Kenneth Harrison
Let’s Get It On
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The high school football regular season is over and the playoffs are now here. Let’s take a look at some of the top 7A teams and their road to the state championship.
#1 Buford: The Wolves (10-0) just moved up to 7A this season, but they have not had any trouble adjusting. They have won three consecutive state championships in 6A and 5A.
They have won state championships in every classification prior to moving up to 7A.
They are the number one seed in region 8-7A and they are playing Peachtree Ridge.
The Lions (6-4) are the No. 4 seed from region 7-7A. In their four loses the closest margin of victory was 21 points. I expect Buford to beat them by a large margin.
The second round will be against the winner of South Forsyth/#8 Walton.
#2 Colquitt County: The Packers (10-0) are region 1-7A champs. They are led by senior running back A’Marius Pace, junior quarterback Neko Fann and junior wide receiver Ny’Quavion Carr. They host No. 4 see Pebblebrook (4-6) from region 2-7A.
Colquitt County only has one win by less than 20 points this season. They will beat up on Pebblebrook. The second round they will face the winner of Harrison/Brookwood.
#3 Carrolton: The Trojans (10-0) are not a team we typically see ranked at the end of the season. They have had an impressive season and won region 2-7A. They host Lowndes (5-5) in the first round. This is a down year for the Vikings so I expect Carrolton to beat them. The next round will be against Marietta or Newton.
#4 North Cobb: The Warriors (8-2) had high hopes coming into the season. They played #1 Buford in the second game of the season and lost 21 – 14. Unfortunately, four-star senior quarterback Malachi Singleton played the entire second half with a broken foot. That was his last game of the season and he has had surgery.
Even with their best player sidelined North Cobb has had a good season and they won region 5-7A.
They host Denmark (6-4) from region 6. The Danes have some talented players on their team. This could be a close game. If the Warriors win, they will face the winner of Mill Creek/Meadowcreek.
#5 Mill Creek: The Hawks (9-1) have the top player in the state, five-star safety Caleb Downs. They also have three-star linebacker and Clemson commit, Jamal Anderson Jr. As you can guess, he’s the son of the former Atlanta Falcons running back.
Their only loss was to Buford, 39 – 27.
Mill Creek hosts another Gwinnett County team, Meadowcreek. I think the Hawks are actually the second-best team in 7A and I expect them to make a deep playoff run.
#6 Grayson: The Rams (8-2) were undefeated and won the state championship in 2020. They are trying to get back to that in 2022.
The best player on the team is four-star safety Michael Daugherty. They are the top seed in region 4-7A and host No. 4 seed Hillgrove. If they win that game, they will play the winner of East Coweta and Camden County.
#7 Lambert: The Longhorns (9-1) seem to be flying under the radar despite having a great season. They play 3 seed Wheeler in the first round. If they win, they will face the winner of North Gwinnett/Dacula.
I think Buford will win the championship but I’m ready to see how these teams perform.
Instant Classics
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Georgia-Florida rivalry dates back over 100 years.
If you ask Georgia the first meeting was in 1904. If you ask Florida the first game was in 1915. They have played every season since 1926, with the exception of a World War II interruption in 1943.
The game has been held in Jacksonville since 1933. It’s one of the few neutral site rivalry games in college football. Let’s take a look at some of the best games in the series history.
1966: #7 Florida was 7 – 0 entering the game. Quarterback Steve Spurrier went on to win the Heisman Trophy and Walter Camp Trophy this season but he couldn’t beat Georgia.
The Bulldog defense forced him to throw three interceptions and won the game 27 – 10.
All-American defensive tackle Bill Stanfill said: “Holding pigs for my dad to castrate was quite a challenge. I can’t say that helped prepare me for football, but it sure did remind me an awful lot of sacking Steve Spurrier.”
This game defined the rivalry years later when Spurrier became the head coach of his alma mater in 1990. He emphasized the Georgia game as “the biggest of the year” and his players responded well to that.
2002: Since 1990 Florida only lost one game to Georgia.
