Hardaway defensive lineman Mykel Williams, an AJC all-state selection last year, is the consensus No. 54 overall national recruit among juniors. (Photo by Rusty Mansell / 247Sports) |
Grayson cranks out top DL recruits |
Since it opened in 2000, Grayson has produced 16 defensive linemen who earned consensus three-star or better rankings in the 247Sports Composite. The most famous is Robert Nkemdiche, the nation’s No. 1 recruit from 2012 who played in the NFL.
The latest are Victoine Brown and Noah Collins. And they aren’t simply good prospects. Each was a first-team all-region performer in 8-7A last season, and they're committed to Division I schools.
Grayson’s 16 are the most of any Georgia school this century. Stephenson (13), Cedar Grove (11), Buford (10) and Sandy Creek (10) are next.
Outstanding defensive linemen seem to come in pairs this season. Douglas County has one going to Georgia, Jonathan Jefferson, and another to Georgia Tech, Josh Robinson. Lowndes also has a couple of blue-chippers, though only Thomas Davis made this subjective list. Defensive end and teammate Jacques Hunter also is a D-I recruit.
These 10 are the latest members of the Georgia Power 100.
*Victoine Brown, Grayson: Brown (6-4, 225) had six tackles for losses, one sack and 11 QB hurries and made first-team all-region in 2019. The consensus No. 33 overall senior prospect in Georgia, Brown committed to Louisville in March.
*Noah Collins, Grayson: Collins (6-3, 215) had six tackles for losses, two sacks and 15 QB hurries and made first-team all-region in 2019. The consensus No. 53 overall senior prospect in Georgia, Collins committed to Georgia Tech, flipping from Central Florida, in May.
*Thomas Davis, Lowndes: Davis (6-2, 220) was the Region 1-7A defensive player of the year as a junior and made GACA first-team all-state. He had 16.5 tackles for losses as a defensive tackle. The consensus No. 78 overall recruit in Georgia, Davis committed to Miami in July, flipping from his original choice of Mississippi State.
*Marlin Dean, Elbert County: Dean made first-team all-region last season as a left tackle, but he plays on both sides, and he’s being recruited as a defensive lineman. He’s 6-6, 260, and still considered raw. He was Elbert’s nose guard last season. Dean is the consensus No. 34 overall prospect in Georgia, making him the state’s top interior DL prospect among seniors. Dean backed off a commitment to Georgia in July.
*Jonathan Jefferson, Douglas County: Jefferson (6-4, 285) had 50 solo tackles, 28 behind the line, 15 of which were sacks, in just 10 games in 2019. He has picked up 30 pounds in the offseason. He is the highest-rated recruit from Douglas County since linebacker Norman Cowins in the mid-1990s. Jefferson, a defensive tackle, is the consensus No. 13 senior prospect in Georgia. He committed to Georgia in March.
*Dawson Rivers, Tucker: Rivers is the only player on this list who led his team in tackles in 2019. He had five sacks and 11 other tackles for losses. A defensive end, he was first-team all-Region 4-6A. He’s only 6-1, 210, so he’s a low three-star prospect with only five Division I offers.
*Joshua Robinson, Douglas County: Robinson (6-5, 235) had 33 solo tackles, 10 behind the line, and nine sacks in 2019 as a defensive end. The No. 47 senior prospect in the state, he committed to Georgia Tech in May.
*Nathan Vickers, Richmond Hill: Vickers (6-2, 210) isn’t the same blue-chip recruit as others on this list, but his production can’t be denied. He had 14 sacks, 25 other tackles for losses, 17 QB hurries and a blocked punt in 2019, when he was his region’s defensive player of the year and made the Class 6A all-state team. Vickers had seven sacks in the playoffs. Vickers got his first scholarship offer, from Presbyterian, in April.
*Tyre West, Tift County: West (6-3, 260) is a top-10 overall recruit among Georgia juniors. He was the only sophomore defensive player to make first-team all-Region 1-7A last season. A starter since he was a freshman, West has eight sacks and 17 other tackles for losses in his short career. Tift County hasn’t had a comparable college prospect since offensive lineman and future NFL player Clay Shiver was a Parade All-American in 1990. Georgia and Auburn are his reported leaders.
*Mykel Williams, Hardaway: Williams (6-5, 255) is the top prospect in school history, or at least since quarterback Wayne Johnson in the mid-1980s. As a sophomore, he had 20 tackles for losses and 12 sacks and made the AJC’s first-team all-state team. A defensive tackle, he’s the consensus No. 54 overall national recruit among juniors.
