Technical Tidbits 5/8

Georgia Tech baseball beat Mercer on Tuesday night after yet another fantastic late-inning comeback, stunning the Bears by a final score of 9-7 up in Macon. The Jackets trailed 7-4 heading into the ninth inning after allowed four Mercer runs in the bottom of the eighth, but somehow managed to once again mount a fantastic five-run rally in the top of the ninth to secure another hard-fought victory. The winning pitcher for Tech was Zac Ryan, who has somehow managed to pile up a 9-1 record on the season despite pitching exclusively in relief -- nearly one third of Tech's wins this year have been credited to the sophomore righty.

Despite tearing his ACL in the 2014 rendition of Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate, wide receiver DeAndre Smelter may play this upcoming season for his new team, the San Francisco 49ers. Depending on when he sees the field for the first time, this would mean that the former Yellow Jacket had either less than a year or barely over a year to recover from an injury which normally takes a bit longer to fully come back from. Even if he really does feel 100% by January or so, rushing a guy back from an injury like that can only spell disaster, especially considering that San Francisco doesn't have a glaring need at the wide receiver position right now. Trent Baalke needs to protect himself from further criticism for the pick by allowing Smelter to have a full recovery.

On the other hand, former Yellow Jacket Darren Waller's size is being coveted by his new team, the Baltimore Ravens. There have been some whispers of an NFL team looking to convert the 6-foot-6 Waller to tight end, and that makes even more sense for a franchise like Baltimore -- the Ravens have struggled with tight end production in recent seasons due to multiple career-threatening injuries to Dennis Pitta and desperately needed a handcuff for their star tight end. Darren Waller, if he progresses well enough, very well could be that handcuff, or even a regular starter.

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed off on a law yesterday known as the "Todd Gurley bill", which is dedicated to punishing people who try to entice student athletes to break NCAA rules. If you recall, Gurley was suspended for part of his final season at Georgia because he was exposed as having signed hundreds of items for an autograph dealer, who payed him for the signatures. The bill, while it seems a bit excessive to me, is clearly made to help the student athletes. Any change that prevents them from being manipulated is good change.

Should the 49ers rush DeAndre Smelter back to the field?

Have a great weekend!