Vikings-Seahawks game includes piece of Georgia high school football history
Vikings quarterback Max Brosmer will make his first NFL start and create a unique piece of history in Sunday’s Minnesota-Seattle game.
It’s the first NFL game this season featuring a starting quarterback and head coach from the same high school. Brosmer and Seattle coach Mike Macdonald, who are set to face off at 4:05 p.m., are both alumni of Centennial High School in Roswell.
Brosmer is set to make his first career start while starting quarterback JJ McCarthy is in concussion protocol. Former second-string quarterback Carson Wentz suffered a season-ending injury earlier this season, bumping Brosmer into the starting role.
Brosmer was a standout quarterback at Centennial, throwing for 7,252 yards and 61 touchdowns with 789 yards and seven more touchdowns rushing.
Brosmer played his next five years at New Hampshire before transferring to Minnesota for the 2024 season. He led the Golden Gophers to an 8-5 record and set a program single-season record with 268 completions. Minnesota signed Brosmer as an undrafted free agent in April.
Macdonald is in his second season coaching the Seahawks. Seattle is comfortably in the postseason picture at 8-3 and fighting to win the NFC West for the first time since 2020.
Macdonald was a linebacker for Centennial, but he didn’t play college football. He started his coaching career as an assistant coach for Cedar Shoals in Athens when he was studying at the University of Georgia. Macdonald quickly moved up the coaching ranks from there, working as a lower-level assistant for UGA before his first NFL job with Baltimore.
He worked with the Ravens from 2014-2020 before a brief stint as the defensive coordinator at Michigan, where he faced his Georgia in the 2021 Orange Bowl.
Macdonald served as the Ravens’ defensive coordinator for two seasons before Seattle made him the NFL’s youngest head coach in 2024. He was 37 years old.
Macdonald is also the only current NFL head coach who went to a Georgia high school.
Brosmer is one of two starting NFL quarterbacks from Georgia, the second being Cartersville’s Trevor Lawrence. Greater Atlanta Christian’s Davis Mills (Houston) and Harrison’s Justin Fields (New York Jets) have also started games this season.
At the start of the NFL season, more than 140 players from the state of Georgia were on pro rosters.
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.
