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PAGE 2B
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2017
Young carries on
grandfather’s legacy
Thoughts on NFC
Championship Game
Brandon Young, a
well-rounded senior
Bulldog basketball
guard, is a throwback
to the fifties era of
his grandfather which
means he
is buttoned
down, hair
trimmed neat,
manners that
make moth
ers swoon, an
overachieving
student-ath
lete whose
priorities are
what most
adults would
prefer all
students to
underscore.
Brandon gets high
marks in the classroom.
His coaches sing
his praises for his all-
around inclinations
which would have made
his grandfather proud.
Bill Young Sr. grew
up with a single mother,
who worked two jobs
to support him and his
sister.
Austerity hovered
about, but positive atti
tude and due diligence
were his partners when
he took advantage of a
football scholarship at
the University of Geor
gia.
The rest of the story
is that B.Y., Bill Young
senior’s nickname,
which is also Bran
don’s, became a highly
successful business
man who learned that
the value of hard work
and the advantage of a
degree could be differ
ence makers in his life.
His sons, Bill Jr.,
Howard and Steve have
followed in his foot
steps all imbued with
an overt familial alle
giance to the University
of Georgia.
The family business,
General Wholesale, is
where Brandon’s father
and uncles manage a
wholesale beer, wine,
and spirits operation.
There would be an
opportunity for Bran
don, a Management
major, Terry College of
Business, with the fam
ily business, but he has
other plans.
The National Basket
ball Association is not
in his future, so what
is the next best option
for a young man with a
deep and abiding com
mitment to his sport?
Coaching, like Geor
gia, has always been on
his mind.
Brandon’s next move
will be to become a
graduate assistant and
enroll in grad
uate school
for a masters
degree.
He has been
a staff member
at basketball
camps since
he was in high
school.
“I have tried
to learn from
all the coaches
I have played
for and have
seen how they man
age players and games.
Even though I don’t
experience that much
playing time, I feel very
much part of the team,”
Brandon says. “When I
do get into a game, there
is a great adrenalin rush.
Although I try to focus
on what I need to do on
the court, I experience
the greatest of feelings
to be playing for the
University of Georgia;
and to see my parents
in the stands, just gives
me the most uplifting
feeling.”
All of this means that
he has the coaching
makeup to connect with
players and his goal is
to allow his experience
to segue into a coach
ing career where he can
teach young boys that
they can learn the ben
efits of a being part of
a team.
“It gives you a foun
dation to compete; to
learn to balance things
in your life,” he says.
That balance is con
firmed in Brandon’s
campus experience.
He has always been
a serious student and
last season’s highlights
included: Honored with
the team’s Most Inspi
rational Award, he was
named to the SEC Aca
demic Honor Roll while
logging playing time in
four games.
One of the most
accomplished academic
athletes at UGA, he has
won the UGA Top Dog
Academic Award:
The Joel Eaves Schol
ar-Athlete Award which
honors the Georgia
male and female stu
dent-athletes with the
highest GPA entering
the fall semester of his
or her senior year. Bran
don is the third basket
ball player to claim this
honor since its inception
in 1991-92.
It was easy to confirm
that the former Georgia
athletic director, would
have had the highest
regard for Brandon’s
commitment to excel
lence on the court and
in the classroom.
When you played
for Eaves, who was
the Auburn basketball
coach before becom
ing AD at Georgia,
you were expected to,
among other things, to
make free throws and
earn a degree.
You might not have
the talent to compete
at the highest level, but
practice at the foul line
would bring you effi
ciency and good study
habits, work ethic and
commitment would
enable you to take home
a sheepskin.
Brandon often flashes
back to the time when
he was a precocious bas
ketball player at Marist
and he would come to
Athens for Bulldog bas
ketball games.
He got a poster
of Jonas Hayes who
signed it to Brandon.
That poster, along
with one from Jarvis
Hayes, proudly hangs
at his family home in
Atlanta. Now Jonas is
a Bulldog coach with
whom Brandon inter
acts on a daily basis.
The coaching atmo
sphere is something that
Brandon wants to con
tinue to experience.
Generously appre
ciated by the Bulldog
coaches, Coach Mark
Fox says: “Brandon is
quietly one of the most
valuable parts of our
program. He is extreme
ly dedicated and con
tributes in practice on
a daily basis. He really
has become a coach on
the floor for us.
“He is one of the best
Bulldogs we have ever
had."
The original B.
Y. would be greatly
pleased.
Loran Smith is a
sports columnist for
the Barrow News-Jour
nal. He is co-host of the
University of Georgia
football radio pre-game
show.
The Atlanta Falcons’
lethal offense this season
is drawing apt compari
sons to the old “Greatest
Show on Turf’ in
St. Louis.
That was on
further display in
a 36-20 disman
tling of a Seattle
team with a wide
ly hailed defense
in Saturday’s NFC
divisional round
playoff game.
