She will officially go down in the record book as the first Georgia State female student-athlete to sign an NFL contract. What?
Tiffany Blackmon ('07) hasn't signed with an NFL team, but rather with NFL Network, the league's owned and operated television network. So, Panther fans can follow her every Sunday and many other days on that network as a reporter.
Born in Attleboro, Mass, and reared in Atlanta (North Gwinnett High Schoool), the former GSU soccer player began with NFL Network when she interviewed new Atlanta Falcon head coach Dan Quinn one-on-one in February. Blackmon went to Hawaii for a week in April to cover draft pick Marcus Mariota's final preparations and selection with the number two pick. She was sent to Cleveland for the NFL Rookie Symposium in June to do one-on-ones. Among the many cities she has already traveled for interviews were Chicago, Buffalo as well as an interview with Atlanta's first-round draft pick Vic Beasley at the NFL Rookie symposium in Aurora, Ohio.
“I have been blessed with a tremendous opportunity and I will work as hard and as long as I can to improve and gain their confidence in me,” Blackmon said. “There are so few openings at this level and my appreciation and excitement is through the roof.”
Blackmon most likely will work the Southeast region for NFL Network, but is ready, willing and able to travel anywhere in the country to chase down a story or an interview. “I was in a pet store one day and the phone rang and they told me to get to the airport and get to Manhattan for a story that evening, so I just stay ready,” she added.
Blackmon was a journalism major at Georgia State and interned with the athletic communications office while lettering four years with the Panther soccer team. She was a production assistant with The Weather Channel in Atlanta and moved her way through local TV stations in Lake Charles, La., Waco, Texas and Oklahoma City. She caught on with the CSN Network in Houston before her path led to NFL Network.
Sports is in her blood, literally. Her father was an NFL linebacker for seven years and then an NFL assistant coach for 19 more years. “When I realized I am going to be around the game that he loved for so many years, it is kind of cool and inspiring.” The Blackmons reside in north metro Atlanta, so after seven years away, the proud parents will get to see their daughter a little more often.
Has the former Panther kept up with GSU and her teammates? “Oh yes, I got to come to the last basketball game in March when GSU beat Southern to win the championship and then watched R.J. get drafted by the Celtics,” she said. “We weren't a football school when I was there, but I hope they get a new stadium at Turner Field and keep growing. When I moved back to Atlanta, I now live around the corner from my GSU teammate Mandy Schneider Bennett and her husband, Bobby, a former Panther baseball player, and they use me as a babysitter. I probably communicate with Rebeccah Bernard every day and keep up with many of my teammates on a regular basis. Once a Panther, always a Panther.”
Keep up with Blackmon on the NFL Total Access, NFL Network's night show (M-F, 7 p.m. ET), where she will report from NFL training camps in July and August and throughout the NFL's regular season.
Additionally, you can catch Tiffany during the regular season on NFL Network's Sunday morning pre-game shows NFL GameDay First (7-9 a.m. ET) and NFL GameDay Morning (9 a.m.-1 p.m. ET) and online at NFL.com/NFL Network. She is also on Twitter @tiffblackmon and on Instagram @tiffblackmon.