The Bulldogs were 8 – 0 and ranked fifth going into this game. The Gators were surprisingly 5 -3 and unranked. They upset UGA and won 20 – 13.
Florida QB Rex Grossman was very inconsistent but he played well. Grossman threw for 339 yards and two touchdowns.
“This was huge,” Grossman said. “It couldn’t have been any bigger for us.”
“It’s real unbearable,” said Georgia senior tackle Jon Stinchcomb, tears streaming down his face. “For the rest of our lives, all the seniors will know they never beat Florida. It’s one of our biggest rivalries, and we’re all 0-4. That’s a pretty tough pill to swallow.”
This was UGA’s only loss and they finished 13 – 1 and ranked third.
1997: #14 Georgia snapped a seven-game losing streak in the series with an emphatic 37 – 17 win. Junior safety Kirby Smart intercepted two passes in the game. His mother Sharon is from Florida and she may have been more happy about the victory than he was.
“She was born and raised in Florida, almost went to the University of Florida, she’s from Plant City,” Smart said this week. “So, it meant a lot to her. And getting to see her, that was probably the best part of it.”
Robert Edwards rushed for 124 yards and tied his school record with four touchdown runs. Hines Ward finished with 203 total yards.
“That’s one of the few scores that I actually remember,” said Matt Stinchcomb, an All-American left tackle for the Bulldogs. “I don’t think I can tell you what the score was I don’t think in any other game that I’ve ever played in – 37-17 sticks out in my mind. It was certainly a special day for sure.”
The Gators had won 52-14, 52-17 and 47-7 the previous three years against the Bulldogs.
Pitiful Panthers
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Carolina Panthers fired head coach Matt Rhule Monday morning. Carolina is off to a 1 – 4 start and lost to San Francisco 37 – 15 on Sunday.
Rhule is in his third season as the head coach in Charlotte. His overall record is 11 -27.
Under Rhule, the Panthers went 1-27 when allowing 17 or more points, including 25 losses in a row. Every other team has multiple such wins in that span.
This is less than six full months after owner David Tepper said it could take five, maybe six years to rebuild an organization capable of sustaining excellence and contending for championships.
Tepper in late April said: “I believe in Matt. He has my full support.”
“I’m a fan,” Tepper added that day. “I don’t like to lose. But it takes time and it takes a foundation, and it takes time to create the foundation to win. I do believe Coach Rhule and [general manager] Scott [Fitterer] have done a great job of creating that foundation.”
Rhule was a hot coaching candidate when he was hired for the job in January 2020. He rebuilt Baylor and Temple. He had his best seasons in his third year at both of those schools, winning at least ten games.
He had a seven-year, $62 million contract. Rhule is still owed more than $40 million.
He inherited Cam Newton, who was released in March 2020 as he rehabbed from foot surgery and an ailing shoulder that made him a shell of the player who won the NFL MVP Award in 2015.
The Panthers brought in Teddy Bridgewater, who was released one season after getting a three-year, $63 million deal. They then traded with the New York Jets for the 2018 third overall pick Sam Darnold, who had gone 13-25 as the starter in New York.
Carolina brought back Newton midway through the 2021 season, when Darnold suffered a shoulder injury, only to watch him go 0 – 5.
“That’s the most important position on the field,” Tepper said after the team moved on from Newton. “Unless you have that guy for sure that gets you to the playoffs and Super Bowls, you have to keep reevaluating that because that’s the only thing that matters is Super Bowls.”
“And until you have that guy, you’re evaluating, evaluating, evaluating every year.”
Rhule believed the roster was good enough to be competitive this season if they had solid quarterback play.
Carolina was one of the finalists to trade with the Houston Texans for Deshaun Watson this past offseason. Once he chose Cleveland it made Baker Mayfield expendable. The Panthers traded for Baker in July.
The Baker Mayfield experiment has been a disaster so far. Mayfield hasn’t regained the form he had in 2020, when he led the Browns to an 11 – 5 record and playoff win, as he is putting up career lows in almost every statistical category.