Coming Tuesday: Offensive linemen
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Rockdale, Clayton put sports on hold
Superintendents in Rockdale and Clayton counties put football on hold Friday because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rockdale County’s Terry Oatts postponed all fall sports until the next semester, meaning Heritage, Salem and Rockdale County won’t play their 2020 fall schedules. But he emphasized that sports aren’t canceled.
“This is not a cancellation, but a responsible postponement of our fall sports season until second semester when we expect our public health data to reflect a more favorable climate for interscholastic athletic competition,” Oatts said.
It’s unclear what kind of sports could be played in the second semester if the GHSA proceeds with its season as planned, with opening games scheduled the week of Sept. 4, unless other school districts join Rockdale County’s.
Later Friday, Clayton County superintendent Morcease J. Beasley suspended all sports for his 10 high schools for two weeks and speculated that his district wouldn’t be the last.
“COVID-19 shutdowns of different athletic programs statewide are more than likely to occur given the recent rise in cases and have to be taken into account as we plan for the coming months,” he said.
Clayton County’s high schools that field sports teams are Drew, Elite Scholars Academy, Forest Park, Jonesboro, Lovejoy, Morrow, Mount Zion, Mundy’s Mill, North Clayton and Riverdale.
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Computer to match best of 2010-19
Great teams such as Marietta, Dublin and Irwin County completed the recent decade with historic state championships. How would they fare against other elite teams of the 2010-19 era? Now, there is a fun new way to conjecture.
Loren Maxwell, the math and ratings master who founded the Georgia High School Football Historians Association, has developed a gadget that he’s testing – a score generator for any matchup involving Georgia high school teams of the past 75 years.
Want to know how 2019 Marietta would’ve done against Colquitt County’s 2015 team? Maxwell’s model can generate a score that favors the better team while reflecting the uncertainty that comes with any game. On any given Friday night, any team might win.
Using Maxwell’s new program, GHSF Daily over the next two weeks will play out a tournament of the best teams of the 2010-19 decade in each classification. The teams will be placed the seven classes (7A to 1A) with public and private divisions for 1A. Adjustments will be made to reclassify teams before 2016, when there were five or six classifications.
A school will have no more than one team entered in each class. That means that schools with multiple state champions in the decade must go with its highest-rated team. That makes for some tough choices. Is it Robert Nkemdiche’s 2011 Grayson team, or the 2016 team with Owen Pappoe?
That rule will eliminate several great teams that could’ve won an all-decade tournament, but it allows more schools to be involved. Still, there will be no lightweights. All tournament entrants represent their school’s team of the decade. No one is to be taken lightly.
Coming Tuesday: First-round matchups.
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Top DL recruits
Georgia has produced 20 consensus five-star recruits on the defensive line this century, with no more on the immediate horizon. Junior defensive tackles Mykel Williams of Hardaway and Tyre West of Tift County are top-75 national recruits who have a chance to play themselves to 5-star players before they’re done. Five-star players are typically in the top 35 nationally for all positions. GHSF Daily has been running run all players with ratings of 0.9000 or higher. On the defensive line, the talent is too rich, with more than 90 players who have scored that highly over the past 20 seasons.
1.0000 - Robert Nkemdiche, Grayson (2013)
0.9992 - Trenton Thompson, Westover (2015)
0.9980 - Brandon Miller, Miller County (2004)
0.9965 - Myles Murphy, Hillgrove (2020)
0.9964 - Derrick Brown, Lanier (2016)
0.9947 - Montravius Adams, Dooly County (2013)
0.9913 - Will Anderson, Dutchtown (2020)
0.9913 - Lorenzo Carter, Norcross (2014)
0.9910 - Ray Drew, Thomas County Central (2011)
0.9910 - Charles Johnson, Hawkinsville (2004)
0.9904 - Omar Hunter, Buford (2008)
0.9901 - Travon Walker, Upson-Lee (2019)
0.9897 - Carl Lawson, Milton (2013)
0.9879 - Aubrey Solomon, Lee County (2017)
0.9867 - Chris Hinton, Greater Atlanta Christian (2019)
0.9867 - Brenton Cox, Stockbridge (2018)
0.9859 - Julian Jenkins, Woodward Academy (2002)
0.9845 - Jordan Jenkins, Harris County (2012)
0.9845 - Kedric Golston, Sandy Creek (2002)
0.9834 - DeAngelo Tyson, Statesboro (2008)
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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Who is the highest-rated outside linebacker prospect from Georgia since 2000: Adam Anderson, Tray Blackmon, Josh Harvey-Clemons, Owen Pappoe or Roquan Smith? (Answer Tuesday)
Answers to Friday’s questions: The highest-rated defensive end prospect from Georgia since 2000 is Robert Nkemdiche of Grayson, according to the 247Sports Composite. Nkemdiche was the consensus No. 1 prospect nationally at any position in 2012. He signed with Ole Miss and played in the NFL. The highest-rated defensive tackle prospect from Georgia since 2000 is Trenton Thompson of Westover. Thompson was the consensus No. 1 prospect nationally at any position in 2014. He played at Georgia. He signed this year with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL.
