Wesley Branch
FLOWERY BRANCH — Week 2 of Atlanta Falcons training camp is officially underway from IBM Performance Field and the NFL team several familiar faces from Gwinnett County on the roster.
Taylor Heinicke (Collins Hill), Lorenzo Carter (Norcross) and Micah Abernathy (Greater Atlanta Christian) have been putting their skills on display at camp for fans within the community that helped build them. Even though they’ve each had different journeys on their road to the NFL, they share the joy of playing for the hometown team.
Carter described the trio from Gwinnett County as, “a small family.”
“Just to have that group of elite players that come from your same area is special,” the outside linebacker said. “Because we can hold that over everybody’s head on the team. Just to have that many players from Georgia and then specifically from Gwinnett, just shows that we were dominant and our high school teams were (more) dominant than anywhere in the country.”
Quarterback Taylor Heinicke began his career as an undrafted free agent before making his first NFL appearance in 2017 with the Houston Texans. Heinicke then joined the Carolina Panthers and played in six games with the team in 2018. In 2020, he signed with the practice squad of the Washington — now the Commanders — Football Team. After getting an opportunity to play in Washington during the 2020 season and helping lead the team to the playoffs as a starter, Heinicke quickly became a fan favorite in Washington and across the NFL, in part because of his underdog story.
The former Collins Hill quarterback signed a two-year extension with the team that following offseason, and appeared in 16 games for Washington in 2021, being given the honors of the starting spot in most of them.
After three years in Washington, Heinicke signed a two-year contract with the Falcons in March of this year, bringing him back to the Atlanta area.
“It’s a dream come true,” Heinicke said of the chance to play for his hometown team. “I bought a house right down the road here and my family lives 10 minutes one way, 10 minutes the other way. I have a nephew that’s turning 2 in two days and he hasn’t been to any of the games, so the fact that he’ll get to go to a number of games this year is going to be really cool.”
During his time at Collins Hill, Heinicke was a dynamic QB in a potent offense. Ahead of choosing to play his college career at Old Dominion, he had a stellar senior season. Throwing for 4,218 yards and 44 touchdowns in his final season of high school football, he was named the Old Spice National Player of the Year in Georgia and was selected as the Gwinnett Daily Post’s Offensive Player of the Year. One of his biggest takeaways at Collins Hill that helped him in the pros, was learning how to run a spread offense.
“That was my first chance to look at a spread offense,” Heinicke said. “My senior year we kind of air-raided it out. We were throwing the ball 40, 50 times a game. So I kind of learned how to read defenses, at that point that was the base level.”
He and his new teammate, Carter, have had some friendly trash talk about the one time Norcross and Collins Hill matched up during their high school careers. Although Carter recounts that game differently than Heinicke.
“He still talks trash about the one time they beat Norcross when he was in school, but that was before I got there. So he only gets a little bit of credit for that,” Carter said.
Carter claimed that if he did play in the game, the outcome would have been different.
“Definitely. I don’t know what he’s talking about, he says they blew us out but I don’t recall that,” Carter said.
However, Heinicke remembers it differently.
“Oh he did,” Heinicke said when he was told Carter claimed he didn’t play in the game. “Don’t let Zo tell you he wasn’t on the field because he definitely was. We beat them 42-0 on Senior Night I believe, so I make sure every time I see him that he doesn’t forget that.”
Carter, a five-star recruit during his high school days, spent four years at Georgia after his time with the Blue Devils.
“It’s huge,” Carter said of having the chance to play for both Georgia and the Atlanta Falcons. “Just to be able to have the impact, coming home you get a chance to be more hands-on with your high school team, be more hands-on with your community that you grew up in. That’s one thing I’m really trying to take advantage of now that I’m actually home.”
Carter also talked about the opportunity to be a role model to current and future Norcross players, and young players in the area in general.
“As much as I can do to help Norcross and to help the younger guys, show them a positive role model and show them that guys coming from their same situations can make it,” Carter said. “That’s my goal and I plan on continuing to do that.”
He credited Norcross for preparing him for college and creating a support system that he can still depend on today.
“We did a lot of advanced work, work that a lot of high schools don’t get,” Carter said. “Coming in, in the summer having an offseason program, nutrition, having that support staff with us. It just prepared me a lot for college and then (made) that step easier from college to the NFL. Just because I’ve been doing it for so long and having that support system that, even I can lean back on my high school coaches and go back and talk to them, and go back and talk to my high school chaplain. … It just helped create a family environment and a support system that I can lean on.”
Carter joined the Falcons in March of 2022 after spending four seasons with the New York Giants, who drafted him in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft. After one season with the Falcons, he re-signed with the team on a two-year deal, keeping him close to home.
Abernathy spent his high school career at Greater Atlanta Christian Academy as a four-star recruit before beginning his college career at Tennessee. Abernathy appeared in two games for the Green Bay Packers in 2022 before signing with the Falcons just before the end of the regular season. He spent time in both the XFL and the USFL before signing with the Packers.
Abernathy lit up when asked about the opportunity to play for the Falcons and his home team.
“It’s special. I try to explain it and I can’t really put it into words,” Abernathy said. “It’s special being in your community, not many players make it to the NFL, not many players get to play for their hometown team. Me, being able to play in Atlanta, being from the city is definitely special.”
The chance to play for Atlanta is one that Abernathy’s friends and family are ecstatic about as well.
“My family feels it, my friends are definitely excited, and I’m really just excited for the opportunity I have ahead,” he said.
He also said that his family has been in attendance at camp a few times and that his mother and brother were in attendance on Saturday for the “welcome back” day of training camp in Atlanta.
“It was really cool to come off the field and be able to see them,” Abernathy said.
He also had a great message for the younger generations of football players in Gwinnett County that have aspirations of making it to the NFL.
“Don’t let anybody knock you off your goals,” Abernathy said. “Your motivation is going to change as you get older but don’t let anybody knock you off your motivation. Have tunnel vision of what you want and go get it and don’t let anything get in your way.”
Read the online version here: https://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/sports/trio-of-gwinnett-grads-in-camp-with-atlanta-falcons/article_cfad29e2-30dd-11ee-9bc1-fb57668218f7.html