Crop of freshman QBs proving talent early for Georgia high school programs
Playing quarterback doesn’t just require making plays — it takes a deeper understanding of the game forged through repetition and studying.
For that reason, experience often goes hand-in-hand with quarterback success.
Yet some of the top teams in the state are trusting players in their first year of high school football to lead them. A greater emphasis on youth development could have created a trend in Georgia.
“It might be the year of the quarterback for the young boys,” Northeast coach Jeremy Wiggins said. “I think kids are coming in a little bit more developed, versus back in the day, you would never try to start a freshman quarterback unless you just had to.”
It’s uncommon for a freshman — usually ages 14 or 15 — to start at QB because of the physical and mental expectations. But when they do win a job, it’s often an indicator of next-level potential.
Two former four-year starters at Georgia high schools proved that in the college ranks last weekend.
Thomas Castellanos, who started as a freshman at Ware County, shocked the country in Florida State’s upset of Alabama, while Gunner Stockton, who started as a freshman for Rabun County, tightened his grip on the starting role at Georgia with a four-touchdown game against Marshall.
College football standouts like Deshaun Watson (Gainesville), Trevor Lawrence (Cartersville), Jake Fromm (Houston County) and Buck Belue (Valdosta) also started as high school freshmen.
There are different ways to prepare an inexperienced quarterback to lead a team on Friday night.
Some coaches simplify the learning process, allowing freshmen to ease into the offense as they install more of the playbook as the quarterback gets comfortable.
That’s how Wiggins, the head coach and father of freshman starting quarterback Jordan Wiggins, has handled the transition.
“With Jordan, he’s still just enjoying being a kid right now,” coach Wiggins said. “When football comes, you know, he’s going to look at the football and look at film and stuff, but, I think as he gets older, then the film study and the maturity, all that will start coming along with that. With me, I just try to make it easy, don’t try to put too much pressure on him.”
Other coaches, like Carrollton coach Joey King — who developed two notable four-year starters in Lawrence and former five-star prospect Julian Lewis (now at Colorado) — take a different approach.
“I’m kind of a spaghetti-on-the-wall guy in the spring, if you will,” King said. “A lot of people try to go small with their installs. I want to throw a ton at them to see what they can handle and then we kind of scale it back once we find out what they’re good at.
Carrollton is currently starting freshman CJ Cypher.
“They’re going to feel like they’re drinking from a fire hose there for a while,” King said. “But (Cypher) did a really good job of handling things this spring and has done a great job all summer and early fall.”
Rockmart coach Biff Parson, whose son, Tucker, earned the starting job without much competition this summer, said team respect is key.
The elder Parson was also a coach’s son and four-year starter at quarterback when he played high school ball, so he prepared Tucker for some of the other mental obstacles that come with the role.
“We talk about jealousy, we talk about envy, people being envious of him, you know, who his real friends are,” Biff Parson said. “The conversations that need to be had so he’s not like, ‘Oh, my gosh, you know, what’s going on?’”
Early in the season, several freshman quarterbacks have won starting jobs — or are handling most of the team’s snaps — for well-known programs throughout the state.
Most of the quarterbacks below play for Class 6A, 5A and 4A schools, with one top-100 ranked 1A school in the mix.
Here are eight freshman quarterbacks, in alphabetical order, who could be proving themselves as the state’s newest batch of next-level talent.
CJ Cypher, Carrollton
34-of-48 passing, 565 yards, 5 TD, 0 INT
Cypher has taken the majority of the quarterback reps in all three of Carrollton’s games, leading the Trojans to a 3-0 start. That included executing a 28-21 comeback win at Rome on Friday where he was 10-of-10 passing in the second half.
King doesn’t like comparing Cypher to his former elite quarterbacks like Lawrence and Lewis, but he sees similarities between the former five-stars and Cypher.
“Some of the things that are comparable is just the arm talent at an early age, you know, and all of those guys have processed the game really well mentally, too,” King said.
Hunter Griffin, Allatoona
14-of-25 passing, 185 yards, 2 INT; 8 rushes, 23 yards, 1 TD
Griffin played in moderation through Allatoona’s first two games, but he got most of the reps at quarterback last week after starter Frank Young was injured. Griffin was 10-of-16 passing for 144 yards and an interception.
