SPORTS BRIEFS: Mitchell County dominates all-region voting

Mitchell County sweeps all-region voting

Mitchell County swept the player and coach of the year selections in GHSA Region 1-1A all-region balloting.

Quarterback James Thomas was named the region’s offensive player of the year, while linebacker Malik Barnes was named defensive player of the year. Deshon Brock was named coach of the year.

First-team defensive selections include Calhoun County’s Edwin Williams and Emory Echols, Mitchell County’s Quandrekus Moye, Anthony McIntyre and Freddie Cheevers, Pelham’s Dewaun Jones and Javoris Williams and Baconton Charter’s Hunter Bowles.

First-team offensive selections include Thomas, Mitchell County teammates Traven Walker, Jadakiss Harvey and Ricky Burley, Pelham’s Kendrick Patterson and Judah Wilson, Calhoun County’s Derick Gorsuch and Contavious Hudson, Terrell County’s Justin Powell and Baconton Charter’s Max Dean.

Baconton Charter’s Jackson Bostic was named first-team punter, while the Blazers’ Treon Pace was named first-team returner. Pelham’s Jahir Rios was named first-team punter.

Nobis, first Atlanta Falcons player, dies

ATLANTA (TNS) — Someone had to be the first Falcon, the Adam in the Genesis story of professional football in the South, at a time when Atlanta certainly was no earthly paradise for a middle linebacker.

Someone had to show a city how this NFL game was supposed to be played, to be the hammer in the otherwise empty new tool belt. Someone had to distinguish himself in an undistinguished time.

That man was Tommy Nobis, a solid name that fit this Texan with the square-cut jaw straight out of a black-and-white Western. Nobis died quietly at his Sandy Springs home Wednesday morning after a long and draining battle with dementia and its associated health issues. He was 74.

“He was our hero. Our one great player,” said Taylor Smith, just a teenager when his father, Rankin, birthed the expansion Falcons in 1966 and made a flinty defender out of Texas the franchise’s first draft pick.

It was the Falcons’ first coup when they signed Nobis. The Outland Trophy and Maxwell Award winner was in high demand at a time when two leagues competed for collegians. “The Best Defender in College Football,” read the cover of Sports Illustrated in October 1965, with Nobis striking a fearsome pose beneath.

Nobis played 11 seasons for the Falcons, earning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors in 1966 and picking up five Pro Bowl invitations.