Votes underway for Atlanta United manager transfer

The readers have spoken.

As of Friday morning, more than 1,200 readers had voted. It was one-sided. The yes vote was voted by 93%. That makes 7% for no.

Raheem Morris on the team’s mental health awareness

The Falcons are hip to June as Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month.

“It’s a tough duty playing in the National Football League and when I got here I talked about it, if you watched the first team meeting we had,” Morris said. “I talked about the guys’ mental health.”

The Falcons are in the process of hiring more professionals to help in mental health spaces.

“(We want them) to be able to help our guys and make sure our mental health is good,” Morris said. “To make sure our character is strong. To make sure their personal life is solid.

The Falcons’ player development and engagement department is led by Fernando Velasco and Lovie Tabron.

“Those coordinator roles that really go out of their way to help our guys get better,” Morris said. “Whether it’s personal skills. Whether on the ground. Whether it’s performance or whatever. We just want to grow this thing in this structure a little bit different in the National Football League – because we want to be different from everyone else.

It’s important for the Falcons to understand how to address mental health issues.

“When we got here, we talked about being world class, and I think when you talk about being world class, you talk about world class in every single thing,” Morris said. “I think that’s one of the rights you have to have for these guys and how important that is not only to me, but to our ownership in Arthur Blank. … I just think it’s very important that our guys are complete in all areas when it comes to these kinds of things. We definitely need to be able to help these guys in all of those areas.

Tech Athletes Score 1000

Georgia Tech had four programs (men’s cross country, golf, men’s tennis and men’s track and field) with a perfect multi-year academic progress rate of 1,000, according to the latest APR data released Tuesday by the NCAA.

Thirteen of Tech’s 15 programs had multi-year APR scores that exceeded the national average in their respective sport and eight of 15 sports had a perfect annual APR for the 2022-23 academic year. Men’s track and field exceeds the national average for its sport by 26 points

APR data constitutes the latest academic achievements in technological athletics. In each of the last three years, Tech has set an institutional record for its NCAA graduation success rate, with its most recent GSR standing at 92 percent. In the spring 2024 semester, Tech athletes posted an average GPA of 3.25, which is the highest in the history of Tech athletics.

Technical volleyball adds two

Tech Volleyball added two freshmen to its incoming class, signing middle blocker Mira McCool and defensive specialist Lydia Zeng to the roster.

Zeng joins Tech after a strong career at Walton High School. The Marietta native played on the varsity team all four years, starting the last two seasons as a libero and her final season as team captain. She finished her high school career with 525 digs, 73 aces and 87 assists while leading Walton to an appearance at the 7A GHSA state championship during her senior season, earning a spot among the top five liberos in Georgia, according to PeachStateVolleyball.com.

McCool comes to Tech after a four-year career at Homewood High School (Ala.) and the Alabama Performance Volleyball Club. The 6-foot-3 sharp presence earned her a spot on the Alabama High School Volleyball Coaches Association Class 6A all-state team during her junior and senior seasons, being named first team all-state following her junior year, when she recorded 382 kills, 128 digs and 35 blocks.

In her senior year, McCool became team captain, leading the team to its third consecutive regional championship while reaching over 500 career kills.

Bulldogs return to the Bahamas

Looking for something to do before Thanksgiving week? Georgia basketball coach Mike White might have a suggestion.

UGA is booked to play again in the BahaMar Basketball Championship in the Bahamas. The Bulldogs are scheduled to face Marquette and St. Johns on Nov. 23 and 24, respectively, at Imperial Arena at the Atlantis Paradise Resort. This is the Saturday and Sunday before Thanksgiving, which is November 28 this year.

Georgia football will host Tennessee Tech on November 23 and Georgia Tech on November 29, a Friday, at Sanford Stadium.

Last week, UGA released the basketball team’s contracts with BahaMar, St. Johns and Marquette in response to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s open records request to document any new agreements regarding football or basketball matches. No financial conditions have been included beyond force majeure and cancellation fees.

Georgia played at BahaMar in November and lost both games they played. The Bulldogs lost to 11th-ranked Miami 79-68 and to Providence 71-64.

Interestingly, White, the Bulldogs’ third-year coach, recently hinted that he might not have as ambitious a schedule as last season. Georgia went 20-17 last season and reached the NIT semifinals. The Bulldogs got off to a slow start, going 4-3 in November, including a loss to Oregon in Las Vegas to open the season.

However, they picked up a road win against Florida State and beat Wake Forest at home. Georgia plays Georgia Tech in basketball every year and will face the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta, likely in December. The Bulldogs also signed a deal to play Charleston Southern at Stegeman Coliseum on Dec. 22 for an $85,000 guarantee for the visitor.

“I’m not sure it was in our best interest to start with a couple that we started with,” White said at the SEC spring meetings last week in Destin. “It’s my fault, but you live, you learn, and you own it.” That said, we won a couple and got to talk about the great program we put together.

White plans to open the game with four “winnable” home games in November.

“Hopefully we can build some momentum this season,” he said.

First look at the college football rankings

That means little, obviously, but the SEC has 11 teams in the top 25 of ESPN’s inaugural FPI football rankings, leading with Georgia at No. 1. The Bulldogs will face Texas (No. 3), Alabama (No. 5), Tennessee. (No. 9), Ole Miss (No. 16) and Florida (No. 20). It wouldn’t be surprising if the SEC accounted for at least half of the new 12-team playoffs this winter.

Baseball Notes

*In 2020, the Mariners drafted Bulldogs right-hander Emerson Hancock 6th overall, Georgia’s highest draftee since the Braves took Derek Lilliquist sixth in 1987.

*Slugger Charlie Condon, so important to the Bulldogs’ run, is expected to be a top-three pick this summer. That means he’ll end up in Cleveland, Cincinnati, or Colorado (the latter two being the most hitter-friendly environments in MLB).

* Looking for another Braves prospect who could start to rise? There has been buzz around 18-year-old Didier Fuentes. He owns a 3.34 ERA in nine games (eight starts) for Low-A Augusta, striking out 42 in 35 innings. Fuentes only has 30 career appearances, but he’s making a good impression.

-Editors D. Orlando Ledbetter, Gabriel Burns, Chris Vivlamore and Chad Bishop contributed to this report.