Mayfield’s 16.5 QBR is the lowest among passers with at least three games in the NFL this season while he has completed a league-worst 54.9% of his passes and has committed five turnovers (four interceptions and a lost fumble).
Defensive pass game coordinator Steve Wilks was named the interim coach. Wilks, 53, was previously a head coach in the NFL with Arizona in 2018. He posted a 3 – 13 record and was fired following his first season.
Buzz Kill
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Geoff Collins era at Georgia Tech has ended. Athletic director Todd Stansbury was also fired.
Collins was in his fourth season as the head coach in Atlanta. He has a record of 10 – 28, with no better than three wins in the previous seasons. This is the lowest winning percentage (.263) of the team’s 13 full-time coaches. Stansbury’s tenure as the department’s ninth athletic director is complete after six years.
The Yellow Jackets are off to a 1 – 3 start this season. They lost Saturday at Central Florida, 27 – 10. Tech played well enough to win but made enough mistakes to lose.
“I just think that critical situations, have to make sure we’re getting points on the board, and we’re not doing it, and obviously that falls on me as the head football coach,” Collins said.
They got in the red zone five times and did not score on any of those possessions. Tech missed two field-goal attempts, fumbled the ball away twice and turned it over once on downs.
The Yellow Jackets averaged 7.2 yards per play against UCF. Since the start of the 2000 season, before Saturday, ACC teams had averaged at least 7.2 yards per play 438 times, according to sports-reference.com. None had ever scored fewer than 17 points.
“Outgained them by over 100 yards, but when the other series of events happen, it’s hard to win games against a really good football team. Obviously, credit to UCF, but not the result we wanted,” Collins said.
The head football coach and the athletic director being relieved of their duties on the same day with more than half the season remaining is a highly unusual scenario for Tech.
Collins had several shortcomings that caught up with him. In his 38-game tenure, the Jackets lost six games by 40 points or more. Previously, Georgia Tech had lost by 40 points or more six times over 42 seasons.
Tech allowed four blocked punts in the first four games, all of which led to touchdowns. Ironically for Collins, he oversaw the punt unit and was not able to fix the issue.
Stansbury is a Tech grad that also played football for the Yellow Jackets. He’s the first Tech AD to not leave the post on his own accord. He was hired in 2016 from Oregon State. He hired Collins in December 2018 from Temple to succeed Paul Johnson.
I thought Collins was a bad hire from the beginning. He was only 15 – 10 in his two seasons at Temple. He pitched his idea to Stansbury that he would use branding and culture to land top recruits. He’s from Rockdale County and he worked under former coaches George O’Leary and Chan Gaily.
Collins is contractually due the full amount remaining on his final three years, $10.5 million.
I saw some of the candidates for the job and honestly, I do not think they can land them. Deion Sanders is at the top of the list. Coach Prime is at FCS Jackson State and he has landed several four and five star recruits. That includes the top recruit in the class of 2022, Travis Hunter, who is from Metro Atlanta.
Sanders played for the Falcons and Braves. After a 4-3 record in his first COVID-19 shortened season with the Tigers, he led JSU to an 11-2 record (9-0 SWAC) in his second campaign. The Tigers are 4-0 to start 2022 while outscoring opponents 190-37.
Shawn Clark, Appalachian State’s head coach is also a candidate. Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken should also be considered.
Down Here
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The NFL season is underway and there is a lot of room for improvement for several teams. We are going to take a look at the AFC South and preview the Week 2 matchups.
Indianapolis @ Jacksonville: This sounds crazy to say but the Colts acquired Matt Ryan to win games like this. Last season with a playoff berth on the line in Week 18, Indy lost in Jacksonville (3-14) to a bad team. That’s when they realized they had to move on from Carson Wentz and upgrade the quarterback position.
On paper it looks like the Colts have a complete team and they only need solid quarterback play to make a deep playoff run. They tied division rival Houston in Week 1, 20 – 20. Matt Ryan did throw for 352 yards and a touchdown in his debut but he also had two turnovers.
