Preseason high school football polls are starting to come out and there is one noticeable omission from many sites’ list: Colquitt County. The Packers, despite winning 30 consecutive games and two straight state championships in Georgia’s highest classification, graduated a large amount of talent from last season and will again have doubters entering the new season despite the school’s recent historic run.
Two schools from Georgia have been constantly mentioned as national title contenders in 2016: Grayson and Roswell. Grayson has already made the national headlines several times due to the large number of high-caliber transfers the school has attracted this offseason. The Rams’ transfer to the new Class 7A, coupled with showdowns versus IMG Academy and Hoover, has been more than enough for several of the state’s top players to switch over to Grayson. In addition to an already-large amount of returning talent, the Rams added five-star DB Jamyest Williams and four-stars Deangelo Gibbs (WR/DB), Breon Dixon (LB) and Tony Gray (OT). A difficult schedule could make it tough for Grayson to post the unbeaten record needed to compete for a national crown, but the Rams will undoubtedly have a say in the GHSA AAAAAAA playoffs come December.
As for Roswell, experience at the highest level will help the team reach towards lofty expectations in 2016. The Hornets, who fell 30-13 to Colquitt last year in the state championship game in the Georgia Dome, will return a significant amount of talent on the defensive side of the ball and are expected to again compete for not only a state championship, but potentially a title on the national level. Roswell will open up the 2016 season in the Corky Kell Classic against perennial powerhouse Buford, who lost in the 4A state title game last December. The team’s biggest game, however, will come on September 9 at home in a rematch of last year’s state title game.
Grayson and Roswell are expected to be the state’s two best teams, but Colquitt will still have a huge say in what happens on the Road to the Dome at season’s end.
Outside of Georgia, the usual suspects are atop many preseason polls. St. Thomas Aquinas (FL), Bishop Gorman (NV) and IMG Academy (FL) all reside in or near the Top 5 of several different analysts and all three have enough Division I talent to run the table in their respective divisions.
Aquinas is led by 5-star senior receiver Trevon Grimes, who has amassed a whopping 29 offers but hasn’t committed to a school yet. The Raiders will participate in what could be the national game of the year on September 30, when the team will travel west to face Top 5 foe Bishop Gorman.
Gorman is led by a pair of 4-star, Ohio State Buckeye recruits in Tate Martell and Haskell Garrett. Martell is a dual-threat quarterback ranked as a 98 on 247sports.com, while Garrett, a defensive tackle, is ranked as a 97. The Gaels will, as mentioned above, face St. Thomas Aquinas in late September in a game that will have national ramifications.
IMG Academy, on paper, has the most high school talent of any team in the country. Three of the top 10 athletes from Florida in 2017 go to the school, led by 5-star outside linebacker Dylan Moses. Moses is joined by defensive ends Joshua Kaindoh and Robert Beal, who are committed to Maryland and Georgia, respectively, as players most likely to aid the team in a national title-push. IMG Academy’s biggest game of the season will be on ESPN on August 27 versus Grayson.
There are several contenders for the national title in high school football this season, but predicting the sport is nearly impossible and nobody knows how things will ultimately play out. It’s exciting, however, to think that the state of Georgia could again impact high school football on the national scale.
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GHSA Football Appears Strong Entering New Season
Written by Jacob Dennis
Photo by Marque Milla Reese
