Who is the best player Georgia coaches have ever seen? 191 get at least 1 vote.
Trevor Lawrence, Travis Hunter and Eric Berry are former AJC all-classification football players of the year from different decades who became college All-Americans and top-five NFL draft picks.
They are the three top vote getters in an AJC Varsity survey that asked the state’s coaches to “name the three best opposing players you have faced or seen, or three who come to mind quickly, based on their abilities at the time, not future accomplishments.”
Next in the voting came Josh Downs, Greg Reid and Deshaun Watson, other stars who led their schools to state championships.
Cited the most was Lawrence, the current Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback out of Clemson who led Cartersville High to 15-0 records and state championships in 2015 and 2016. In high school, he passed for a state-record 13,902 yards.
McEachern coach Kareem Reid was Westlake’s coach in 2016 and 2017 during Lawrence’s last two seasons. Reid’s Westlake teams won region titles in the highest classification those years and reached the semifinals in one of them, but they didn’t have much luck against Lawrence and Cartersville, losing 31-0 and 35-8.
“After I played him, I was like, man, he’s the best quarterback in Georgia — high school, college or pro,” Reid said. “We had several Power 4 defensive backs on that Westlake team, including AJ Terrell (now a Falcons cornerback), and Trevor was finding ways to put the ball in tight windows. Everybody understood his ability to beat you with his arm, but he surprised us with how fast he was. He could escape the pock and run for a bunch of yards, too.”
Hunter and Berry were lauded for their two-way abilities. Both started on offense and defense.
Hunter, the 2024 Heisman Trophy winner from Colorado and now Lawrence’s Jacksonville teammate, led Collins Hill to the 2021 Class 7A championship with a 24-8 victory over Milton, whose coach, Ben Reaves, used that game as an example of Hunter’s greatness. Hunter had 10 receptions for 153 yards and a touchdown and had four solo tackles and a forced fumble in helping hold Milton to 69 passing yards.
“Forty-eight minutes of Travis Hunter in high school was no fun,“ Reaves said. ”You never got a break from him. He never came off the field no matter if you were on offense, defense or special teams.”
Older coaches had similar memories of Eric Berry, a quarterback and safety whose senior season at Creekside was 2006. He played at Tennessee and became a five-time Pro Bowl safety.
Newnan coach Chip Walker first saw Berry in 2004, when Berry was sophomore and Walker was an assistant on Sandy Creek’s staff. Their teams were 9-0.
“Eric started both ways at the beginning of the game,” Walker said. “It was unusually warm that night. We chased him all over the field on defense and had a hard time tackling him. He began to cramp and had to miss several plays. We ended up winning 31-28 in one of the best games I’ve ever been involved in. He scared you to death right up until the final horn blew.”
Berry was 11-of-14 passing for 164 yards and rushed for 153 yards on 10 carries that night, the AJC reported. Berry led Creekside to victory over Sandy Creek the next year, Walker’s first as head coach, and became the nation’s consensus No. 3 prospect nationally as a senior.
Downs of Mill Creek and Reid of Lowndes also were two-way players named AJC players of the year after leading their teams to state titles. Watson, whose state passing record Lawrence broke, led Gainesville to its first state title in 2012.
AJC Varsity’s survey reached out to the GHSA’s 413 head coaches beginning in preseason and drew 195 respondents. The survey covered a wide range of topics.
For this question, coaches could vote only for players they had faced or seen live, so the votes were widely dispersed. At least one vote went to 191 players.
Here are the results.