The Jaguars are coming into the season with optimism. Doug Pederson is the new head coach and he’s the man that finally brought a Super Bowl to Philadelphia. Trevor Lawrence is also expected to drastically improve in his second year in the league. The Jags lost to Washington 28 -22 to start the season.
The Colts are looking to send a message to Jacksonville and they will win convincingly.
Houston @ Denver: The Texans are expected to be a bad team but they put up a very good fight against Indy. The game ended in a tie but they did lead 20 – 3 going into the fourth quarter.
Lovie Smith is in his first year as head coach. He served as associate head coach and defensive coordinator for the Texans for the 2021 season. The defense recorded 25 takeaways in 2021, tied for tenth.
“Obviously we didn’t lose the game, but it kind of feels that way since we were up, we were doing so many good things in the beginning and then they came back,” Houston linebacker Christian Kirksey said.
Quarterback Davis Mills threw for 240 yards, 2 touchdowns, no interceptions and completed 62% of his pass attempts.
Receiver Brandon Cooks led the team with 7 receptions for 82 yards. Houston struggled running the ball, gaining 77 yards on 28 attempts.
We all know the Broncos have Russell Wilson now but I don’t think they are an elite team.
I pick Denver to win but not a blowout.
Tennessee @ Buffalo: This is a Monday Night Football game so we expect it to be good.
They played Monday night last season and the Titans won, 34 – 31. Some things have changed since last year though because the Bills are the favorite to win the AFC.
They started the season by blowing out the defending Super Bowl champion Rams on the road, 31 – 10. Josh Allen looks like he might win MVP this season.
Tennessee lost a close game to the Giants 21 – 20 so they are looking for their first win of the season. Derrick Henry played his first regular season game since his 2021 foot injury. He rushed for 82 yards on 21 carries. Ryan Tannehill is looked at as the weak link, which is why they drafter quarterback Malik Willis in the third round of the 2022 draft.
They also traded star wide receiver A.J. Brown to Philly on the first day of the draft so they are missing a key weapon.
I expect Buffalo to win by double digits.
The 12th Man
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Texas A&M seems to always be on the cusp of becoming a great program.
When they moved to the SEC in 2012, they beat Alabama and Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy. They used that momentum to sign five-star players like Kyler Murray but he transferred after his first season.
They moved on from coach Kevin Sumlin and replaced him with Jimbo Fisher in 2018.
Fisher won a national championship at Florida State and he was expected to do the same with more money and resources at his disposal in College Station.
So far, he’s done a decent job, going 34 -14 in his first four seasons. His best season was in 2020 when the Aggies went 9 – 1. Last season A&M went 8 – 4 but they were the only team to beat Alabama in the regular season. That means A&M has lost four or more games in 23 of the last 26 seasons.
They had the top ranked recruiting class in the nation in 2022. Nick Saban famously said they “bought every player” with name, image and likeness deals. That started a public feud that will make this season’s game interesting.
“We saw each other at the SEC meetings [in Destin, Florida]. I have great respect for Nick, had a great friendship with Nick,” Fisher said. “I respect him very much, and we all learn from different circumstances in which we have, and I have no ill will, no anything to him.”
The offense was 11th in the SEC averaging 392 yards and 29 points per game. Starting quarterback Haynes King broke his leg in the second game last season and missed the remainder of the season.
He was replaced by Zach Calzada but he transferred to Auburn in the offseason. Max Johnson transferred in from LSU where he threw for 27 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.
I expect Johnson to be the starter going into the season, but they also have five-star freshman Conner Weigman.
Junior running back Devon Achane should be the focal point of the offense. In 2021 he rushed for 910 yards, 9 TD’s and averaged 7 yards per carry. The offensive line should be better at four of the five positions.
Senior wide receiver Ainias Smith is the leader of the receiving corps. He had 90 catches and 12 scores over the last two seasons. Five-star freshman Evan Stewart should become the deep threat.
