The COVID-scarred 2020 Georgia high school football season was like no other. Endangered in summer, it survived through the fall, starting in September and running past Christmas, but with hundreds of games canceled or postponed.
It has been a calm offseason relative to the one preceding 2020, but not without drama. The phrase “funny money” entered the Georgia football lexicon, and happy days once thought gone, like Jeff Herron at Camden County, are here again.
Below are GHSF Daily’s 10 most intriguing stories of the past 214 days:
*Didn’t see that coming: On Jan. 7, Tim McFarlin resigned at Blessed Trinity, which won Class 4A titles in 2017, 2018 and 2019 and went 112-10-1 in 10 seasons under his coaching direction. McFarlin, 62, wouldn’t call it a retirement, and sure enough, within just weeks, he was announced as head coach of Fellowship Christian, a Class A private school two miles from his previous employer. Several other coaching changes caught folks off guard, among them Miguel Patrick of Cedar Grove to Crisp County and Paul Standard of St. Pius to Gilmer.
*Making college plans: On Jan. 12, Rabun County quarterback Gunner Stockton backed off his commitment to South Carolina, and 16 days later, he pledged with Georgia. Stockton, who is closing in on Trevor Lawrence’s state records for career passing yards and touchdowns, was perhaps the best known of the state’s players who made commitments in the offseason. He’s the state’s consensus No. 5 prospect. The No. 1 guy, Collins Hill cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter, has been committed to Florida State for more than a year. Jefferson quarterback/athlete Malaki Starks (the state’s No. 2 senior prospect) chose Georgia on March 25. Hardaway defensive lineman Mykel Williams (No. 3) made a surprise choice of Southern Cal on June 15. Bainbridge defensive back Deyon Bouie (No. 4) decommitted from Georgia on June 16. Of the state’s top 50 prospects, 37 have committed.
Jason Getz
Jason Getz
*Ain’t nothing like Friday nights here: Jeff Herron and Joey King, coaches who have won seven state titles between them, each returned to Georgia unexpectedly, King on Jan. 18 to Carrollton and Herron on Feb. 22 to Camden County. Both were on college staffs last season. “Georgia is home, and there ain’t nothing like Friday nights here,” King told GHSF Daily on the day his return was announced. “Excited to be part of a community again, and I have a burn in my gut to lead.” King had been South Florida’s tight ends coach. He was best known for his five seasons and two state titles as head coach at Cartersville and was the fastest in state history to reach 50 wins, in 52 games. Herron, the only Georgia coach to win state titles at three schools, is returning to Camden County, the coastal Georgia program that he built into a powerhouse starting 21 years ago. His record as a high school head coach is 312-54. He had been on Tennessee Tech’s staff for a year.
*Audiotapes, funny money and a man named Nub: In a deposition taken Feb. 19, Valdosta Touchdown Club executive director Michael “Nub” Nelson stated that Valdosta football coach Rush Propst sought the club’s help paying $2,500-a-month rent in cash for Jake Garcia, a star quarterback who transferred from California last fall. Nelson said that Propst also sought $850 in monthly rent for another transfer quarterback, Amari Jones. Nelson said Propst met with him within weeks of being hired in April 2020 to discuss “funny money” that Nelson indicated Propst intended to use to secure players transferring to Valdosta. Nelson was fired as executive director three days later but told GHSF Daily, “As far as I am concerned, I am still my board’s friend. I have not an ounce of ill will. This is not their fault. It’s not my fault. It’s Rush’s fault.” Valdosta Schools didn’t address the accusations immediately but confirmed that it would be investigating and that the Georgia High School Association and Georgia Professional Standards Commission had been notified.
*GHSA lowers the boom on Valdosta: On April 13, the GHSA fined Valdosta $7,500, banned the football team from the 2021 playoffs, declared five players ineligible and forced the team to forfeit seven 2020 victories. “The evidence is clear that this is not an isolated instance (of recruiting) and that Coach Probst (sic) and members of the Valdosta Touchdown Club have on other occasions contacted other student-athletes or their families and provided gifts of money, payment of utilities and housing incentives in an attempt to persuade those student-athletes to transfer to Valdosta High School,” GHSA executive director Robin Hines wrote. Valdosta would appeal multiple times with no success in reversing the harshest penalties in GHSA history. Propst was fired by the school board in a 5-3 vote April 26. In May, a board member supporting Propst moved for a called meeting to reconsider, suggesting he now had the votes to save Propst’s job, but the meeting was canceled days later. Shelton Felton was named 2021 interim coach May 25. Propst, who denies wrongdoing, has moved to Alabama. The parents of one ineligible player have sued the GHSA, saying they received no money or incentives to transfer.