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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Class 2A
Number of hires: 7
Best hire: Phillip Ironside, Worth County
Hardest to replace: Lee Chomskis, Vidalia
Best job: Vidalia
Toughest job: KIPP Atlanta Collegiate
Most interesting: Shannon Jarvis and Phillip Ironside, two longtime metro Atlanta coaches who built winners in the highest classification, have moved out to the country. Jarvis started Mill Creek’s program in 2004 and reached the big-class semifinals in 2015 and 2016. He has gone home to Elbert County, where he played quarterback for the northeast Georgia school in the early 1990s. Jarvis’ brother Jon is the superintendent of Elbert County Schools. “There’s a lot to be said for raising kids the way I was raised,” said Jarvis, who has two daughters who’ll attend Elbert County. “It’s a different way of life, and I’m excited for my wife and kids to experience that.” Ironside, who started Hillgrove’s program in 2006 and coached four future NFL players, has gone down to south Georgia and Worth County, a school that has won only three games the past three seasons. “My wife and I had talked about a change,” Ironside said, “and the stories that you hear about small-town football, it’s something we wanted to try.”
Region 1
*Worth County hired Hillgrove head coach Phillip Ironside to replace Frankie Carroll, who remained as athletic director. Ironside started Hillgrove’s program in 2006 and fashioned a 109-46 record with four region titles over 14 seasons. Ironside, a Tennessee native, also was head coach at Campbell from 2002 to 2005. Worth County was 2-8 last season.
Region 2
*Vidalia hired Jenkins head coach Jason Cameron to replace Lee Chomskis, who became head coach at Lincoln County. Cameron’s three-year record at Jenkins was 33-7. Jenkins was 12-2 last season and became the first Savannah public school to reach the state semifinals since 1969. Cameron, a New Jersey native, was Jenkins’ offensive coordinator in the five seasons before becoming head coach.
Region 3
None
Region 4
None
Region 5
None
Region 6
*KIPP Atlanta Collegiate hired Tucker offensive line coach Coy Brown to replace James Briscoe. Brown, a Tennessee native, has been on staffs at Northeast and Shiloh. KIPP, an Atlanta charter school, has won more than two games only once in its eight seasons.
Region 7
*Chattooga hired South Pittsburg (Tenn.) defensive coordinator Shawn Peek to replace Charles Hammon. Peek was head coach at North Jackson in Alabama and had a 50-13 record over five seasons. He also has been a head coach at Pisgah and North Sand Mountain in Alabama and Dade County in Georgia during a 31-year coaching career. Chattooga was 37-32 in six seasons and 5-6 in 2019 under Hammon, who has joined Dade County’s staff.
*Coosa hired Marion County (Tenn.) head coach Joey Mathis to replace Todd Wheeler. Mathis’ teams at Marion were 26-23 in four seasons, each ending in the playoffs. He’s a former Calhoun quarterback who also has coached at Adairsville, Pepperell and Shorter University. Coosa was 31-43 in Wheeler’s seven seasons, 1-9 in 2019. Wheeler retired as a head coach and teacher and is now Pepperell’s defensive line coach.
*Dade County promoted assistant head coach Jeff Poston, a Dade alumnus, to replace Dale Pruitt, who became head coach at Marion County (Tenn.). Poston had coached the middle school team for six seasons, the last three as head coach, before taking the role as Pruitt’s top assistant last season. Poston has been the school’s wrestling coach. Dade was third in the AA traditional meet with two individual champions in February.
