Class 4A
*Best player: Malaki Starks is just getting started at Jefferson. He rushed for 544 yards and five touchdowns on just 53 carries last season as a sophomore while playing full-time in the secondary, where he had five interceptions and made first-team GACA all-state. He also averaged 33 yards on kickoff returns. This season, now a five-star recruit, he’s going to be Jefferson’s quarterback.
*Best position: Running backs Jerdavian Colbert of Cedar Shoals, Jessie Phelps of Rutland and Amir Harper of Shaw each rushed for more than 1,300 yards last season but gave way to Damozzio Harris of Jenkins and Jaizen Ellingham of Flowery Branch in a tight race.
*Most highly recruited: Among seniors, it’s Trenilyas Tatum of Mount Zion. The inside linebacker is the consensus No. 27 prospect in Georgia. He committed to South Carolina in April.
*That's interesting: Five of the top 11 junior prospects in the state now play in Class 4A based on 247Sports’ rankings. Those include No. 1 Starks and No. 2 Deyon Bouie of Bainbridge, both rated five-star recruits. The others are Mykel Williams of Hardaway, C.J. Washington of Cedartown and Elijah Pritchett of Carver (Columbus), all top-100 national recruits.
*Snubbed? Bouie is recovering from a knee injury and might not be available until October. He started as a freshman defensive back on Bainbridge’s 2018 state championship team.
*What else is new? Several players in this class face more uncertain seasons than most because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Harris and Jacquez Williams of Jenkins will be playing in the Savannah-only league as Chatham County schools are playing intra-district. Clayton County’s suspension, which could be lifted in time for the opener, affects Tatum of Mount Zion and Derwin Burgess of Riverdale. George Jackson and Dorian Helm of Stephenson won’t have games until October because of DeKalb County’s delay. Zavier Carter of Hapeville Charter is on hold for the first two weeks because of Fulton County’s delay. Albany schools also are down, which affects Westover’s Cameron Bergerson. Cedartown, with Washington and Jayden Johnson, has canceled its Sept. 4 opener.
OFFENSE
QB - Bubba Chandler, North Oconee, Sr.
RB - Jaizen Ellingham, Flowery Branch, Sr.
RB - Damozzio Harris, Jenkins, Sr.
WR - Trent Broadnax, Benedictine, Sr.
WR - Derwin Burgess, Riverdale, Sr.
TE - Derek McDonald, Marist, Sr.
OL - George Jackson, Stephenson, Sr.
OL - Davis McKenna, Marist, Sr.
OL - Steven Nahmias, Marist, Jr.
OL - Elijah Pritchett, Carver (Columbus), Jr.
OL - Royce White, Troup, Sr.
ATH - Malaki Starks, Jefferson, Jr.
PK - Anderson Britton, Heritage (Ringgold), Jr.
DEFENSE
DL - Zavier Carter, Hapeville Charter, Sr.
DL - C.J. Washington, Cedartown, Jr.
DL - Mykel Williams, Hardaway, Jr.
DL - Jacquez Williams, Jenkins, Sr.
LB - Gary Davis, Cairo, Jr.
LB - Tyler Hare, Marist, Sr.
LB - Tahari Tate, Bainbridge, Sr.
LB - Trenilyas Tatum, Mount Zion (Jonesboro), Sr.
DB - Cameron Bergerson, Westover, Sr.
DB - Javon Bullard, Baldwin, Sr.
DB - Dorian Helm, Stephenson, Sr.
DB - Jayden Johnson, Cedartown, Sr.
P - Noah Jones, Cairo, Sr.
Coming Friday: Class 3A
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GHSA holds firm on Sept. 4 start date
No news was good news Wednesday when Georgia High School Association executive director Robin Hines posted reassurance on the GHSA’s website that the football season will begin as scheduled in two weeks.
“The GHSA will be moving forward with the Sept. 4 date for opening football,” Hines wrote in a quick message that matched the expectations reported earlier this week in GHSA Daily interviews with GHSA board of trustees members Glenn White and Steven Craft.
