UGA, Tech, Falcons stars on ballot for Georgia High School Football HOF
Georgia Tech’s Shawn Jones, Georgia’s Mo Lewis, the Falcons’ Terance Mathis and Georgia analyst Stacy Searels are among 33 new names on the 100 player ballot that will be voted on this month for the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame is targeting May 19 for announcing the newest 32 player class, according to IJ Rosenberg, the hall’s executive director. The 33 new players on the ballot were finalized Wednesday.
Jones was an AJC Super 11 player for Thomasville in 1987. He led Georgia Tech to the 1990 UPI national title as the Yellow Jackets’ quarterback.
Lewis was first-team all-state defensive end for Atlanta’s Murphy High in 1986. He became a three-year starting linebacker at Georgia and a three-time Pro Bowl player with the Jets.
Mathis was a quarterback, cornerback and return man at Stone Mountain’s Redan High in 1983. He became an All-America wide receiver at New Mexico and played nine seasons with the Falcons, producing four 1,000-yard receiving seasons, one for the 1998 Super Bowl team.
Searels, Georgia’s offensive line coach the past four seasons and now an analyst, was a first-team all-state offensive lineman at Trion in 1982 and a first-team AP All-American at Auburn.
New players on the ballot span from Gainesville’s Tom Paris, a quarterback on the 1923-25 teams that went 29-0, to Washington County’s AJ Gray, the AJC’s 2014 all-classification player of the year.
Gray passed for 1,810 yards, rushed for 2,358 yards and intercepted 10 passes as a senior before going to Georgia Tech, where he was a two-year starting safety until retiring for medical reasons.
The 2026 induction will represent the Hall of Fame’s fifth class.
New to ballot (player’s senior season included)
- QB / Tom Paris / Gainesville / 1925
- E / George Brodnax / Boys / 1944
- QB / Wade Mitchell / North Fulton / 1952
- L / Harold Olson / Southwest DeKalb / 1955
- E / Taz Anderson / Savannah / 1955
- RB / Dicky Thompson / Thomasville / 1963
- L / Randall Edmunds / Lincolnton / 1963
- QB, LB / Harold McLinton / Harper / 1964
- RB / William Tillman / Lemon Street / 1966
- WR, DB / Jimmy Robinson / Ridgeview / 1970
- QB / Phil Baker / Pepperell / 1970
- WR / Drew Hill / Newnan / 1974
- QB / Michael Jolly / Central-Macon / 1975
- QB, RB / Carlton Williamson / Brown / 1976
- RB / Stump Mitchell / Camden County / 1976
- RB / Gerald Harp / Lakeshore / 1976
- LB, RB / Alvin Toles / Mary Persons / 1981
- QB / Nate Odomes / Carver-Columbus / 1982
- OL / Stacy Searels / Trion / 1983
- WR / Steve Davenport / Southwest DeKalb / 1984
- QB, DB / Terance Mathis / Redan / 1984
- LB / Mo Lewis / Murphy / 1986
- DL / Eric Curry / Thomasville / 1987
- QB / Shawn Jones / Thomasville / 1987
- RB / Walt Crowder / Central (Carrolton) / 1988
- QB / Derrick Steagall / Newnan / 1992
- WR / Deion Branch / Monroe / 1996
- DB, WR / Jeremy Muyres / Parkview / 1999
- LB / Daryl Smith / Dougherty / 1999
- DL / Marcus McNeill / Cedar Grove / 2001
- LB, RB / J.K. Sabb / Laney / 2002
- WR / T.J. Jones / Gainesville / 2009
- QB, DB / AJ Gray / Washington County / 2014
Returning to the ballot
- B / Bill Paschal / Tech (Atlanta) / 1939
- B / Jack Peek / Tech (Atlanta) / 1945
- B / Bobby North / Tech (Atlanta) / 1946
- L / Ray Beck / Cedartown / 1947
- E / John Carson / Roosevelt / 1948
- B / Max Mason / Rockmart / 1950
- B / Milton Byard / Risley (Brunswick) / 1950
- RB / Johnny Menger / Richmond Academy / 1952
- RB / Jimmy Barefield / Waynesboro / 1955
- L / Ken Rice / Bainbridge / 1956
- L / Phil Ashe / Stone Mountain / 1956
- L / Pete Case / Decatur / 1957
- QB / John Henry Jackson / Spencer / 1957
- WR, DB / Willie Williams / Archer / 1960
- RB / Marvin Hurst / Waycross / 1961
- RB / Giles Smith / Valdosta / 1962
- G, LB / Wallace Davis / Spencer / 1962
- QB / Walt Sumner / Irwin County / 1964
- DB / Ken Ellis / Bunche (Camden County) / 1965
- WR / Billy Brice / Avondale / 1966
- QB / Bobby Scott / Rossville / 1966
- RB / Brent Cunningham / Putnam County / 1967
- QB, RB / Dennis Chadwick / Decatur / 1967
- RB / Doyle Orange / Waycross / 1969
- RB / Isaac Jackson / Lanier-Macon / 1969
- L / Henry Childs / Douglass (Thomasville) / 1969
- LB, RB / Keith Harris / Woodward Academy / 1970
- RB / Runt Moon / Commerce / 1973
- L / Mack Guest / Central (Macon) / 1974
- OL / Robert Shaw / Wheeler / 1974
- RB / Ed Guthrie / Wheeler / 1975
- L / Ben Utt / Vidalia / 1976
- QB / Jim Bob Harris / Clark Central / 1977
- L / Lee North / Shamrock / 1977
- QB / Gordon Beckham Jr. / Westminster / 1978
- DB / Joey Browner / Southwest Atlanta / 1978
- RB / Ricky Williams / Griffin / 1978
- RB / Cedric Jones / Lowndes / 1980
- RB / Ben Logue / North Springs / 1981
- RB / David McCluskey / West Rome / 1982
- DL / Henry Harris / Columbia / 1982
- QB / James Jackson / Mitchell-Baker / 1983
- QB / Vince Sutton / LaGrange / 1983
- RB / Terry Allen / Banks County / 1985
- DL / John Johnson / LaGrange / 1986
- LB / Curt Douglas / Lincoln County / 1987
- OL / Clay Shiver / Tift County / 1990
- LB / Dexter Daniels / Valdosta / 1991
- QB / Rodney Hudson / LaGrange / 1992
- DL / Travis Stroud / Dunwoody / 1993
- OL / Cosey Coleman / Southwest DeKalb / 1995
- RB / Patrick Pass / Tucker / 1995
- RB / Jasper Sanks / Carver (Columbus) / 1996
- RB / Daccus Turman / Washington-Wilkes / 2000
- QB / Chansi Stuckey / Northside (Warner Robins) / 2001
- DL / Kedric Golston / Sandy Creek / 2001
- LB / Sam Olajubutu / LaGrange / 2001
- LB / Wesley Woodyard / LaGrange / 2003
- OL / Chris Scott / Lovejoy / 2004
- OL / Duke Robinson / Washington / 2004
- DL / Jermaine Cunningham / Stephenson / 2005
- DB / Reshad Jones / Washington / 2005
- WR / Tavarres King / Habersham Central / 2007
- DL / Abry Jones / Northside (Warner Robins) / 2008
- RB/LB / Jonathan Davis / Tucker / 2008
- QB / Blake Sims / Gainesville / 2009
- OL / Mitch Hyatt / North Gwinnett / 2014
AJC Varsity reporter Todd Holcomb is the historian and researcher for the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame.
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