And it could
have been worse
as Atlanta let off
the gas at the end.
The Falcons have every
thing clicking on the
offensive side of the ball
and that’s a good thing —
because they might need
to score 40 in the Geor
gia Dome on Sunday in
order to beat the Green
Bay Packers and Aaron
Rodgers.
A day after Matt Ryan,
the favorite to win a
much-deserved MVP
award, put on another
remarkably efficient per
formance to lead the Fal
cons’ rout of Seattle, Rod
gers added to his legendary
status Sunday by fueling
a Packers' 34-31 win on
the road over top-seeded
Dallas.
His 36-yard pin
point precision throw to
Jared Cook that set up
Mason Crosby’s 51-yard
game-winning field goal
was nothing short of beau
tiful.
One Cowboys fan I fol
low on Twitter wondered
incredulously who Rodg
ers had sold his soul to in
order to achieve immor
tality.
Adding to the mystique
is Rodgers’ declaration
earlier in the year, when
Green Bay was 4-6 and
head coach Mike McCar
thy was thought to be on
the hot seat, that the Pack
ers would win out and win
their division.
Eight wins later, Rod
gers’ team is a win away
from the Super Bowl and
a chance for him to earn a
second ring.
To get there, they’ll have
to go through a likewise
red-hot team seeking to
exorcise the professional
sports demons of a city
whose postseason experi
ences have been long-coat
ed with disappointment.
After 25 years of being
awful, the Braves were the
model organization of con
sistency in baseball for a
decade and a half with an
unprecedented 14-year run
of division championships.
But they reached the
summit just once with
their 1995 World Series
title.
The Hawks
have a track
record of suc
cess and have
become a peren
nial playoff team
the last several
years.
But they still
have yet to reach
the NBA finals
and are extreme
ly unlikely to
do so as long as LeBron
James plays for another
Eastern Conference team.
The Falcons spent the
bulk of their franchise his
tory in futility before final
ly reaching the Super Bowl
in 1998, but that lone trip
was mostly unmemorable.
They’ve been back to the
NFC championship twice
since then, but failed to get
over the hump, including
a loss to San Francisco in
2012 when they had a 17-0
halftime lead at home and
couldn't hold it.
Starting with the draft
ing of Matt Ryan, the Fal
cons have enjoyed more
success since 2008, but
Saturday's win was only
their second playoff vic
tory in that span. And this
remarkable season is com
ing off a three-year playoff
hiatus.
On Sunday, the Falcons
get one more opportunity
to play in front of their
home crowed (though
there will undoubtedly
be a strong contingent of
Cheese Heads there) and
a chance to deliver an epi-
cally memorable send-off
to the Georgia Dome.
But if things turn out
like they did last time Rod
gers came into that build
ing for a playoff game the
home crowd will leave dis
appointed.
It’s easy to expect dis
appointment for an Atlanta
sports team, but admittedly
there is a growing feeling
that this year is different.
The most robust of
pro-Falcon prognosti
cations in the preseason
pegged them as a 10-win
team. They won 11 games.
After a bad opening
home loss to Tampa Bay,
the prevailing thought was
they were heading toward
an 0-6 start. They started
4-2.
And when it seemed
like the typical Atlanta
collapse might be coming
when they gave away the
Week 13 game against the
Chiefs, it never material
ized. In fact, they haven’t
lost since.
The attitude around the
team is much different.
They’re on the brink of
something special and can
almost taste it.
To go along with the
top-notch offense, the
defense, despite its flaws,
has proven itself capable
of making plays in the big
gest moments.
They’ll need to play the
best game of their life Sun
day because with all due
respect to the great talents
of Russell Wilson and Dak
Prescott, they just aren’t
Aaron Rodgers.
As that same Cowboys
fan pointed out, the only
way to stop him is to keep
him off the field.
The X-factor in this
matchup will be Atlan
ta’s ability to run the ball
effectively and control the
clock. Moving the ball
should not be an issue for
Atlanta as Green Bay has
its own defensive vulner
ability.
What the Falcons also
have is Ryan who, like the
team, just seems different
this year.
He has gone from a very
good quarterback to one
who makes all the right
decisions at the right times.
And with nothing a
guarantee in this league
(see the three-year play
off absence) Ryan’s legacy
could very well be on the
line Sunday.
The reality of today's
NFL is that quarterbacks
are judged in the public
eye primarily by their abil
ity to lead their team to a
championship and even the
number of championships.
There's some truth and
fallacy to that line of think
ing.
If Ryan throws for 500
yards Sunday and the Fal
cons lose 49-45, would it
really be his fault they fell
short?
Still, there’s a reason
that when the greatness
of guys like Dan Marino
and Jim Kelly is brought
up, there's a “Yeah, but...”
attached to it.
Scott Thompson is editor
of the Barrow News-Jour
nal. He can be reached at
sthompson@barrownews-
journal.com.
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