SPORTS

BY RUSS RAGAN
Okay, here we go folks, after a missed week. We have lots of things to go over. The bulldogs pick up a current five star quarterback. Is there reason to think there is too much talent? We are getting close to Spring training and the Braves are at least one bat away from being strong.
We start in Athens where on Wednesday; there was a shocking announcement. Class of 22 five star quarterback Gunner Stockton is going to be a bulldog! Instead of excitement, worry seems to set in as many said we have too many quarterbacks once more. Memories of the fields-from days are coming back. Many inside the Georgia program don't think this will happen and I agree. There is no question that J.T. Daniels is the quarterback this fall, period. If he has any kind of season, he is off to the NFL probably in the first round. That leaves Brock Vondergoff, Carson Beck and Stockton. I do think Beck will transfer so that leaves a probable red shirt freshman, Vandergoff and a true freshman in Stockton. Vandergoff should be the starter in 2022 and open the door after hopefully a pair of strong seasons. This season though should be the best bulldog offensive ever! It should be fun this fall!
Speaking of Georgia quarterbacks, Matthew Stafford was in a huge trade as he went from the Lions to the Rams for quarterback Jared Goff, a pair of number one draft picks and a third round pick. This will be Staffords first real good chance to win in the NFL.
I know the NFL draft is almost three months away but what will the Falcons do at number 4? Do they go quarterback? The rookie can learn under Matt Ryan for a year before taking control. If the team doesn’t go quarterback, they must, and I mean must trade down and get more picks. There will be a lot more talk on this topic in the days and weeks to come. Okay, now to baseball. Pitchers and catchers could be heading to spring training in a couple of weeks but it could be delayed a few weeks. It came out over the weekend that the owners and players union are in talks for spring training to start on March 22 and opening day on April 28. The season would be 154 games instead of 162. It would also have the extended playoffs, which the players don’t want and the DH in both leagues, which the players do want. I have to think the Covid situation has something to do with the proposal. If that deal doesn’t work out, everyone will go to spring training as usual in a couple weeks and we will see how things work out.
Speaking of the Braves things have been very quiet lately. Things started fine, as they have starting pitchers in Morton and Swigley, add then to Fried, Anderson and eventually Soroka things will be fine. The offense needs some work. The infield is fine. The outfield needs some work. Azuna is ready for another big year but what after that? Pache will start in center but his bat isn’t quite ready. They need to re-sign Ozuna whether there is a DH or not. I do feel like we will have one in 22 so give him a long-term deal. I expect a season decision this week.
We lost the legit homerun king last week, in Hank Aaron. Other that 755 honors, he has some other huge numbers. He is still the all time RBI leader, he has nearly 3800 hits and he had a .315 career average. He also finished his career with more walks than strikeouts. That makes 13 strong baseball hall of famers that have died in the past year. Aaron joins Niekro, Sutton, Morgan, Gibson, Breck, Kaline and Seaver among others.