Defensive back Antonio Johnson was named a preseason first-team All-American after a breakout 2021 season.
The Aggies open the season with an FCS opponent, Sam Houston State. The next game is against Appalachian State. Both will be blowout wins.
Week 3 #16 Miami comes to town and I don’t think the Hurricanes will put up much of a fight.
The next game is at AT&T Stadium versus Arkansas. The Razorbacks were good last year but I expect A&M to win.
October begins at Mississippi State for an easy win.
Things get drastically harder when they travel to Tuscaloosa. Alabama will get their revenge.
The Aggies play their third consecutive away game at South Carolina. I expect this to be a tough game.
A&M returns home with games against Ole Miss and Florida. I expect them to lose one of those games.
The final three games are at Auburn, U Mass and LSU. Both Tigers have fallen on hard times, but they still have some talent on the roster.
I think Texas A&M will win eight games again this season, if things go right possibly nine. They should be much better going into 2023.
Hootie Who 2022
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Kennesaw State started playing football in 2015.
The Owls have had immediate success, making the playoffs four times. Head coach Brian Bohannon has been there from the beginning, going 63–18.
They played in the Big South Conference previously. They joined the ASUN Conference this season, formerly known as the Atlantic Sun.
Junior quarterback Xavier Shepherd is on the preseason Walter Payton Award watch list, which is for the best player in the nation in FCS. Shepherd is ASUN Conference Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and ASUN Preseason All-Conference.
He played in seven games last season and passed for 640 yards, 5 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He also rushed for 556 yards and 12 scores.
KSU had a very good 2021 season, going 11–2. One of those losses was to a Power 5 FBS school, Georgia Tech. They are trying to focus on having deep playoff runs at this point. The Owls advanced to the second round of the FCS Playoffs, losing 32-31 to #7 East Tennessee State.
They tried to address some concerns by adding talent in the offseason. They signed 25 players in the class of 2022 and 17 of them are from Georgia. Five of them are offensive linemen so they have added depth up front.
“Every year we are trying to get better, and I think that’s the case with this year’s class. It’s a great group and our staff did an awesome job,” Bohannon said. “When you are playing late in the year and you are balancing recruiting and the playoffs, it’s challenging, but we have gotten used to that around here, which is a good thing. It is a great group of young men that we have signed, and we are also going to add another good group in February. I am excited about what is going on with Kennesaw State football right now.”
KSU should be a well-rounded team with a strong defense, allowing 19.5 points per game last season. The Owls return eight of their 11 top tacklers, led by LB Evan Thompson, who broke the single-season school record with 118 total tackles.
In the FCS preseason Top 25 poll the Owls are ranked sixth.
The season starts Thursday September 1st at Samford. This will be a win.
Things get much harder the following week at Cincinnati. The Bearcats had an undefeated regular season last year and made the College Football Playoffs. They lost a lot of talent from that team but as an FBS team they have more talent and scholarship players. The Bearcats will win big.
After a bye week the home opener is against Wofford. KSU beat them 31-10 in 2021 and I expect a similar outcome in 2022.
The first conference game is October 1st at Jacksonville State. JSU is transitioning to move up to FBS so they do have more scholarship players. They are eligible to win the conference title but not eligible for the FCS playoffs. Kennesaw State beat the #17 Gamecocks 31-6 last season. I think it will be closer this season and Kennesaw gets the W.
The next two games are home conference games against North Alabama and Central Arkansas. Both should be wins but fairly close.
The next three games are non-conference against Tennessee Tech, Charleston Southern and UT Martin, all wins.
The season will end against ASUN opponents Austin Peay and Eastern Kentucky. These are both games KSU will be favored in.
Best case scenario is going 10-1 in the regular season. I think they will need to win at least two playoff games to make this season successful.
Prowling Panthers
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Georgia State Panthers started playing football in 2010, so they are a relatively new program. They have made it to five bowl games, which is impressive.
