 Ahead on Early Birds, the roster is set complete with big rewards for training camp's breakout stars. Plus, we go one-on-one with the receiving wizard called OZ, and college football is back in full. Dogs and Jackets both at the bends, we'll get you ready. That and more ahead on Early Birds. Grab a cup of your favorite, Joe, and let's soak Falcons football on Early Birds, presented by Mercedes-Benz. Good morning and welcome into Early Birds. He's DJ. I'm Justin. We are a week and a day until the full start of the NFL season. Let's take a deep breath, reset, and start things off with the opening drive. In shock, the big news we were all following this week with the Falcons. The team assembled their roster, and here's proof that the pre-season in Camp Matter, Jared Bernhardt and D'Alford among the guys you would have never guessed a month ago would make the team. Yeah, I was still learning who these guys were a month ago, let alone knowing they were going to make the 53-man roster or even a practice squad, but it's great for these guys. It tells you that these three pre-season games are big for a lot of players. When they try to get rid of it, this will take a lot of money, a lot of opportunities, a lot of guys, so this is awesome that these guys got to do it. They even got like D'Alford last year, who pre-season matter, got those guys on the team. An outstanding job these guys did in the pre-season to get a spot on the Falcons roster. These aren't the only two shock, but man, how about Jared Bernhardt's story? Two years ago, he won the Heisman of College La Crosse, now he's on an NFL roster. Yeah, it's just been, you know, I tell my friends, you know, it's been a really cool experience to come out here again and be on this team with this group of guys and people here in this organization. So, again, just happy to be here and happy to come out and work. As we continue on the opening drive, let's talk some big picture, okay? What we've learned starting with the offense, so DJ, I'll put it to you. What did the pre-season tell us about this side of the ball? I think it told us that this offense is going to look totally different than what we saw last year. You got two quarterbacks. We knew Marcus Moriota was going to be the guy, but we saw a guy that was versatile, that could move, that could use his mobility. This is going to be an offense that lives on the edge a little bit, but also must run the football. We saw that in the pre-season, but having Marcus Moriota a part of this offense creates something different for this offense. And I know that Officer Smith is excited to have a guy like him there. And Marcus Moriota says he's definitely excited to get going with his new teammates in games that matter. I think we've had a great training camp. We've had great OTAs. Now it's just putting it all together and believing that when we get out on there and we step on the field, we're going to go out there and make plays. And I'm excited for this group. I think we've got a very competitive group. It's a fun group to be around. And, you know, I'm looking forward to just distributing, giving these guys a chance. I wonder if he'll be at the bench watching us dunk today. All right, as we wrap up the opening drive, defense will be a lot of new faces on that side of the ball. Shock, what did we learn from camp and the pre-season on D? A lot of youth, a lot of guys looking to find a spot, find a boy that can really be impactful for this team. Think about a guy like Lorenzo Carter with Sean Evans, guys who won the first year. Casey Hayward right here coming over. A couple of veteran guys, but this is going to be a defense I think that's going to be created. The way to get after people, a lot of pressure. It's going to be fun to watch this defense get after it, especially if all these young guys jail together and become a complete team on defense. They'll enjoy this. A little bit of time off before the season gets going. Welcome into Early Birds alongside DJ Shockley. I'm Justin Felder and one other note on the pre-season. Hopefully it stays this way. Dawkins got to feel pretty good coming out healthy from the pre-season. Got some little things like Drake London, but most of those are minor. Yeah, most of the guys who you're expecting to play big roles are good and ready to go. So you love that having them going in week one. Always a little tricky when you get to pre-season. Not having your best guys, but glad to find this came out pretty healthy. Rest up right now. Get ready for the regular season. Shock, we are leaving ground. Will things ever be the same again? It is the final countdown to the regular season. That was a strike. Go warm up the Telestrator. We will see you in a few. But first, Olamide Zaccheus. Remember, it's finding out he made the Falcons as an undrafted free agent back in 2019. The person he told me most excited was his mom. Her name is Yimbra Mozima. She is an incredible story. Came to America as an immigrant. Working multiple jobs. Raising Olamide and his brother as a single parent. Really, there's just too much of her story to explain it all now. But Ozzie and I started our one-on-one interview talking about just what his mom and his biggest fan means to him. I told her that