The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top state programs hire football coaches
GHSF Daily
State football powers Northside-Warner Robins and Lincoln County hired coaches this week, while Denmark’s Terry Crowder and Rabun County’s Lee Shaw took jobs at small private schools.
Northside promoted offensive coordinator Chad Alligood to replace Kevin Kinsler, whose teams were 10028 during 10 seasons, but 3-7 in 2019.
Alligood spent 2017 and 2018 as head coach of Class A Washington-Wilkes but returned to Northside last season. He was the offensive coordinator on Northside’s 2014 state championship team under Kinsler.
Lincoln County hired Vidalia coach Lee Chomskis, who was on Lincoln County’s staff during its most recent state titles in 2005 and 2006. Lincoln County won those and 11 other state titles under Larry Campbell, who retired after the 2013 season.
Chomskis grew up in Lincolnton, where Campbell was his Little League baseball coach, but graduated from Westside in Augusta. He won two region titles in 13 seasons at Vidalia.
At Denmark, Crowder stepped down after leading the 2-year-old Forsyth County school to the playoffs in 2019 and became coach at King’s Ridge Christian in Alpharetta. Crowder retired from public schools after 30 seasons.
Shaw, who retired after the 2018 season, was announced as coach at Lakeview Academy, a Class A private school in Gainesville that has never made the playoffs. Shaw led alma mater Rabun County to five consecutive region titles. His record is 163-94.
About 40 head-coaching jobs have come open since the end of the season.
Gibbs, Ratledge receive awards
Dalton running back Jahmyr
Gibbs and Darlington offensive lineman Tate Ratledge were big winners at the Touchdown Club of Atlanta’s awards show Thursday night at the College Football Hall of Fame.
Gibbs, a Georgia Tech-committed running back who rushed for 2,554 yards in 11 games last season, received the Mr. Georgia
Football Award. Ratledge, who signed with Georgia, won the Bobby Dodd National Lineman of the Year Award.
The Bobby Dodd National Back of the Year was quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei of St. John Bosco in California. Former Valdosta High and Georgia quarterback Buck Belue, a sports-talk commentator for The Fan radio station, was given the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The TD Club also announced its metro Atlanta all-star team, junior, sophomore and freshman state players of the year and classification coaches of the year. They can be found on AJC.com.
4,488 Georgians on college football rosters
A record 4,488 former Georgia football players were on college rosters last fall, according to research from Steve Slay of the Georgia High School Football Historians Association. The number, which surpassed 4,000 for the first time in 2016, continues to grow.
The Georgia school with the most alumni on college rosters was Grayson with 64. Others with more than 40 were McEachern (53), Buford (49), Stockbridge (46), Mill Creek (45), Norcross (45), Westlake (43) and Lee County (40).
There were 25 Georgia players on the rosters of LSU and Clemson, which played in the national championship game. About 25% (1,130 of 4,488) play for FBS teams, with 613 in Power Five conferences and 517 Group of Five programs.
The breakdown for other divisions is 875 in FCS, 1,023 in Division II, 598 in Division III, 535 in NAIA and 327 in JUCO. Alumni on college rosters from every Georgia high school can be found on AJC.com.
Etowah senior earns volleyball honor
Etowah senior Savannah Bray was named the Gatorade Georgia volleyball player of the year this week.
Bray, a 5-foot-10 senior outside hitter, set the state’s career record for kills with 2,304 for a team that reached the Class AAAAAAA semifinals.
Bray will play volleyball this fall at Army.