Blaylock making his own name

Expectations can be a funny thing, especially when other people set them for you. As the son of former NBA All-Star Mookie Blaylock and former Oklahoma volleyball player Janelle Woods and the younger brother of Kentucky football players Daron and Zack Blaylock, it's always been assumed that 2019 Georgia wide receiver Dominick Blaylock would be a star athlete.

For most his life Dominick has met those expectations, but over the summer things got ratcheted up a notch when South Carolina, Georgia and Auburn extended scholarship offers. As if transitioning from middle school to high school football wasn't going to be tough enough, Blaylock now had to play up to an even higher standard.

But five games into his varsity football career, he's done that and more. Blaylock is among the state's overall leaders in receiving yards and exploded in a game last month for seven catches, 261 yards and three touchdowns.

The soft-spoken Blaylock said he's taking his success in stride, and isn't worried about living up to the moniker of "Mookie's son" or "Daron and Zack's little brother." He just wants to have fun and win games.

"It's important to me to be my own person," the 6-foot, 155-pound Blaylock said. "I want to be known for what I can do and I want to be one of the top players, too."

According to Marietta (Ga.) Walton head coach Maurice Dixon, Blaylock wasn't even a lock to make varsity headed into the season.

"I had heard all the stuff about Dom and was kind of like, 'Yeah, I get it,'" said Dixon, who has coached high school in Kentucky, South Carolina and Georgia. "I was really struggling with whether or not to throw him out there, because you're talking about a kid playing Class 6A football in Georgia, it's a high level of play even for sophomores or juniors."

But it only took two days of practice for Blaylock to impress his coach -- and more importantly, his new teammates.

"Some of the older kids were testing him that first day just to see what he's got," Dixon said. "They were trying to put him on his butt, but they couldn't because is balance is unreal. They were doing everything they could to knock him down and the first day they were pissed they couldn't get to him. By the second day they were loving on him and realizing that he could help us win games."

Blaylock said the first day was tough, but he was glad his coaches and his teammates accepted him on his ability and not on his reputation.

"The first practice they were a little rough on me to see what I was made of," Blaylock said. "But after they tested me they knew what was I was made of and they welcomed me in."

Things have been coming at Blaylock fast ever since his successful spring. His place on the varsity team allowed him to visit colleges for 7-on-7 tournaments over the summer and his play there led to his first scholarship offers.

According to his mother, Janelle Woods, Blaylock's always been on accelerated timeline, mainly because he's always been trying to keep pace with his older brothers.

"They are seven years older than him and from the time he was two he's been running around trying to keep up," Woods said. "When you're a younger sibling you're always pushed to go against bigger and better kids and that, combined with his natural ability, has always helped him when he has competed against kids his own age."

Blaylock and his older brothers were raised by Woods and her husband, John Woods, and he's had limited contact with his famous biological father. Janelle Woods said that while it's easy to label Dominick as just "Mookie's son," he's much more than that.

"As his mother, it's tough to see those comparisons sometimes," she said. "But I don't feel like he's in anyone's shadow. I've always wanted him and his brothers to have their own path and they have a love for football. They come from a football family and they have chosen their own path."

So now that he's established himself as a bona fide high school star and a legitimate college prospect, how is Blaylock handling himself?

"Staying humble after the (7-catch, 261-yard) Etowah game was my focus," Blaylock said. "The hardest is playing the next game when you have all that attention from the defense but I'm just working hard and trying to help my team."

While Blaylock's star is still very much on the rise, his parents and his coach both agreed that despite all the attention and the accolades, he is still just a kid who is enjoying the ride.

"He ceases to amaze me in anything he does," his mother said. "Whether it's baseball, football or school he just keeps doing things I'm amazed at. He does it, he's humble about it and he has fun. For him to be as a good as he is and for the other kids to love him and respect him like they do speaks volumes for his character."

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