she should write a book about it. Her journey is unbelievable. Raising two kids pretty much by herself with the help of others is exceptional. I'm grateful and blessed to have a mom that's that strong. Raising me to be a tough guy that just goes to work. How she is a football fan. She's emotional. Can you hear her voice coming down at the bends? At first, she didn't know anything about football. She was like, that's a good field goal today. I'm not a kicker. It goes a bunch of stuff. A lot of learning for her. Now she's very into it. She knows about penalties and flags. She likes to scream and yell a little bit at the TV when she's not at the stadium. Very fanatic fanatic fan now. Let me ask you a little bit about football. How do you come up with what this offense wants to be in one sentence? How would you do it? One word, explosive. Where do you fit into that? I feel like I'm an explosive playmaker. Wherever they need me. I've always been a playmaker throughout my whole career. That's what I believe in myself. About a month ago, you made a comment that I saw on every single blog, every single social media saying you thought Falcons were a playoff team. Were you surprised at all by the reaction to that? I don't even know. I'm not on social media like that. People sent me some things, but like I said, if we don't believe that, then who will? Nobody else will. So we have to believe that within ourselves, as a team, as a staff, as an organization, in order for it to come into fruition. I said what I said, and that's just what it is. I assume you still feel that way. What is it about the last month or so that makes you feel even stronger about this team's potential? Just the daily growth. Just getting better each day at the little things and just kind of enjoying the ups and downs of the process. Nothing's going to be perfect. Just seeing the continuous growth each day and just learning from our mistakes, it's exciting. All right, last thing for you. We were talking about this a little bit before. You told me that you're getting into meditation when you're away from football. What is it you like about that? It's a practice, like anything else. We kind of talked about it a little bit off camera, but at first, you're not going to be good at it. You're going to lose your focus, but you just got to keep working at it. I think that's what excites me about it the most is that it is a craft that you have to practice and master. I enjoy the process of that. I've been really getting into that this all season and I enjoy it. It's time to get some game intel from shock. You're invited into the film room. So cut the lights and let's get started. All right, me and Justin were talking about some offense and how good it's been in the preseason and how it looks a little different, but also how consistent can you be? Here's the play I want to show you here. It's just a simple play, but it's on third down here. It's a nice completion by Desmond Ritter and DeMere Burr, two guys who hooked up a lot in the preseason. Now in this particular play, I want you to see here. Here's DeMere Burr who's going to catch this particular route. The guy they want to put in conflict on this particular play is this linebacker. You're going to have what's called a high low. You've got a quarter route coming and then you have a flat route here as well. The process is can I read it out and understand who I go with the football? Let's get the play started here. It comes in motion. You know you've got man coverage, but then here comes the play. Now it ends up being zone coverage. Here's the nice job here of the dice section here. He's going to go flat and now he's going to end up coming to the corner route. And remember this is the guy we're talking about that's put in conflict. As the play continues to run, now watch this pocket. Look at this nice clean pocket. We're talking about protecting the quarterback. That's most important. Protect the QB. Here's the flat route. Here's the guy that's in conflict. Here's the corner route coming out of it. As the play continues, the great thing I like about this ball by Desmond Ritter is he throws it flat to the line of scrimmage. It's a nice job of DeMere Burr coming flat and watching the top here. Here's our guy in conflict. He takes him out the flat. So now this is the guy we want to throw the football to. He comes flat down the line and delivers an accurate football to DeMere Burr. And now he's the only one who can catch this football. And now this is what you like. Third down, completions moving the chains by an accurate and efficient player and Desmond Ritter and DeMere Burr. This has to happen a lot this season. I'm looking forward to watching this offense. Can they continue that? Justin, we'll see. We shall see. Thanks, Shock. One thing we're all looking forward to watching college football first full Saturday today. I can't wait. Neither can Michael Jenkins. He's here next to break it all down. Plus, it's timing and it's a build up throughout the whole game. Well, you know, we're talking Georgia Bulldogs. We'll have Lorenzo Carter walking us through the basics of blocking a field goal. Something he has some rosy memories of. That is next and going deep. Hey Falcons fans, score