Griffin will make his first career start Friday at Holy Innocents’ and is expected to keep the spot while Young recovers.
Trey Hasan, Milton
19-of-33 passing, 195 yards, 2 TD, 4 INT; 3 rushes, 23 yards
What doesn’t show in Hasan’s statistics is that he’s played against two teams ranked in the top 60 in the country in Buford and The First Academy (Florida). Hasan’s first game against competition not nationally ranked ended in a 31-6 win over Alpharetta.
Milton coach Ben Reaves emphasized Hasan’s coachability and mental fortitude after making freshman mistakes. Hasan was thrust into the starting role after Week 1 starter Derrick Baker was injured.
Willie Jones Jr., Arabia Mountain
50-of-90 passing, 720 yards, 5 TD
Known as “CJ,” Jones Jr. earned the job with his run-play option IQ. Arabia Mountain offensive coordinator DJ McKayhan complimented Jones Jr.’s maturity and toughness in game action and said it has earned the respect of upperclassmen.
McKayhan added that the game still moves fast for Jones Jr., but the freshman is maturing and settling into the pass-heavy offense.
Tucker Lamb, North Forsyth
13-of-23 passing, 194 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Lamb didn’t wait to introduce himself to North Forsyth fans, as head coach Robert Craft credited him for a massive Week 1 comeback win. The Raiders trailed Wheeler 21-3 at halftime before Lamb led them to a 25-21 win.
Lamb, who is splitting reps with sophomore Noah Borque, will see his first region action Friday at South Forsyth.
Zack Parker, Cherokee
14-of-27 passing, 220 yards, 2 TD
Parker made his first career start last week because of a starter’s injury. Parker showed why he was a highly regarded quarterback coming out of middle school, completing eight of 15 passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns in a 40-23 win at Pope.
Winning a first career start can earn team confidence, but according to Cherokee coach Adam Holley, Parker won the team’s trust months ago.
“I’ll never forget: It was one of his first practices with us, and you could just tell he’d already been in the playbook and had been studying. And there was a receiver in practice that had kind of ran a wrong route or an RPO check that we had been running for a while,” Holley said. “Zach after the play went and kind of called him out on it, and so it’s little things like that.
“It’s like, this dude’s been here for just a couple days, and he’s already going to check receivers that might have ran the wrong route or busted something.”
Tucker Parson, Rockmart
19-of-28 passing, 377 yards, 6 TD, 0 INT
Parson’s statistics are especially impressive considering they’re against two well-known Georgia programs in Cedartown and Cartersville. The Yellow Jackets beat Cedartown 56-7 in Week 1 before a 39-14 loss to Cartersville.
Even in the loss, Parson was 10-of-15 passing for 165 yards and two touchdowns. The rollercoaster continues for Parson, as he goes from facing back-to-back big brands to opening region play against Ringgold on Friday night.
“We didn’t put too much on him, but you turn around and in the game, he checks two runs for us,” coach Biff Parson said. “He gets us out of one protection to another one and hits some checkdowns that ended up becoming touchdowns.
“You know, those are the things that as a coach and offense coordinator you want your quarterback to do to manage the game.”
Jordan Wiggins, Northeast
29-of-48 passing, 472 yards, 7 TD, 1 INT; 22 rushes, 72 yards, 1 TD
Wiggins has seen over 80% of Northeast’s snaps at quarterback this season, leading the Raiders to a 2-1 start. Head coach Jeremy Wiggins said Jordan struggled in the opening half of Northeast’s Week 1 loss to Peach County, but he said his freshman quarterback has been calm ever since.
Not only is Jordan playing for his father, but his older brother is a former quarterback. For some younger brothers, that means a world of pressure, but Jeremy Wiggins said he hasn’t seen that from his son.
“The more plays he can make, the more comfortable he can get, the better the offense will be, and we’ll be able to keep trying to score as many points as we can,” Jeremy Wiggins said. “He kind of understands what we’re trying to do, and sometimes I send him clips of the game, or I send him clips of practice, what he did wrong, and he’ll be like, ‘OK.’”
About the Author
Jack Leo is a sports writer and reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Jack worked for the AJC throughout his four years studying journalism and sports media at Georgia State University and the University of Georgia. He's now focused on telling stories in the grassroots: bringing comprehensive coverage of high school sports for AJC Varsity.