They started last season 1 – 4 and looked like they were dead in the water. They finished the year by winning seven of their last eight games. They ended the season with a dominant win in the Camellia Bowl over Ball State, 51-20.
GSU returns 15 starters and they are serious contenders to win the Sun Belt title. They were 6 – 2 in conference play in 2021 and they look to improve on that in 2022.
Shawn Elliott is entering his sixth season as the head ball coach in Atlanta. He only has one losing season and an overall record of 30 – 30.
The Panthers return four starters on the offensive line and have the best backfield tandem in the league. Senior running backs Tucker Gregg (953 yards, 9 TDs) and Jamyest Williams (859 yards, 9 TDs) will be the focal point of the offense.
“It’s a great one-two punch,” Shawn Elliott says of his RBs. “And I think we have two or three young backs that may be as good as our all-conference guys.”
Furman transfer quarterback Darren Grainger played well when he became the starter in October. He passed for 1,715 yards, 19 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.
He also rushed for 646 yards, 3 scores and averaged 4.8 yards per carry. He’s a good dual threat QB that can take care of the football. He needs to improve on making big plays in the passing game.
Sophomore wide receivers Ja’Cyais Credle and Jamari Thrash combined for 53 catches. Tight end Aubrey Payne scored 7 touchdowns and he was granted a seventh season of eligibility.
The Panthers bring back seven starters from a defense that made some big, disruptive plays with a school-record 36 sacks, 92 tackles for a loss and 21 turnovers forced. They run a 3-4 scheme and the strength of the defense is the linebacking corps. They are led by two all-conference players in Blake Carroll (11.5 TFLs) and Jordan Veneziale (97 tackles, 8 TFLs) along with junior Jamil Muhammad, who had six sacks and a fumble return touchdown. Safety Antavious Lane had 5 interceptions in 2021.
The first two games of the season are well compensated beatings, at South Carolina and home against North Carolina. Surprisingly the game against UNC is the second game in a home-and-home series. They cannot afford any major injuries in these games.
Week 3 is home against Charlotte and this is the first win of the season.
They have a short week with a Thursday night game against division rival Coastal Carolina. GSU will win a close game.
The following week is at Army. The Black Knights won last year’s meeting 43-10 and I expect a similar outcome.
Georgia Southern comes to town to claim the title as the true GSU. This is a rivalry game that I expect GA State to win.
The Panthers travel to Boone, North Carolina the following week for a Wednesday night game at Appalachian State. They will lose by double digits.
The final five games are Old Dominion, at Southern Miss, ULM, at James Madison and at Marshall.
ULM is the only team that was in the Sun Belt last season. Three of those teams are from Conference USA and James Madison has moved up from FCS.
GSU should win all of those games but they might struggle in the cold weather at Marshall. The best-case scenario is eight regular season wins.
Ramblin’ Wreck
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Geoff Collins is in his fourth season as the head coach in Atlanta.
He’s won three games each season at Georgia Tech, making his overall record 9 – 25. To call that not good is an understatement. The fan base was sick of Paul Johnson, but they regularly went to bowl games.
Collins seems too focused on social media posts and branding over actually coaching football. He shared some insight at ACC Media Days about what we can expect in 2022. He was asked what would give the fan base optimism.
“Just excited about the guys that we have been able to add to the organization, whether that means coaches or players. In the last couple of years, we have been able to develop depth on the roster and a lot of leadership, and the way the guys are working. The big focus since the end of last season is how can we play the best brand of Georgia Tech Football on college football Saturdays and that has been the focus of everything that we have done and all the changes that we have made, deep introspection on how we do things, and why we do things. We are excited to keep building and getting to that point.”
Collins was asked about NIL and where Tech stands in terms of offering it compared to the rest of the conference and the Southeast.
“I think one of the biggest pieces is our location. Being in the heart of the city of Atlanta where there are a lot of opportunities for our guys to benefit from the name, image, and likeness. We fully support it as a coaching staff, as an institution, as an administration and we’ve got the system set up with the different collectives. I think all of the opportunities are there in the city of Atlanta and the support that we give our guys is there”
He says the right things but let’s take a look at the schedule and see what games they can win.