a touchdown with low tire prices that made this tires and brakes. A special tire retailer of the Atlanta Falcons. Visit mavestire.com to find a store near you. Presented by Mercedes Benz. The best or none. And brought to you by Georgia Latter. Today could be the day. By Truist. Committed to a better future. And by Home Depot. How doers get more done? I'm going to switch gears and talk a little college ball. Brought to you by Truist. BB&T and SunTrust are now Truist. Here again is Fox 5's Justin Felder. Welcome back into Early Birds. And we welcome former Falcons receiver Michael Jenkins. He'll be with us talking college football this year. A proud Ohio State alum. We're going to get to your buck eyes. I promise. But man, it's an exciting day. Today's the first Saturday of college football. You ready? I'm ready. More than ready. We got a lot of good ones. A lot of good ones that are going to be played here in Atlanta in the Benz. And we'll start off with one of those, the defending champs. We can hear DJ in the other room right now. Going crazy as Georgia gets ready to kick off the Oregon 330 kickoff this afternoon. Michael, let's talk about this game a little bit. You see the guy on the right, one of the protégés of Kirby Smart. Dan Lanning going to take his ducks to face the dogs. What do you think? It's going to be exciting. It's going to be interesting. You know, I think Kirby wants to have kind of like that Nick Saban run where, you know, his students don't beat him. And he's going to try to keep that going. But Coach Lanning is going to have something for him. He's been around those guys. He knows his offense. So he's going to at least have his defense ready. And you know Kirby Smart excited to stop talking and start playing. More so than experience. They need to play in a game. They need good things to happen and reaffirm their good habits. And some of them need maybe something adverse to happen and see how they respond. Georgia, of course, coming off national championship. Any chance that Oregon can put a scare into the dogs? Scare DJ Shockley here. They can definitely put a scare. I mean, if the Oregon fans remember, they actually came to the shoe in Columbus and beat us at our place. So they're not afraid to go on the road until hostile environment. Obviously against the former national champ. So there may be a scare. I don't think the ducks will get the win. So Shockley would be happy to hear that. But they'll put up a fight. All right. So speaking of the phrase, is there any chance? We'll go to another one of those with Georgia Tech as they take on Clemson. Significant underdogs in there. Season opener. They're going to be playing at the Benz as well. This one is on Monday night. Georgia Tech taking on Clemson. The C-Lion. Hey, going for the upset here, I guess. Going with Georgia Tech. All right. So answer me this. How does Georgia Tech make this one interesting? Well, the guy that we're seeing there, Jeff Sims, a quarterback. I mean, dual threat guy. Can you really make the game difficult for Clemson with his legs and his arms? So he's going to have to play well. Tech fans know it was close last year. They were in it 14-8. So they're hoping for some of that again this year. Yeah, actually, that's a great point. Those good memories should help this team. And Jeff Collins says his team gets what they're going to be up against. I think all of our guys know, you know, what a great opponent it is. They all know the stage that they're going to be placed upon. And just the biggest piece is just the daily focus on getting yourself ready to play at a high level, preparing the organization to compete at a high level. And, you know, that's what we're focused on doing all the way until we get to 8 o'clock next Monday night. So it's going to be a tough start to the season for Georgia Tech, obviously. You know, some folks are saying that heat is rising on Jeff Collins. Do you feel like if they can make this one close? Again, such a good opponent. That should be maybe a, I don't want to say moral victory, but a moral victory? I know Coach Collins doesn't want a moral victory. He wants to get that win. And definitely know he's been on the hot seat. You know, basically nine wins in the last three years. So he wants to get this win to kind of cement his coaching position for the rest of the season for years to come. Would be a real feather in his cap. All right, final game. You're cool talking a little Ohio State. I know it's tough. All right. The big game of the day. It's coming up tonight. Number two Ohio State hosting number five Notre Dame under the lights at the shoe. And Michael, I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're picking Ohio State in this one. I think that's safe. Why are your buck eyes the team to be? I mean, they're just talented in every area. You see this guy, CJ Stroud, who is a Heisman candidate early in the season, the receivers they have, the running back in Henderson. And the big question for Ohio State is the defense, new coordinator with Jim Knowles. I think he's going to have those guys prepared to play against a really good Notre Dame team. We'll see if Brian Kelly breaks out any accents after this one. I'll be something to watch. Should