Hines’ post came after his weekly meeting with the GHSA’s sports medicine advisory committee. One of those committee members, Marietta City Schools director of sports medicine Jeff Hopp, is GHSF Daily’s Four Questions interviewee today.
Football news has been calm the past few days after a week in which Fulton, DeKalb and other school districts delayed or suspended their football seasons.
Hines spoke later Wednesday with The Athens Banner-Herald and acknowledged the high COVID-19 cases in Georgia but remained confident the season could proceed as planned.
“While the numbers aren’t what we would prefer that they would be right now, they’re trending down,” Hines told The Banner-Herald. “We feel good about that, and pending some spike between now and then, my recommendation is going to be that we go ahead and play.”
Alabama, Tennessee to kick off tonight
Alabama and Tennessee will kick off the high school football season in the South today. Alabama has 25 games scheduled while Tennessee has five. Both states have more than 150 season openers scheduled Friday.
GHSF Daily's Chip Saye will travel to Valley, Ala., on Friday to see the Valley High Rams host Beauregard in the teams' opener. He will provide a report from the scene in Monday's edition.
Arkansas will begin next week, with Georgia, Florida and Mississippi to follow in the South.
Sixteen states and the District of Columbia nationwide have postponed their seasons into winter or spring. Massachusetts this week became the latest to postpone its fall season.
Grayson, Lowndes in national top 10
Two Georgia teams made MaxPreps’ first fall national rankings. Grayson checks in at No. 5, and Lowndes is No. 9. The rankings reflect only states that are playing in the fall. USA Today released regional rankings Wednesday that put Grayson No. 1, Lowndes No. 2, North Gwinnett No. 6 and Parkview No. 9 in the South, which excludes Florida.
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Veteran coaches
Nineteen active GHSA head coaches, or about one in 22, made their Georgia head-coaching debuts 25 years ago or more. Below are the years of their start in Georgia and their current school.
1983 - Rick Tomberlin, Appling County
1985 - Alan Chadwick, Marist
1985 - Mark Farriba, Stratford Academy
1988 - Ron Gartrell, Stephenson
1990 - Rich McWhorter, Jackson County
1990 - Larry Milligan, Greene County
1991 - Michael Gunn, Walker
1992 - Mark R. Stroud, Calvary Day
1992 - Gerry Romberg, Westminster
1992 - Ed Dudley, Winder-Barrow
1992 - Mark Wilson, Taylor County
1993 - Todd West, Pataula Charter
1994 - Maurice Freeman, Brooks County
1994 - Frank Barden, St. Francis
1994 - Sid Maxwell, Dawson County
1994 - John Bowen, Cross Keys
1995 - Lee Shaw, Lakeview Academy
1995 - Rodney Cofield, Douglass
1995 - Dwight Jones, Pacelli
Join the GACA and be eligible for liability insurance, participation in all-star games, registration to clinics, and access to job listings.
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Three GHSA coaches won 100 games during the 2010-19 decade. Who were they? (Answer Friday)
Answer to Wednesday’s question: Buford is the school that had four combined wins over Cartersville's Trevor Lawrence (one) and Gainesville's Deshaun Watson (three). They lost nine games between them in high school.
Jostens is the leading provider of yearbooks, caps and gowns, class rings and championship rings and is the Official Championship Ring of the GHSA. Click here to learn more.
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Computer tourney finals match plenty of state champions |
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The championship games for the Team of the Decade tournament are set, and they full of champions, as one might expect.
Only 2013 Lamar County and 2014 Marion County among the 16 finalists didn’t win state titles. One of those deserves an asterisk. Marion County won Class A in 2013, but its 2014 team, rated slightly higher by the computer Maxwell Ratings, got the tournament berth somewhat by accident. But it's working out fine.
Everywhere else you look, it is champion on champion.
In Class 7A, the two best Georgia teams of the past decade were 2015 Colquitt County and 2016 Grayson, according to Loren Maxwell, who invented the score generator through which these games are played.
