Dominick Blaylock’s time at Georgia has come to an end. He’ll graduate from Georgia on Friday and then finish up his career at Georgia Tech.

Perhaps there he can get the happy football ending he so deserves after nothing seemed to go right for Blaylock as a Bulldog.

Blaylock arrived at Georgia as one of the top signees in the 2019 recruiting class. He was the second-highest-rated wide receiver signed by Georgia coach Kirby Smart, topped only by fellow freshman George Pickens. He committed to Georgia in the summer of 2017 and never once wavered from that decision.

With better luck, Blaylock would probably be with Pickens in the NFL by now. Blaylock may not have had one athletic trait that separated him from his peers. But to anyone who watched him, it was obvious he was just a really gifted football player.

As a freshman, he finished with 18 catches for 310 yards and 5 touchdowns. In that 2019 season, Blaylock was often at his best in Georgia’s toughest games. He scored touchdowns in wins over Florida and Auburn. Against LSU, with Pickens suspended for the first half, Blaylock seems poised for the kind of game that would make his name known to a national audience.

Instead, football happened. Blaylock tore his ACL on the opening drive of the game. His freshman season was over, but if he pushed himself in rehab there was a chance he could make it back in time for the start of his sophomore season.

Blaylock did that, even in the midst of the pandemic. He was cleared for contact in August and was ready to get back on the field to help the Georgia team.

Football happened again. Blaylock re-tore the same ACL and his second year at Georgia was officially lost.

Recovering from the second ACL injury was further hampered by a hamstring injury during the 2021 season. He played in just four games during the championship season for Georgia.

“Dom never complains,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said of Blaylock last spring. “He works and handles the cards he’s been dealt very well, and he’s had some really tough resiliency. He has overcome it. I’m really proud of Dom.”

Entering 2022, injuries had impacted each of Blaylock’s first three seasons at Georgia. But instead of laying down, Blaylock kept going. As a redshirt junior, he played in all 15 games for the first time in his career. Georgia’s wide receiver room was vastly improved from where it was when Blaylock arrived which thus limited his production. He finished the year with 15 receptions for 227 yards and a touchdown. He still proved to be a valuable special teams player for Georgia, doing whatever he could to help the team win.

While many would’ve loved to have seen Blaylock stick around for another season, it’s understandable why he’d look elsewhere. He entered the transfer portal in January after Georgia had already brought in Dominic Lovett and Rara Thomas from Missouri and Mississippi State.

You don’t work as hard as Blaylock did to come back from multiple injuries only to sit on the bench. The mental fortitude needed to get from where Blaylock was will no doubt serve him well at Georgia Tech. He’ll bring a championship pedigree to Atlanta and Brent Key’s program.

It will be a new school for Blaylock, who will have two years of eligibility remaining. He’ll be teaming up with former Georgia analyst Buster Faulkner, now the offensive coordinator for the Yellow Jackets. Brett Seither, a roommate of Blaylock’s at Georgia, also transferred to Georgia Tech earlier this offseason.

Some might not be happy that Blaylock is transferring to a team that Georgia plays on an annual basis. Georgia Tech, as far as the program has fallen, is still a rival of Georgia’s.

To those grumbling about Blaylock transferring to Georgia Tech — one of the top academic institutions in the country as well as a school that keeps Blaylock close to his Marietta, Ga. — consider for one second the player underneath the helmet instead of the logo on the side of it.

Blaylock gave his all for Georgia. The Bulldogs don’t win back-to-back titles without him and his contributions. He’ll leave as a two-time national champion and a graduate. Sure his football career could’ve gone better. Those are just the breaks of the game, ones Blaylock knows all too well.

Perhaps at Georgia Tech he can remind everyone what kind of player he is when healthy and given an opportunity to shine. He’s earned as much. And there will be people both inside and outside of the Georgia program rooting for him to do so.

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