*Passing of a legend: Dan Pitts, who retired 24 years ago as the Georgia coach with the most wins all-time, died April 20 at age 88. Pitts was Mary Persons’ coach from 1959 through 1997 and won 15 region titles and one state championship, in 1980. The Bulldogs had winning seasons for each of their final 32 years under Pitts, whose record was 346-109-4. Two days before Pitts’ passing, another Georgia coaching great, Butch Brooks, died at age 75. Brooks led Washington-Wilkes to four state finals and later served as Georgia Tech’s director of football operations. Brooks won six region titles and compiled a record of 140-64 as Washington-Wilkes’ football coach from 1981 to 1997. His teams were Class 2A runners-up in 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1995. In June, another long-time Georgia coach, Jack Miller, died. Miller was a head coach for 30 seasons at 10 GHSA schools, finishing up at Savannah Christian in 2004.
Monroe
Monroe
*On second thought, let’s reclassify: In what turned out to be a false alarm, the GHSA’s executive committee on April 19 surprisingly voted to extend the current classification and region alignments for two more years through the 2023 football season. Then on May 4, presumably after many schools reported distress, Hines recommended to the board of trustees that the GHSA table the idea and stick to the original plan. That’s significant because if the current cycle been extended, perhaps only a dozen schools would’ve gone up or down in class, and those only by appeal. Now, probably more than 100 schools will be moving starting in 2022. Tucker, for example, has seen its enrollment drop 9% in two years and can expect to fall into Class 5A next year. GHSF Daily reported on schools likely to move up or down in an April article on ajc.com. The GHSA should have the new classes and regions figured out by November.
*The new football schedule is here: The GHSA posted 2021 football schedules on April 28. It’s the second year of two-year contracts, so not much changed from 2020, but new games that weren’t played last year for pandemic-related and other reasons include these blockbusters: Marist at Blessed Trinity and Milton at North Cobb on Aug. 27, Rabun County at Pierce County on Oct. 1, Cartersville at Blessed Trinity on Oct. 15 and Warner Robins at Coffee on Oct. 29. There also will be a full return of interstate games, which were mostly canceled in 2020. There’s a slew of them, including Hoover (Ala.) at North Gwinnett in the Corky Kell Classic, Life Christian Academy (Va.) at Milton and Collins Hill vs. Mississippi champion Greenville Christian in the Freedom Bowl, Myers Park (N.C.) at Buford, Blessed Trinity at Charlotte Catholic, Bolles (Fla.) at Marist and Eagle’s Landing Christian at St. Xavier of Cincinnati. Milton’s Sept. 11 visit to St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia is the 10th-best game nationally, says MaxPreps.
*Who’s in, who’s out: Two GHSA football programs are new in 2021, three are back, and four aren’t fully returning. Two old schools have new names, another a new mascot. The newbies are East Forsyth and Lake Oconee Academy. East Forsyth, the newest high school in Forsyth County, will play a non-region schedule. Its coach is Brian Allison, who went 121-77 at Union County. Lake Oconee, a Greensboro private school with four golf state titles in its short existence, is starting with a JV schedule. Its coach is Drew Anthony, who won 10 state titles as a longtime Buford assistant. Both programs are planning full region schedules in 2022. Riverside Military, the first school to cancel its 2020 season because of COVID-19, is suiting up again, bravely taking on a full Region 8-2A schedule. Twiggs County also is returning with a full region slate out of Region 7-A Public. Clarkston is back to playing its customary non-region schedule. Two others that canceled their 2020 seasons, Calhoun County and Stewart County, won’t play this fall. Our Lady of Mercy will play again, but in the eight-man league in the Georgia Association of Private and Parochial Schools, also known as the GAPPS. Pinecrest Academy, which played in the GAPPS last year, will stay there, but in the 11-man league while playing two GHSA opponents, including Lake Oconee. Mercy and Pinecrest plan to rejoin GHSA football in 2022. Three schools made significant name changes. Turner County’s nickname, previously the Rebels, was announced as Titans on April 30. Atlanta’s Henry Grady High became Midtown High effective June 1. Grady Stadium is now Eddie S. Henderson Stadium, named for a former Atlanta principal and athletic director. Coinciding with a new school building that opens later this month, Americus-Sumter High is now known as Sumter County High.
Jason Getz
Jason Getz
*Back to normal: A year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to cancel high school football. The GHSA had delayed and restricted summer conditioning. In late July, the GHSA’s board of trustees voted to push the regular season back two weeks. Some school systems, such as Fulton and DeKalb, backed up their seasons further. Atlanta city schools didn’t allow fans at their home games. Dozens of teams halted practices and quarantined that first month because of COVID protocols, and hundreds of games ultimately would be postponed or canceled. Several states, including nearby North Carolina, pushed their seasons into spring or didn’t play at all. Georgia stayed the course and crowned eight state champions in the days after Christmas. Since then, high school sports in the state have slowly returned to normal. Spring sports still had restrictions – baseball pitchers weren’t allowed to blow their hands to keep them warm – but the GHSA sports season ended resembling the games we once knew. As the 2021 football season approaches, 2020 is becoming a distant memory, though fingers must remain crossed as COVID-19 cases are rising again. “We plan to be on a normal calendar and participate as normal,” the GHSA’s Hines said. “There could be some holdovers (such as a) player box from the 10 to the 10 (yard lines), for example, but we intend to have a normal year and all postseason to be at full capacity.”
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