Region 8
*Elbert County hired former Mill Creek coach Shannon Jarvis to replace Brad Waggoner. Jarvis is a former Elbert County quarterback who played for coach T. McFerrin and joined his staff at South Gwinnett after college. Jarvis started Mill Creek’s program in 2004 and coached through 2018, compiling a 102-68 record with region titles in 2015 and 2016. He was Mill Creek’s athletic director last season. Waggoner, who resigned in April after one season at Elbert, is now the defensive coordinator at South Pittsburg in Tennessee, replacing Shawn Peek, who became Chattooga’s head coach. Elbert was 6-5 last season.
Coming Tuesday: Class A Private
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Today’s interviewee is Dublin coach Roger Holmes, whose team won the Class 2A championship in 2019, the school’s first title since 2006. Dublin will be playing in Class A this season, but there will be challenges. On Sunday afternoon, Holmes got word that Dublin was shutting down sports for one week because of the high COVID-19 rate in Laurens County. West Laurens and East Laurens, part of the county system, also suspended sports for a week.
Roger Holmes,
Dublin head coach
1. Looking back one more time, what was the story of Dublin’s 2019 championship season? “The biggest thing about our last football season was our team’s ability to win a state championship being somewhat one-dimensional. We talked to our kids about sports being a life lesson. We could’ve given in to the press, to the fans, to social media about their beliefs that Dublin would not be able to win a state championship because we didn’t throw the football enough. But the reality is, you have to learn to live within your means. Our football team was exceptional at running the football. We were able to eliminate all those outside distractions and continue to do what we did best. At the end of the day, it helped us achieve what we set out to get done.” [Without attempting a pass, Dublin defeated Brooks County 42-32 in the championship game.]
2. How does your new team look? “Every once in a while I wake up at night in cold sweats thinking about losing 10 of 11 starters on offense. But we’re returning two quarterbacks who both can run our football team, and it always starts with who’s under center. [Those quarterbacks are Kendell Wade, who suffered a season-ending injury in the second game of 2019, and Markelle Mitchell, who replaced him and scored two touchdowns in the final.] Our returning players also lined up against the state champions at practice every day last year and had to get after it. Also, we had a team that played in the state championship in ’06 and graduated 21 of 22 starters and thought there was no way we could put together another good run, and that team happened to play in the Dome against a good Buford team [in the 2007 semifinals]. Our kids don’t have a lot of Friday night experience, and that’s a big question mark. But we’re cautiously optimistic.”
3. How has COVID-19 affected your preparation? “It’s created issues because we’ve got a road map that we like to follow, whether it be with our summer work or offense or defense or whatever it is. That road map has been developed over my 38 years of coaching. Now all of a sudden, we had to take the map and throw it away. Dealing with the unknowns has been tough because we’re still a school where our kids go both ways [playing offense and defense], and being in groups with our coaches split up, we couldn’t work both sides of the football when we were able to get out on the grass. We think that put us behind some. In my opinion, not having to prepare for a scrimmage was helpful. When we got the word Wednesday afternoon [from the GHSA, saying all scrimmages are canceled], we tore up our practice plan and began to have spring practice. It allowed us to get more quality reps and not have to simulate the other team we’d be planning. This was supposed to be week two of spring practice, and now we’re shut down.”
4. How do you feel about the superintendent’s decision, and what are your expectations for the season as it relates to COVID? “Dublin and Laurens County have been identified in the red zone. Our case numbers are high [912 positive coronavirus cases in the past two weeks]. We haven’t had any athletes that have tested positive, which knock on wood has been a positive thing simply based on the high positive rate. Our superintendent has made the recommendation that we not do athletics this coming week. ... As far as the season, I feel comfortable that everyone is going to do everything in their power to make sports happen. Now, that said, I do not feel comfortable about the numbers right now. The state of Georgia has a positive rate that’s like the 12th-worst in the nation with about 12.7%. If you believe what you read, anything above 5% is treading on thin ice. There’s still time. My gut feeling is there’s going to be weeks where there’s going to be [some] games not played, and you’re just going to have to work through those. Those guys at Georgia High School [Association] have a tremendously tough decision to make, they’ve got to do what they are told by their medical professionals, and we’ve got to trust them to make the right choice and follow it.”
MaskClubTM, the first subscription-based buy one, donate one online mask destination, has launched Highschool.MaskClub.com in partnership with the Georgia High School Association. The new site is home to a collection of masks representing nearly 450 schools across Georgia, encouraging students to comply with CDC guidelines to cover your face while showing school spirit.
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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.
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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