That was no guarantee they’d play for the title, though. Almost 20 percent of tournament games have been won by the underdog, but not the latest two in 7A. Colquitt, which won High School Football America’s national title in 2015 while going 15-0, defeated the surprising 2017 Tift County Blue Devils 37-24. Grayson eliminated 2018 7A champion Milton 30-7. Colquitt will be a 1.5-point favorite in the final, according to Maxwell.
Only three upsets occurred in the semifinals.
Buford’s 2010 and 2014 teams lost, the 2010 team to Lamar County in 2A and the 2014 team to 2012 Sandy Creek in 4A. But the Wolves’ 2013 and 2019 teams advanced. The 2019 team, in fact, beat Deshaun Watson’s 2012 Gainesville team that won a state title.
The other upset took place in 6A, where 2010 Chattahoochee, a 15-0 team in its own right, beat 2019 Lee County 35-33. Lee County was Maxwell’s highest-rated team in the 6A draw and would beat Chattahoochee 63 percent of the time. But that's why they play the computer simulations.
The best semifinal was 2019 Irwin County vs. 2010 Clinch County. Irwin prevailed 31-24 in overtime. Irwin would win 53 percent of the time, according to the computer model.
The computer model used for the tournament simulation was created by Maxwell, the Georgia High School Football Historians Association founder. It uses historical scores to simulate any matchup involving Georgia high school teams of the past 75 years.
In each game, the stronger team usually wins, but upsets and surprising scores occur, as they do in real life.
Below are the semifinal scores in each classification, with upsets noted in red.
Coming Friday: Finals
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Class 7A
2015 Colquitt County 37, 2017 Tift County 24
2016 Grayson 30, 2018 Milton 7
Class 6A
2016 Valdosta 36, 2011 Northside (Warner Robins) 17
2010 Chattahoochee 35, 2018 Lee County 33
Class 5A
2019 Buford 33, 2012 Gainesville 22
2013 Creekside 20, 2010 Statesboro 0
Class 4A
2012 Sandy Creek 23, 2014 Buford 10
2016 Cartersville 26, 2018 Blessed Trinity 21
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Class 3A
2013 Buford 24, 2013 Washington County 7
2012 Jefferson 14, 2010 Carver (Columbus) 12
Class 2A
2011 Calhoun 40, 2018 Heard County 14
2013 Lamar County 21, 2010 Buford 0
Class A Private
2018 ELCA 20, 2019 Holy Innocents’ 6
2011 Savannah Christian 34, 2014 Mount Paran 0
Class A Public
2019 Irwin County 31, 2010 Clinch County 24 (OT)
2014 Marion County 27, 2018 Pelham 23
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Today’s interviewee is Jeff Hopp, the director of sports medicine at Marietta City Schools and the vice president for the Southeast Athletic Trainers Association. Hopp is a member of the Georgia High School Association’s sports medicine advisory committee.
Jeff Hopp, Marietta City Schools director of sports medicine
1. For those unfamiliar with the sports medicine advisory committee, what is its makeup and purpose? “The GHSA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC) is comprised of a wide variety of healthcare professionals including physicians, athletic trainers, nurses and EMS as well as school administrators and game officials. Our purpose is to provide guidance and recommendations to the GHSA on policies or decisions in regard to the health and safety of athletes. For example, outside of these unprecedented times, we have helped craft changes to policies related to heat illness, emergency action plans, and CPR requirements as well as build educational materials and forms that are distributed to member schools. Our main focus in recent months has of course been COVID-19 and determining when it will be safe to go back to playing sports, as well as what precautions need to be taken when that happens.”
2. The committee has met for a number of weeks now, often with significant news announced later that day or the next by Robin Hines, the GHSA’s executive director. What are those meetings like? Have there been times when the group was far apart on how to proceed, or how fast or how cautiously to open? “The SMAC has met virtually on a weekly basis for the last few months. We are looking at data from the CDC, Georgia Department of Public Health and other sources as well as the latest research. We are hearing from members of the committee on what is happening at their facilities or schools. GHSA also updates us on what is being reported from all the member schools. With that many people (about 15) from all over the state on the committee, there are always differing opinions. However, we all have the same goal of keeping athletes, coaches and everyone else involved safe while trying to determine if sports can be played. We also know that there is no one right answer that will work for the entire state of Georgia as COVID-19 is impacting areas of the state differently. As a result, some schools or school systems may be ready to play, others may not.”
