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Talent pipeline between Georgia Bulldogs and Detroit Lions overflows in 2025 NFL Draft

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Talent pipeline between Georgia Bulldogs and Detroit Lions overflows in 2025 NFL Draft


Tate Ratledge, Dan Jackson and Dominic Lovett all share something in common. They were Georgia Bulldogs and now they’re Detroit Lions.

But it goes deeper than that — all three 2025 NFL Draft picks approach the game with the same tenacious attitude.

They’re intense, ferocious, resilient and, most of all, gritty — just like the team they’re joining.

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“Never going to quit,” Lovett, a slot receiver, said. “Never gonna give up until the clock strikes zero. We just really got that ‘dog’ mindset and really just want to compete every play, day in and day out.”

That relentless spirit was cultivated at one of college football’s premier programs, which has suddenly become a go-to talent source for this revived NFL franchise. Lions general manager Brad Holmes has developed an affinity for the SEC stronghold, which is seen as the closest facsimile to the Alabama juggernaut that Nick Saban lorded over until his retirement in January 2024.

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There is a reason for that; Saban’s one-time protégé, Kirby Smart, runs the Georgia machine. He has powered it to two national championships this decade and made it a hotbed for NFL prospects. In Athens, Holmes sees a lot of what he once saw during his visits to Tuscaloosa.

“The physicality. The detail. The tempo … the energy,” he said.

It was all right there before his eyes as he watched Smart’s team train, just as it was evident when he observed Saban leading his rugged Alabama squads through drills.

The players who endure that kind of grueling regimen are “ready,” as Holmes put it, to play on Sundays.

Lovett, a seventh-round pick, can attest to that.

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He said the experience during his two seasons at Georgia (after transferring from Missouri) hardened him. He called it a “grind,” where fortitude and camaraderie were forged in practices he described as “hard.”

“I feel like what you go through at Georgia will ultimately help you for the next level,” he said.

It should make for a seamless transition to the Lions, a franchise that, under coach Dan Campbell, has fostered a culture that parallels the one Smart has developed over his nine-plus years at Georgia.

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“I see a lot of similarities,” said Ratledge, a mauler of a right guard who was taken in the second round following a five-year stint in Athens. “As far as what coach Smart and what coach Campbell believe in, I think they’re right (in) line with each other. I think they both believe in physical football players, tough football players, smart football players, and I think they both have a lot of those on their teams.”

But until this weekend, the pipeline between Smart’s Bulldogs and Campbell’s Lions wasn’t active. Holmes instead spent the past three seasons tapping Alabama for its best and brightest. In 2022, he drafted the Crimson Tide’s star receiver, Jameson Williams, with the 12th overall pick. A year later, he made an aggressive move to take their electrifying running back, Jahmyr Gibbs, in that same slot before selecting Alabama’s dependable defensive back, Brian Branch, in the ensuing round. Then, last April, he traded up to snatch Tide cover man Terrion Arnold.

But the budding stars Saban coached and developed will soon start to phase out, which is why Holmes has Georgia on his mind as the next best place to go get quality football players. That makes perfect sense to Jackson, a safety and a former walk-on who was plucked by Detroit in the seventh round.

“Georgia has really shaped me,” Jackson said, “into the player I am today.”

In essence, his college program made him, Ratledge and Lovett fits for the Lions.

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Speaking of Georgia, Holmes said, “I think the proof’s in the pudding in terms of what they put out.”

And now the Lions have made sure to get their hands on some of it.

Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin on X





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Defendants in Georgia 'Cop City' Case Say They Are in Limbo as Trial Delays Continue

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Defendants in Georgia 'Cop City' Case Say They Are in Limbo as Trial Delays Continue


ATLANTA (AP) — Single mother Priscilla Grim lost her job. Aspiring writer Julia Dupuis frequently stares at the bedroom ceiling, numb. Geography and environmental studies researcher Hannah Kass is worried about her career prospects after she graduates from her Ph.D. program. The three are among 61 …



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Attorneys working to get bond for Georgia teen being held by ICE

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Attorneys working to get bond for Georgia teen being held by ICE


DALTON, Ga. – A Dalton teen and her father remain in ICE custody after getting arrested during separate traffic stops.