The season kicks off Labor Day at Mercedes-Benz Stadium against Clemson. Last season the game in Death Valley was close, with the Tigers winning 14-8. I think they’ll be better this season and they will win this game.
The home opener is against an FCS team, Western Carolina. Tech will win big.
Week 3 is home against Ole Miss. The Rebels lost a lot of starters from last season, including quarterback Matt Corral. They will still have more talent than the Yellow Jackets and win.
The first road game is at Central Florida. UCF was 9 – 4 last season in Gus Malzahn’s first season. The offense should be more explosive in his second season and they will score a lot of points.
They travel to Heinz Field to start October on the road. Pitt lost QB Kenny Pickett, who was drafted in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. This game could be close but I like the Panthers.
Tech returns home to face Duke and I think they’ll beat the Blue Devils.
After Duke they have a bye week. The next four games are against Virginia, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Miami. I think we can mark these all off as loses.
The final two games are in the road at North Carolina and Georgia. They did beat UNC handily last year, so they have a chance. Unfortunately, they’ll get pummeled by UGA again.
The best-case scenario is three wins, but I think they’ll win two games. This should be Collins final season before he gets terminated.
Ramming Through
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Grayson has been one of the best programs in the state over the last decade.
They won state championships in 2011 and 2016. They won another state championship in 2020, going 14 – 0. They only had one game decided by single digits.
The Rams lost a ton of talent from 2020 but they were 10 – 4 in 2021. They made it to the state semifinal where they lost to the eventual champion, Collins Hill.
They play in the highest classification and one of the toughest regions, 4 AAAAAAA. I still think they will compete for a state championship this season.
Senior safety Michael Daugherty is the No. 18 recruit in the state and a four-star player. He’s 6’1, 180 pounds and very physical. He’s committed to LSU.
Linebacker Jalen Smith is a three-star recruit and a Tennessee commit. Defensive end Ravon Johnson is also a three-star player. He’s 6’4 and 220 pounds so he has great size for the position.
The Rams also have talented players in the class of 2024. Guard Waltclaire Flynn Jr. is the No. 11 player in Georgia for the class of 2024. At 6’1 and 290 pounds he’s almost the size of a college offensive lineman.
Joseph JoJo Stone is a four-star player and an LSU commit. He’s listed as an athlete, but he contributes on both sides of the ball.
Grayson also has three-star corner back Zion Ferguson in the secondary.
They start the season Saturday, August 20th at Marietta. The Blue Devils won the state championship in 2019 and they still have some talented players. Senior corner back Jace Arnold is a four-star recruit and he’s committed to Wisconsin. Grayson should win this, but it will be close.
The next week is the home opener against Eagle’s Landing. The Golden Eagles are a 5A team and they were 3 – 7 last season. Grayson will blow them out.
They start September with a neutral site game against Fort Dorchester (North Charleston, SC). The Patriots were 12 – 1 last year so they are pretty good. I think Grayson will win a close game.
They play another South Carolina team the following week, Spartanburg. The Vikings were 9 – 4 in 2021 so they are pretty good but I give the edge to Grayson.
After a bye week the last non-region game is at Lowndes. This is going to be on the road in a hostile environment against a very good team. I think the Vikings will win a close game.
They travel to Newton for the first region game and they will beat them handily.
After another bye week the Rams travel to South Gwinnett. This will be another easy win.
Things get much harder against Brookwood. The Broncos should be a top five team and are led by senior quarterback Dylan Lonergan. He recently committed to Alabama. Last year Brookwood won the game 35-14. This game is a toss-up.
The final two games are at home against Archer and Parkview. Both teams are normally pretty good but they struggled in 2021. They hope to bounce back this year but Grayson will be favored to win.
The best-case scenario for the Rams is 9 – 1, worst case is 7 – 3 with a couple of non-region loses. I think they will advance deep in the playoffs.
