By David Weinberg
“Georgia, Georgia … The whole day through … Just an old sweet song … Keeps Georgia on my mind. …”
Based on their strategy in last week’s NFL Draft, maybe the Eagles should consider replacing “Fly, Eagles, Fly,” with Ray Charles’ classic as their fight song.
Or maybe “Who Let the Dawgs Out?” by Baha Men?
General manager Howie Roseman definitely had Georgia on his mind. Three of their seven draft picks – defensive tackle Jalen Carter, edge rusher Nolan Smith, cornerback Kelee Ringo – played for the Bulldogs last season. So did running back D’Andre Swift, whom the Eagles acquired in a trade with Detroit.
That continued a pattern that started last year, when Roseman drafted former Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis and linebacker Nakobe Dean.
The connection has already started to draw interest among fans. Twitter is filled with various logos depicting “Philly Dawgs.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Eagles signed Georgia mascot Uga X as a free agent. Uga X, nicknamed Que, just retired after a 10-year run of patroling the Bulldogs sideline. His 92-18 record is the best in school history.
“We have a lot of boys, a lot of Georgia Philly Dawgs here,” said Smith, who was drafted 30th overall Thursday night. “I get to play with three of my (college) teammates and I just won back-to-back National Championships with (Carter). I’m just happy that I’m here with my Dawgs.”
Wildwood’s John Lynch now has the best of two worlds.
Lynch, the Director of Sales and Entertainment at the Wildwoods Convention Center and creator of the Lunch with Lynch Foundation, went to the University of Georgia and is a huge Bulldogs fan who also roots for the Eagles.
Lynch was in Los Angeles when the Bulldogs won their second national championship with a 65-7 rout of TCU on January 9 and was at Lincoln Financial Field a few weeks later to watch the Eagles win the NFC Championship with a 31-7 win over the 49ers.
“The Linc is my UGA home away from home,” Lynch wrote on Facebook. “Red is the new Green in Philly!!!”
Picking all those Bulldogs continued a three-year pattern for the Eagles of plucking players from the SEC.
It started in 2021, when they took Alabama teammates DeVonta Smith and Landon Dickerson with their first two picks, then took Davis and Dean last year. Quarterback Jalen Hurts, a second-round pic in 2020, also has SEC connections, having played for the Crimson Tide before transferring to Oklahoma of the Big 12.
Of course, the Eagles don’t restrict themselves to one conference, but it’s not a coincidence that some of their top draft picks have come from successful programs.
“You see those guys play in the biggest games, on the biggest stage against the best competition,” Roseman said. “It takes the part out of the big jump in competition because the guys they’re playing against (in college) are the guys that are playing on Sundays (in the NFL).”
Speaking of Wildwood, former Warriors football star Wes Hills has gotten off to an outstanding start for the USFL’s New Orleans Breakers.
Hills, a 2013 Wildwood High School graduate, rushed for 191 yards and three touchdowns and also caught three passes for 16 yards to help the Breakers earn a 45-31 win over the Birmingham Stallions last week.
Hills leads the USFL in rushing with 301 yards on 51 attempts (5.8 yards per carry) and his six rushing TDs are also tops in the league. Continued success could mean signing with an NFL team as a free agent later this summer.
The 6-foot-2, 218-pounder signed with the Breakers in February after rushing for a team-high 384 yards for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. He made his NFL debut in 2019, scoring two touchdowns for Detroit in a victory over Tampa Bay.
Sticking with Wildwood, Wildwood High and Wildwood Catholic Academy made the long-overdue decision to renew their sports rivalries in the 2023-24 school year.
The schools will be holding “Islandwide Rivalry Weekends” during the fall, winter and spring sports seasons. Wildwood will host all the events in 23-24, then the action will head to WCA in North Wildwood the following year.
The fall weekend will feature Wildwood versus Wildwood Catholic in cross country, boys and girls soccer and girls tennis on September 9th, 2023. Exact dates have yet to made for the much-awaited boys and girls basketball showdowns. In the spring, the schools will play one another in boys tennis, golf, softball, and track and field.
The basketball games represent the return of one of South Jersey’s best rivalries. For various reasons, the Crusaders and Warriors haven’t met in girls basketball since 2015-16 and the boys haven’t played since 2017-18. Wildwood is a basketball town. Both the boys and girls games figure to draw huge crowds. Here’s hoping for a girls-boys doubleheader at the Wildwoods Convention Center, preferably at the Boardwalk Basketball Classic like the old days.
