MATTHEW BROWN: Who are those faces in the crowd?

Published 5:53 pm Friday, February 7, 2025

As it turns out, the good news didn’t stop when it came to the reigning Union-Recorder County Players of the Year from the 2023-24 basketball season.

So here is part II of the update on their careers on the college hardwood.

First, Isaiah Dennis, Boys Player of the Year from Baldwin High. He’s at Southern Union College in Alabama, and it was previously reported here that he had two 30-point games in November during this, his freshman season.

Well, Dennis established a new career high on Jan. 27 with 37 points to go with six assists in a 91-83 home win against Shelton State. He made seven 3-pointers in the game and was 8-for-9 shooting free throws.

Dennis followed that up with a 28-point effort in a road win, 94-89, over Gadsden State.

The Bison, as they are called, are 14-9 with Dennis appearing in all games through Monday. He shoots 38.5 from 3-point land, 43.5% from the floor overall and averages 15.3 points per game. He is second for Southern Union in scoring as a sophomore forward named Prince Mensah shoots 60% from the floor and gets 18.5 points per game.

On to Mount St. Mary’s, where Bravette state champion and two-time Player of the Year Madison Ruff is enjoying a seven-game winning streak that has pulled her new club to .500 at 10-10 and 8-3 in their conference. On Jan. 30, Ruff tied the team-high with 13 points in a 75-49 win over Merrimack. She shoots 48% from the floor, gets 7.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

The Mount St. Mary’s women had a game Thursday at Iona.

It’s safe to say that Baldwin High is not done producing champions and Players of the Year. The home gym was packed indeed last Friday, Jan. 31, for the Westside-Augusta matchup. Who happened to be sitting in the front row but the former Braves football star fresh off his rookie NFL season with the Green Bay Packers.

Now, I already met Javon Bullard, so it wasn’t hard to pick him out in the crowd. I can only wonder, however, if the Westside players had any idea who that was giving them (I am sure very encouraging) words during halftime warmups.

There are very few, maybe not even that many, professional football players you could recognized unless they are in game uniforms. Patrick Mahomes, yes. Trevor Lawrence, certainly. Even Matt Stafford and perhaps Joe Burrow (all quarterbacks BTW).

No, if I didn’t already know Bullard, it would be news to me that a former Georgia Bulldog with all those accolades from the 2022-23 playoffs was in the house. If he had new teammates Jordan Love, Josh Jacobs and old/new teammates from UGA days Quay Walker and Eric Stokes sitting in the same row, I would require introductions. Hey, Michael Penix Jr., Bijon Robinson and Drake London could be in the group too … a Falcons jersey on each would help a long way.

I was standing by with pen in hand in the event any of the Westside people did realize who was talking to them and sought autographs.

I told you, BTW, we weren’t going to hear from Stetson Bennett again after his exhibition heroics for the Los Angeles Rams. No, he had nothing in the way of regular-season appearances as Stafford lasted the whole year with Jimmy Garoppolo as his primary back-up. Jake Fromm also watched everything from the sidelines even though he was on the roster for the Detroit Lions.

With the exception of Stafford, Georgia isn’t quite becoming Quarterback U for the pros. More like D-Line U when you look at the Super Bowl-bound Philadelphia Eagles.

Seems like I remember a time when it was never considered a good thing for a star college quarterback to stick around in college one more year. Call it the Matt Leinart rule, the former Southern Cal QB who had the world at his feet in 2004 with the Heisman Trophy, unbeaten national title season and No. 1 overall selection … oh, that’s right, he opted to stay one more year.

Yes, USC went unbeaten again in 2005 before losing to Texas in that epic Rose Bowl. Leinart went from No. 1 to No. 10 in the 2006 Draft, picked by Arizona. In six seasons, he started 18 games – 17 for Arizona and one for Houston – and went 8-10 with 15 touchdown passes.

Now we have someone like Bo Nix entering the NFL after about eight years in college and putting himself in the Rookie of the Year race with 3,775 yards and 29 touchdowns as a Denver first-round pick.

Did Carson Beck improve his pro chances taking one more year with the Miami Hurricanes? Or is he the third blind mouse beside Bennett and Fromm peaking as an SEC champion?

Speaking of blind mice, I want to chime in one more time about how our probable three-peat Super Bowl winning Kansas City Chiefs get favorable officiating. Is it fantasy or fiction, conspiracy or conscious acts?

On Sunday it’s KC against the Philadelphia Eagles, a rematch of two years ago (as if you didn’t know). It’s not a real rematch for this is a different Philly team (no Saquon Barkley or Jalen Carter in 2023).

That 2023 game ended 38-35 on a field goal with eight seconds left, and you may remember the defensive holding flag on 3rd-and-8 giving KC a first down with just under two minutes to play. KC was already in field-goal range, but it’s obvious the flag cost the Eagles time. Mahomes was able to wind that clock all the way down with kneelings. Eleven seconds when the ball was kicked could have been 1:50.

But, at no other point in the game did a flag aid a Kansas City scoring drive. Only nine flags are enforced all game for 47 yards. Maybe if you don’t lose a fumble the red hats take to the other end zone …

(If at all possible, give pet adoption a try through the Animal Rescue Foundation in Milledgeville. Donations of any kind are also in great need. ARF is the little red building at 711 S. Wilkinson St., and more information is available at animalrescuefoundation.org.)