In his first practice at Georgia Tech, freshman wide receiver Leo Blackburn made a play that was hard to miss. In an 11-on-11 drill Friday morning, Blackburn went up over cornerback Tobias Oliver to bring down a deep ball from quarterback Jordan Yates for a touchdown, a play covering perhaps 50 yards.
“So, really, that was kind of my first chance to see Leo live in action,” Yates said. “So I saw him out there, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve got to see what he’s about,’ so I just threw it up, really. That’s really all that was.”
Blackburn, from Westlake High, was all the more conspicuous as he has been issued the No. 21 jersey that is most identified with Yellow Jackets great Calvin Johnson, who is being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Sunday.
Beyond playing the same position, Blackburn stands 6-foot-5 with a frame not unlike Johnson’s. He is one of four incoming freshman wide receivers trying to make a fast impression as the preseason opens.
The No. 21 jersey “looks pretty good (on Blackburn), doesn’t it?” coach Geoff Collins said. “Looks pretty good.”
Collins said that Blackburn made some mistakes in technique and alignment that wide receivers coach Kerry Dixon can fix, “but, 6-5 – you can’t make guys 6-5,” Collins said. “He’s 6-5 and tremendous ball skills. So just excited about him.”
Collins took the opportunity to hail Johnson, who will become the third former Tech player to be enshrined in Canton, joining Joe Guyon and Billy Shaw. Collins, who was at Tech as director of player personnel in 2006 during Johnson’s third and final season, said that he used to run Johnson’s MySpace page.
“It doesn’t get better,” said Collins, referring to Johnson’s induction and not the social-media forerunner.
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