2025 AJC Super 11 puts Buford in lead for most all-time selections

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the AJC’s Super 11, an annual preseason unveiling of the state’s best senior football players.

Many Super 11 players achieve great fame, with about 35% reaching the NFL, but their selection is more about their final high school seasons — which begin this week — than their long-term outlook.

Here are 11 super insights into this year’s Super 11.

• For the first time, every Super 11 player is from North Georgia. The southernmost Super 11 is only 30 minutes below downtown Atlanta. That’s Jonesboro’s Jontavius Wyman. Last year, there were four from South Georgia and only two from metro Atlanta (Luke Nickel and C.J. Wiley, both from Milton). This year, there are six from metro Atlanta and five from other North Georgia outposts, including Central’s Jonaz Walton and Bowdon’s Kaiden Prothro, both from Carroll County.
• Four Super 11 picks are the first in their schools’ histories. They are Prothro, Wyman, Sprayberry’s Jorden Edmonds and Cambridge’s Craig Dandridge. With those selections, there are 198 schools with at least one Super 11 since the inaugural 1985 class.
• Tyriq Green is Buford’s 11th Super 11. With that, Buford overtook Peach County for the most Super 11s in history. All of Buford’s have come since 2000, when future NFL player P.K. Sam was the first. The Wolves have not gone five seasons without one since. They’ve averaged a state-best 13.2 wins per season in that time.
• There are three Super 11 wide receivers, the most since 2018, when the Super 11 included Cedar Grove’s Jadon Haselwood, Marietta’s Ramel Keyton and Walton’s Dominick Blaylock. This season’s three are Prothro, Dandridge and Douglas County’s Aaron Gregory. Wyman and Edmonds also start at wide receiver but are more valued long term as cornerbacks.
• Seven Super 11 picks are two-way players, meaning they start or play significantly on offense and defense. That’s highly valued come selection time, as Super 11s are chosen primarily for their overall impact on a high school game. In addition to Wyman and Edmonds, the two-way players are Prothro, Gregory, Green, North Oconee’s Khamari Brooks and Collins Hill’s Deuce Geralds.
• There are no Super 11 quarterbacks for the first time since 2018. There have been at least two each season since 2021. There are no Super 11 offensive linemen for the third straight season.
• Three Super 11 players won state titles last season. They were Prothro, Brooks and Grayson’s Tyler Atkinson. Super 11 players are more likely to win state titles in their junior seasons than their senior years. Sixty-four of the 474 Super 11s all time won state as juniors compared to 57 as seniors.
• The combined won-lost record of the Super 11 players’ teams last season was 121-26.
• The University of Georgia has commitments from four of the Super 11. That’s the most of any school. Georgia has signed an average of four over the years (171 of the 474). Alabama has two commitments. They would become the 19th and 20th Alabama Super 11 signees, tied for sixth most. No Super 11 is committed to common Super 11 signers Auburn (37), Georgia Tech (30), Clemson (28) or Tennessee (24).
• A Super 11’s on-field performance is the main criterion, but high regard among college teams cannot be ignored. Each Super 11 is a top-300 national prospect, according to the 247Sports Composite. The Super 11’s average national ranking is No. 117 ranging from No. 11 (Atkinson) to No. 269 (Wyman).
• Every No. 1-ranked Georgia prospect on the 247Sports Composite this century has made Super 11. Only one No. 2 Georgia recruit did not. Unfortunately, his name was Cam Newton. Georgia’s two other future Heisman Trophy winners in the Super 11 era — Travis Hunter and Charlie Ward — are Super 11 alumni.