Hi Ashli, First there are no silly dahlia questions as we have all been in the same boat at one time or another so ask them all.
This warm weather in Atlanta...all over the South for the past two weeks has everyone wanting to plant their dahlias but please wait until the middle of April or later. If it turns cold again you could lose your tubers if we get rain as they won't form roots and could rot. I know that is hard to believe right now. Check out the DS of GA website growing instructions under Dahlias that grow well in the South menu item.
Cover as much of the growing sprout as possible with soil. The shock of the sunlight on the sprout above the ground may cause it to die back to ground level or possibly to the tuber which will require a new sprout to form and will take additional time but it will grow out again.

Here is a link that might be useful: DahliaSocietyofGeorgia

Thanks Huey...Keep repeating to myself... Must wait until April. And thanks for the link!

The bonus when you plant a sprouted tuber deep enough to cover a couple of leaf nodes is that at those buried leaf nodes you will get MORE tubers at each node than if you just had the tuber planted at the regular depth. Just let their little tips poke out a tiny bit & they'll grow like crazy.