19-year-old Ximena Arias-Cristobal’s attorneys are working to get her a bond hearing. Arias-Cristobal was arrested on Monday for not having a valid license.

“It’s just terrible how she ended up in this situation … wrong turn and she ends up in ICE custody,” said attorney Dustin Baxter, who represents Arias-Cristobal.

Baxter said he is confident the teen will get a bond.

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“She has no criminal history, she has the support of her community, she’s in class,” he said.

Arias-Cristobal’s dad, 43-year-old Arias Tovar, is at the same detention facility after he was taken into custody for speeding and not having a license. Both Arias-Cristobal and Tovar are undocumented, but the 19-year-old has been in the United States since she was four.

“She does face deportation proceedings even if she’s bonded out, so it’s going to be our job to find a way to keep her here based on her circumstances,” Baxter said. “What she has going on in her personal life and whether or not she has fear of returning to Mexico, her home country.”

The family’s case has received a lot of attention. In a social media post on X, Homeland Security wrote that Tovar had a chance to seek a legal way to citizenship but chose not to.

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“I hope that people will see this with a little more empathy, if they can relate with Ximena,” he said.

On Friday, many gathered on Buford Hwy. to rally for the release of Arias-Cristobal. The rally lasted a little over an hour, but the dozens who showed up hope the message resonates much longer with the community.

Signs and chants in Brookhaven called for ICE to release the daughter and her dad from custody.

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Organizers of Friday’s rally hope that it will lead to Arias-Cristobal and her dad’s freedom and give the community a chance to unite against recent deportation efforts from the Trump administration.

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One person said he believes the administration is unwilling to hear from the people.

“That dialogue is a like a dialogue between the sword and the neck,” said Miles Wetherington, one of the rally’s organizers. “What’s important is we need to build working-class power. As working-class people, we recognize the connections that we have with the immigrant community, and we need to show solidarity with them.”

Another participant in the rally, Jessica Salazar, traveled to Friday’s rally, pushing for Ximena’s freedom. She says she went to high school with Ximena in Dalton and understands the pain of this deportation process. Salazar says her mother was deported back to Mexico seven years ago.

“I graduated without her, so it is really hard,” Salaza said. “We shouldn’t live in fear. It shouldn’t be something everyone lives by day by day, in fear. Ximena was really young.

“It’s scary because Ximena did absolutely nothing wrong.”

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Weather Update on Georgia at Alabama Baseball Series

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Weather Update on Georgia at Alabama Baseball Series


Inclement weather affected the baseball series this weekend between No. 23 Alabama and No. 6 Georgia before a pitch was even thrown. Said weather has now forced another schedule change. No baseball will be played on Saturday, with Friday’s suspended game and the finale moving to Sunday.

Due to rain in the Tuscaloosa area, Friday was set to feature a doubleheader instead of just the series opener, a decision announced Friday morning. The second game of the night was not completed, as rain forced a pause in the action with one out in the top of the fifth inning and Alabama leading 6-2.

That suspended game will resume on Sunday morning with a 10 a.m. CT first pitch time. The third game in the series has been shortened to seven innings and is set to be played approximately 30 minutes after the suspended game concludes.

Georgia (40-11, 16-9 SEC) won the first game on Friday by a blowout 19-3 score. That contest only went seven innings due to the SEC mercy rule. If the Crimson Tide (37-13, 13-12 SEC) finishes the suspended game as the winner, Sunday’s second game will be contested for the series.

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Alabama has lost four of its past five SEC series. The suspended game from Friday night was tentatively rescheduled for Saturday, but no start time was announced as the forecast for the day was shrouded with rain.

Sunday’s Mother’s Day games will be live streamed on SEC Network+. The series finale, Alabama’s last home game of the regular season, was initially scheduled to air on SEC Network.



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