be a fun day. I'll be on the couch once we are done here. That's for sure. Shock. I know you'll be at the Benz. Send it over to you. All right. I appreciate it, fellas. And, Jink, I approve of your Georgia commentary. So good stuff. All right. Falkins linebacker Lorenzo Carter owns one of the biggest plays in recent UGA history. His block field goal in the Rose Bowl helped Georgia to a huge win. Blocking a field goal takes a lot more than a good vertical leap. He shows us how it's done. And this one's going deep. It's timing. And it's a build up throughout the whole game. So a lot of people don't realize like every time they score, you got to go out there and do field goal block. Even if you don't think you're going to get it. So you got to keep hitting the guy, hitting them and hitting them. And eventually they'll start to lean. And once he starts to lean forward a little bit, we'll do a little change up. And they lean forward and jump straight through the little gap. And that's it. So you're kind of setting them up the whole game. Yeah, it's a set up the whole game. Obviously you want to get your hand on anything you can. But is it just fingertips on the ball? Do you try to keep your hand still so it doesn't just kind of keep going? No, it's full lockout. You got to get it all the way as far as you can into that kick point. Because you know the kickers, they're trying to get the ball up quick. And once they get it up, it's not a lot you can do once it's past you. But once you get out, you just got to lock out all the way. Whatever piece, it don't matter if you get the fingertip, anything, whatever you can get on the ball, as long as it knocks it off that trajectory, you're good. This is kind of dumb, because obviously you're hitting 300 pound guys all game. But how much does that hurt? Oh, it doesn't hurt me. You got to be the hammer, not the nail. So if you're doing the hitting, it's pretty smooth as long as those guys aren't getting a good get off and getting a chance to hit you under the chance. It's pretty smooth. We'll see if Lorenzo Cardi can bring that to the Falcon Special Teams. More to come on Early Birds as Atlanta wrapped up their preseason with a win at the Benz. Sound and sights of the game next on Early Birds. You're watching Early Birds. Presented by Mercedes-Benz on your official home for Falcons football. Fox 5 at Lane. Well, the coronavirus pandemic hit the NFL hard two years ago, but things have returned to normal to a certain degree with how the virus has dealt with. While rules aren't as strict as they used to be, the Falcons, of course, do still have some protocols to follow. And that's the subject of this week's Emery Road to Recovery. For this upcoming season, COVID is no longer a restrictive testing, part of our health and safety other than we have access to testing. So if there's somebody who has symptoms or a player who requests testing or there's some kind of medical concern, we have access to test for COVID readily available on site. We will still have that, but there will be no mandated, like, required testing or any other restrictions associated with that. There will be some policies in place that the NFL will dictate as we determine a player to present with symptoms and or test positive. And then that will be, again, alerted to the NFL and the NFL Health and Safety Committee and our medical, lead medical office will kind of oversee that and help guide us through that. But that's not dictated as far as, you know, what it has been the previous two years. Which, like, the regulated testing and time off, et cetera. Alright, more to come on Early Birds. The best calls of the game presented by the team at ninety-two-nine the game. That's coming up next. This has been presented to you by Mercedes-Benz. The best or nothing. Falcons fans, score a touchdown with low-tire prices at Mavis Tires and Breaks. The official tire retailer of the Atlanta Falcons. Visit MavisTire.com to find a store near you. If you can't believe it, Falcons fans, last weekend gave your team their first winning pre-season since 2016. Our Victor Prieto and Blaine Comet were behind the lens for the game. Our friends from ninety-two-nine the game on the mic. Here's the best sights and sounds from the pre-season finale. Falcons and Jaguars. I think we're in Atlanta. Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Jacksonville has lost all three of their games. They played the Hall of Fame game against the Raiders. They've lost nine of their last ten pre-season games. By the way, God here's Ritter. Desmond looks right, slips it down. He'll catch it. Bernhardt stands at the Atlanta 30 with 3-40. Receiver to either side. Hollison bounces and leaves and scores. The Atlanta touchdown on the right side. Good stuff. Falcons back in the Benz. Of course, next weekend, I know you've got to head over there right now. Georgia and Oregon. Looking forward to it. I can't wait. The first time I can see this, the defending national champs are about to play. We'll see if they get to it next year. They can start on a good tone today. That's it for us for DJ Shockley. I'm Justin Felder. Thanks for joining us on Early Birds. We will see you back here next weekend. Have a great day and a great weekend.