Buford’s Tyriq Green rushed for 527 yards and eight touchdowns, made 19 solo tackles and intercepted five passes last season. He made GHSF Daily’s Georgia Power 100 for his impact on both sides of the ball. Other top ‘athletes’ include dual-threat quarterbacks, such as Cayden Benson of Creekside and Victor Copeland of Fitzgerald.

AJC Super 11 selections Jorden Edmonds of Sprayberry and Jontavius Wyman lead a strong defensive back class in the Georgia Power 100. Edmonds, the No. 2 cornerback prospect nationally, also is a major contributor for the Yellow Jackets at wide receiver and on special teams. Wyman has been his region’s player of the year for two consecutive seasons.

Tyler Atkinson of Grayson, Khamari Brooks of North Oconee and D.J. Jacobs of Blessed Trinity earned defensive player of the year recognition in their classifications last season. Now they’re at the top of the linebacker class in the Georgia Power 100. Atkinson and Brooks led their teams to state championships in 2024.

Benedictine and Collins Hill will be counting on the strength of their defensive lines this season, as each has two of Georgia's top defensive linemen. Benedictine features Kameron Cody (committed to Clemson) and LaDamion Guyton (expected to commit Thursday). For Collins Hill, it's Deuce Geralds (LSU) and Katrell Webb (Purdue).

Offers from SEC schools have come rolling in for the state’s premier offensive linemen, and six of the best will head to the conference next fall. The list includes North Cobb's Brandon Anderson (Missouri), Hapeville Charter's Christopher Booker (Alabama), South Paulding's Tyler Chukuyem (Florida), Carrollton's Zykie Helton (Georgia), Buford's Graham Houston (Georgia) and Carver-Columbus' Parker Pritchett (Auburn).

Craig Dandridge of Cambridge, Brady Marchese of Cartersville, Ryan Mosley of Carrollton and Kaiden Prothro of Bowdon have made commitments to play for the Bulldogs next season. All are members of the Georgia Power 100. They are joined on that group by Douglas County’s duo of Devin Carter (Florida State) and Aaron Gregory (Texas A&M).

Carsyn Baker of Hughes, Jerry "Andrew" Beard of Prince Avenue Christian, C.J. Givers of Fellowship Christian and Brayden Tyson of Brookwood are the highest-ranked running backs in their schools’ histories. They join a strong group at the position this season and are members of the Georgia 100.

Coaching changes since the end of the 2024 season made big news, as three of the state’s five active leaders in career victories retired and two championship-winning coaches moved on to other endeavors. Elsewhere, Kirby Smart and Cam Newton were among 33 former players elected to the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame, and Buford prepares to show off its new stadium.

The Georgia High School Association’s proposed competitive-balance reclassification model is dead for now, and the Class 3A-A private playoff division that curtailed private-school sports domination is alive until at least 2028, pending final approval this fall. The GHSA’s reclassification committee voted 13-5 on Wednesday to table any further discussion of competitive balance until next year.

Former Georgia football star Jarvis Jones was announced last week as head football coach at defending Class 2A champion Carver of Columbus, his alma mater. Jones played on Carver’s 2007 Class 3A championship team and became an All-American linebacker at Georgia and a first-round NFL draft pick who played four NFL seasons, mostly with the Steelers.

Georgia football coach Kirby Smart and former NFL MVP and Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton will headline this year’s inductees into the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame. Also part of the 2025 class will be NBA legend Walt Frazier of Atlanta’s old Howard High, former Falcons and Georgia Tech star Keith Brooking of East Coweta and 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame honoree Sterling Sharpe of Glennville.

Fitzgerald, a South Georgia football program that has made five consecutive state semifinal appearances, hired Stephens County’s Wes Tankersley as head coach last week. Tankersley, who led Stephens County to two region titles in his seven seasons, was approved by the Ben Hill Schools board. “We’re excited to be part of that community and continue the success they’ve had,” Tankersley told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Appling County has hired Tucker Pruitt – whose 60 victories this decade are tied for most among South Georgia football coaches – to begin a new chapter for a successful program hit with 10 forfeits to its 2024 Class 2A semifinals season. Pruitt led Fitzgerald to its fifth consecutive semifinals appearance last season.

NBA legend Walt Frazier, Georgia football coach Kirby Smart and former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL MVP Cam Newton were among the 30 players added to the ballot for the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame last week. The 30 additions refreshed the ballot to 100 players after 30 were inducted last year.

The Georgia High School Association’s reclassification committee last week heard new proposals, got more answers about existing ones and continued to warm to the idea of seeding playoff teams in every class with power rankings. Starting this academic year, power ratings — a math model that ranks teams based on game scores — are helping select and seed playoff teams in classes 3A, 2A and A Division I.

The GHSA-endorsed competitive balance reclassification model needs to make up lost ground Monday when the GHSA’s reclass committee resumes its monthly meetings in Thomaston. The meeting agenda, which the GHSA posted Wednesday, includes discussion of competitive balance and a separate reclass model introduced last month.

Rance Gillespie, a 21-year head coach in Georgia, is Rabun County’s new football coach. The northeast Georgia mountain school made the announcement last week. Gillespie, a Rabun County alumnus, is a 21-year Georgia head coach with stops at five schools, most notably Peach County, where he won two state titles.

The Georgia High School Association legalized name, image, likeness (NIL) deals for high school athletes in October 2024, but those contracts remain scarce and rarely lead to big money, the GHSA’s Robin Hines said last week. Hines was the GHSA’s executive director when NIL deals were approved. He retired last summer but stayed on as the GHSA’s liaison to the Georgia General Assembly.

Citing PTSD, anxiety, grief and depression, Mike Hancock has resigned as football coach at Apalachee, the Barrow County school that was the site of a Sept. 4 shooting that left two students and two faculty members dead. One of those killed in the shooting, Richard Aspinwall, was Hancock’s defensive coordinator.

Michael Davis is out as Rabun County’s football coach, saying he retired, though it sounds as if he’d prefer to stay. “I’m retiring, and I’m going to leave it at that,” Davis told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I’m not done coaching by any means. I’m hoping to get on somewhere at 49% (part-time) and do something. I still love kids and want to be around them.” Davis’ Rabun County teams were 12-1, 9-4 and 6-5.