Georgia Tech to be an outside, possession-type receiver. Otherwise, Georgia spent its money retaining young receivers — sophomores Talyn Taylor, CJ Wiley, Sacovie White-Helton and Thomas Blackshear — and hoping they pop this year.
Between them, senior receiver London Humphreys and tight ends Lawson Luckie, Elyiss Williams and Jaden Reddell, there might not be a Branch or Brock Bowers, but there are plenty of options.
“They’ve got to grow up,” Smart said. “We’ve got guys that can make plays if given the opportunity. Gunner can get the ball to them.”
Stockton showed he could do that last year — but not every week. He needs to not be tentative or over-reliant on his scrambling ability. To that end, Stockton said he’s working on his pocket presence and footwork. But he also cautioned it’s not just about slinging it downfield all the time.
“Every explosive play isn’t a 50-yard bomb downfield; it’s just getting the ball to your playmakers,” he said. “And I think we’ve got the playmakers to do that.”
It is a deep group. But unless one emerges as a clear No. 1, the way Branch and Bowers were, it will be on Stockton to find the right ones on the right plays. That might make it hard to be explosive every week, even though Stockton said that’s the goal.
“It’s hard to do that,” he said. “But it’s what we’re here for.”
Pass rush
Does everyone remember Trinidad Chambliss scrambling free and hitting game-changing plays in the Sugar Bowl? That wasn’t a one-off. Georgia had the fewest sacks — 20 — in the SEC last year. Sacks might not be the best measure of a pass rush, but that number is still bad and reflected the defense’s weakness.
Will that turn around? One positive is that Gabe Harris Jr. is healthy; Harris was coming on last year as a factor before being hurt in December and could have helped keep Chambliss in check. But spring brought some bad news with an ACL injury to edge rusher Amaris Williams, an Auburn transfer who had a chance to get major snaps. Still, there are options, such as junior Que Johnson, and the secondary could be good enough to buy time for the pass rush.
Smart seems optimistic.
“Pass rush is something that’s done as a group, not just one person,” he said, mentioning linebacker Chris Cole stepping up and defensive linemen doing better at getting a push. “That’s something you always want to get better at, but I’m very pleased at where we are.”
Smart didn’t exactly invoke Cox’s “I like this team.” But he essentially said it. Normally fairly critical, he said there was only one practice this spring, out of 12, that he didn’t like. Otherwise, he loved the team’s approach.
“They enjoy it; they compete,” Smart said.
Left tackle Earnest Greene III is one of the few remaining pieces from the national championship teams. He was a true freshman in 2022. Though not exactly comparing it to that team, Greene sees something about this 2026 version.
“The competitive nature of this team seems a little bit different,” Greene said. “It goes back to the first (spring) scrimmage. Usually, the first scrimmage is more one-sided; the next time, the other side shows up. This year, both scrimmages have been going neck-and-neck at each other. So I can just tell from that we have a real competitive squad.”
So the vibe of this team, Greene was asked, is no drama, but in a good way?
“Yeah, definitely,” Greene said. “You try to have your team be like that every year.”
So far, this Georgia team is pulling it off. But there’s a long way until September.
And then December.
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