3. What are your biggest concerns about playing football in this pandemic? “Being realistic, every school in the state is going to be impacted by COVID-19 at some point if they haven’t already. That being said, my biggest concern is whether we can do enough to mitigate the risks of COVID to make football, and other fall sports, safe. That goes beyond just the athletes, coaches, athletic trainers and other team staff - to game-day staff, game officials and spectators. It also includes the families of everyone involved, as well. Although we will not be able to eliminate every risk, if everyone is willing to do their part to ensure it is as safe possible, I do believe fall sports can continue.”
4. What makes you optimistic that football can and should be played beginning Sept. 4? What would you say to those concerned that Georgia should postpone further? “I think most schools have been preparing for this and will be able to take the needed precautions to safely get the season started on Sept. 4. Everyone understands football will be different this fall, and it won’t be easy, but I believe the benefits that come from football and high school sports in general are needed at this point, not only for the athletes but for the communities as well. Compared to other places, the SMAC and GHSA have taken the recommendations from the CDC and other agencies to create a safe environment on our campuses for athletics, which results in safer participation for our athletes and communities.”
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Storm Johnson gives back to student-athletes
Former UCF standout and NFL running back Storm Johnson has joined The Learning Company in offering services to middle and high school students and student-athletes through a boys only academy with NCAA approved classes (in person one-to-one or virtual); final semester program for high school seniors; ACT/SAT prep; athletic training; and Camp Storm, a residential camp facility located in southeastern Georgia on 40 acres. For information, call 770-652-7542 or click here to email.
Mitchell County seeks two opponents for 2020 football schedule
Mitchell County High School is seeking two football games to complete its 2020 schedule. It has open dates on Sept. 25, Oct. 2 and Oct. 9 and would like to play one of the games in Camilla. Click here to contact coach Deshon Brock.
Jackson County seeks assistant in boys basketball, baseball
Jackson County High School is accepting applications for an assistant boys basketball coach and assistant baseball coach that will include duties as a PE teacher. If interested, click here to contact athletic director Brad Hayes.
Sequoyah seeks boys basketball assistant coach
Sequoyah High School is accepting applications for a varsity boys basketball assistant coach for the 2020-21 school year. Teaching certificate needs to be in science or SPED Math. If you are interested, click here to contact head coach Allen Carden.
St. George’s Episcopal seeks assistants in volleyball, boys basketball
The assistant coaches in volleyball and boys basketball will assist in all matters concerning the varsity teams. We are looking for someone who wants to help build a competitive program in an elite academic environment. We are only in the fifth year of competing at the varsity level. St. George’s competes in GISA AA athletics. These are part-time jobs through the season with the possibility of expanding roles in the coming years. Click here to contact athletic director Britt Gaylor.
Rockdale Co. seeks assistant football, baseball, girls basketball coach
Rockdale County High School is looking for an assistant coach for baseball, girls basketball and football. Interested candidates should be certified in one of the following teaching vacancies – English, Spanish and/or SPED (Science and/or English). Click here to contact athletic director Chad Suddeth.
Manchester seeks head softball coach
Manchester High School is now accepting applications for our head softball coach. Also, there is a possibility of coaching an additional spring sport, with a SPED co-teacher opening as well. Interested applicants can send their resume and cover letter to assistant principal/athletic director Dr. Kelvin Smith by clicking here.
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GHSF Daily classified ads
Reach 22,000 readers per day in GHSF Daily’s classified ads. Rates are $50 per week. Ads must be a maximum of 75 words and include a headline and contact information. Click here to contact us.
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About Us
Georgia High School Football Daily is a free e-mail newsletter produced and owned by Todd Holcomb and Chip Saye. Holcomb is a former lead high school football writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and co-founder of the Georgia High School Football Historians Association. Saye is a 35-year veteran of the newspaper industry who has covered high school sports for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Athens Banner-Herald, Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail and Gwinnett Daily News.
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