Georgia's 10 most intriguing stories of the 2010 football season

Football season is six weeks away in Georgia. Here are 10 of the most intriguing storylines entering fall practice:

 

Camden’s quest for three: Camden County (Kingsland, Ga.), the coastal school that won 121 games and three state titles in the previous decade under coach Jeff Herron, seeks to become the first team in the highest classification to win three straight championships since Parkview (Lilburn, Ga.) (2000-02). Camden returns only three starters, and they don't have the usual talent in the backfield, but Herron is more optimistic than he was a year ago, when his team had similar graduation losses. The 2009 team "proved to me that you can win it with an inexperienced team as long as you get better during the season," Herron said. "We may not be better at the start, but I think we will be a factor in the end."

 

Carver-Columbus in AA? Carver (Columbus, Ga.), a school that was dreadful in football for decades, could be called a five-year-old state power. That’s about how long Columbus native Dell McGee, a former NFL player, has been back in town. Carver won a state title in 2007 and has graduated several major Division I-A recruits recently, and this year will be no different with running back Isaiah Crowell and lineman Gabriel Wright heading the list. Only this year, Carver is dropping to AA from AAA. Carver plays defending champion Buford (Buford, Ga.), the school that won seven state titles in the past decade, on Sept. 3.

 

Georgia vs. the U.S.: Georgia is taking a lead in high-profile interstate games in recent years, and this season will bring the best of those yet. Camden County, Georgia’s AAAAA champion, will play Florida’s St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) (Oct. 1) and Central (Miami, Fla.) (Sept. 3). Colquitt County (Moultrie, Ga.) plays MaxPreps’ preseason No. 4 team, South Panola (Batesville, Miss.) (Aug. 28). North Gwinnett (Suwanee, Ga.) is playing Crenshaw (Los Angeles, Calif.) (Sept. 3), a state runner-up in California last year, and Bob Jones (Madison, Ala.) (Aug. 28). Grayson (Loganville, Ga.) is playing Spain Park (Hoover, Ala.) (Sept. 3). Lowndes (Valdosta, Ga.) will play Leon (Tallahassee, Fla.) (Sept. 10).

 

The No. 1 prospect: Ray Drew is a defensive end from Thomas County Central (Thomasville, Ga.) with size (6-foot-5, 255 pounds) and speed (4.7 seconds over 40 yards), but those are the kinds of things you’d expect from the consensus top recruit in the state. What’s different about Drew is that football is not his priority. Drew is an ordained minister who was given permission to miss track practice this spring to preach at a revival. "For this is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it," says the message that has greeted dozens of college coaches calling his cell phone.

 

Gillespie to Valdosta: Valdosta (Valdosta, Ga.) is Georgia’s most famous football program but fired three coaches since its last state title in 1998. Enter Rance Gillespie, the former Peach County (Fort Valley, Ga.) head coach and Georgia Southern offensive coordinator. A quick turnaround is possible. Gillespie won two state titles at Peach and is considered one of the state’s top offensive minds. He’ll have two blue-chip recruits in seniors Jay Rome, a tight end, and Malcolm Mitchell, a two-way standout.

 

Look out below! Reclassification takes place every two years in Georgia, but rarely do so many big-name programs drop in class. Five programs that won state titles since 2004 are moving down for 2010. They are Northside (Warner Robins, Ga.) and cross-town rival Warner Robins (Warner Robins, Ga.) (to AAAA), reigning state champion Sandy Creek (Tyrone, Ga.) (to AAA), Carver-Columbus (to AA) and Charlton County (Folkston, Ga.) (to A). Any of the five are serious state-title contenders. Other prominent schools falling in class include East Paulding (Dallas, Ga.) and Kell (Marietta, Ga.) (AAAA), Westside (Macon, Ga.) and Dalton (Dalton, Ga.) (AAA) and Hart County (Hartwell, Ga.) and Elbert County (Elberton, Ga.) (AA).

 

Northside’s back in AAAA: Northside, the Warner Robins school that won state titles in AAAA in 2006 and 2007, is back in Georgia’s fourth-largest classification after reaching the AAAAA final in 2009. There also is a new coach, Kevin Kinsler, the former defensive coordinator who is replacing long-time head coach Conrad Nix, who retired with 300 victories. Northside suffered heavy graduation losses but returns quarterback Briar Van Brunt and running back Shaquille O’Neill and probably will be ranked No. 1 to open the season.

 

Recruiting: By most accounts, this is a deep if not spectacular crop of Georgia college prospects. One recruiting service lists 17 Georgia players among its top 150. Another has a staggering 15 in its top 100. The five that are consistently getting the highest ratings are defensive end Ray Drew of Thomas County Central, running back Isaiah Crowell of Carver-Columbus, Valdosta tight end Jay Rome, Tucker linebacker James Vaughters and Callaway running back Quan Bray.

 

Rush Propst lives: It took Propst only two seasons to turn Colquitt County of South Georgia from a sleeping giant to the AAAAA semifinals. This could be the year for Propst, the former Hoover High (AL) coach, to get it done in Georgia. Colquitt returns several key starters, including rising star quarterback Tyler Brown, and there is no clear-cut leader in Georgia’s highest class with 2009 finalists Camden County losing 19 starters and Northside-Warner Robins dropping to AAAA.

 

Slick Nick of Wilcox: Class A football in Georgia is remarkable for the great players it has seen despite being the state’s smallest classification. Among them are Herschel Walker, Garrison Hearst, Boss Bailey and Washaun Ealey. The latest is Nick Marshall, a quarterback and spell-binding athlete from Wilcox County (Rochelle, Ga.), the defending champion in A. He threw for 244 yards in the Class A final last year against Savannah Christian in the Georgia Dome. Marshall, who is 6-3, also is a top recruit in basketball. He is committed to the University of Georgia.