13 - Trevor Lawrence, Cartersville
8 - Eric Berry, Creekside; Travis Hunter, Collins Hill
6 - Caleb Downs, Mill Creek; Greg Reid, Lowndes; Deshaun Watson, Gainesville
5 - Brian Branch, Sandy Creek; Richard LeCounte, Liberty County; Robert Nkemdiche, Grayson
4 - Casey Barner, McEachern; Sammy Brown, Jefferson; Jahmyr Gibbs, Dalton; Elijah Griffin, Savannah Christian
3 - Tyler Atkinson, Grayson; Morgan Burnett, North Clayton; Rennie Curran, Brookwood; Josh Downs, North Gwinnett; Terrious Favors, Carver (Atlanta); LaDamion Guyton, Savannah Christian/Benedictine; Kyle Hamilton, Marist; Justice Haynes, Blessed Trinity/Buford; Alvin Kamara, Norcross; Kaiden Prothro, Bowdon; Takeo Spikes, Washington County; Gunner Stockton, Rabun County
2 - Champ Bailey, Charlton County; Tray Blackmon, LaGrange; Barrett Carter, North Gwinnett; Lorenzo Carter, Norcross; Isaiah Crowell, Carver (Columbus); Jonathan Dwyer, Kell; Washaun Ealey, Emanuel County Institute; JaQues Evans, Dublin; Justin Fields, Harrison; Reuben Foster, Troup; AJ Gray, Washington County; Donquell Green, Burke County; Jadon Haselwood, Cedar Grove; Tyreek Hill, Coffee; DJ Jacobs, Blessed Trinity; Ousmane Kromah, Lee County; Amari Latimer, Sandy Creek; Nick Marshall, Wilcox County; Kayden McDonald, North Gwinnett; Christen Miller, Cedar Grove; Davis Mills, Greater Atlanta Christian; Alec Ogletree, Newnan; Keyuntae Phillips, South Atlanta; Aaron Philo, Prince Avenue Christian; Tate Ratledge, Darlington; Duke Scott, Stockbridge; Roquan Smith, Macon County; Keyon Standifer, Athens Academy/Newton; Justus Terry, Manchester; Nick Turner, Washington; Brock Vandagriff, Prince Avenue Christian; Kevin Wynn, Greene County
1 - Bama Adams, Charlton County; Montravious Adams, Dooly County; CJ Allen, Lamar County; Tony Anderson, Valdosta; Will Anderson, Rome; Adam Anderson, Rome; Harrison Bailey, Marietta; Waelyn Baliles, North Murray; Bull Barge, Colquitt County; Dre Barnes, Irwin County; Khalil Barnes, North Oconee; Jayden Barr, Eastside; Eli Barrow, Cedartown; Stetson Bennett, Pierce County; Gabriel Benyard, Irwin County; KJ Bolden, Buford; Travion Bostic, Dublin; Brandon Boykin, Fayette County; Jauriel Bray, Dodge County; DeAngelo Brown, Savannah Christian; Reggie Brown, Carrollton; Ronnie Brown, Cartersville; Shannon Brown, Cook; Thomas Brown, Tucker; Tyson Browning, Oconee County; Weston Bryan, Lee County; David Bucey, Savannah Christian; Vic Burley, Warner Robins; Joe Burns, Thomas County Central; Jordan Burns, Pace Academy; Thomas Castellanos, Ware County; Jamarcus Chatman, Rome; Nick Chubb, Cedartown; AJ Cooley, Bowdon; Dwight Dasher, Charlton County; Kyle Davis, Archer; Miles Davis, Norcross; Xzavier Dickson, Griffin; Josh Dobbs, Alpharetta; Ricky Dobbs, Douglas County; Lavarus Dollar, Dublin; Terrence Edwards, Washington County; Harrison Faulkner, North Oconee; Leonard Floyd, Dodge County; Major Floyd, East Laurens; Jarmon Fortson, Carver (Columbus); Jeff Francoeur, Parkview; Chance Gamble, Fitzgerald; Deuce Geralds, Collins Hill; Arik Gilbert, Marietta; Tristian Givens, Carver (Columbus); Kelby Glaze, Lincoln County; Dontrell Glover, Hughes; Tyler Goodson, North Gwinnett; Tyriq Green, Buford; Ja’Quon Griffin, Rome; Mecole Hardman, Elbert County; Tae Harris, Cedartown; Taylor Heinicke, Collins Hill; Zykie Helton, Carrollton; Connor Heyward, Peachtree Ridge; Elijah Holyfield, Woodward Academy; Kobe Hudson, Troup; Toby Jackson, Griffin; Calvin Johnson, Sandy Creek; Charles Johnson, Hawkinsville; Duke Johnson, Dodge County; Inky Johnson, Crim; John Johnson, LaGrange; Quintavious Johnson, Mays; Storm Johnson, Loganville; Jabari Jones, Westlake; Shawn Jones, Thomasville; Christian “Deuce” Lawrence, Thomas County Central; Carl Lawson, Milton; Gage Leonard, Calhoun; Brad Lester, Parkview; Phillip Lutzenkirken, Lassiter; Phil Mafah, Grayson; Woody Marks, Carver (Atlanta); Trezmen Marshall, Clinch County; Jerry Mays, Thomson; Ladd McConkey, North Murray; Jerick McKinnon, Sprayberry; Sean McVay, Marist; DeQuan Menzie, Carver (Columbus); Luke Metz, Mill Creek; Amarius Mimms, Bleckley County; Kevin Minter, Stephenson; Myles Murphy, Hillgrove; Cam Newton, Westlake; Paul Oliver, Harrison; Tucker Parson, Rockmart/Hart County; Patrick Pass, Tucker; Dameon Pierce, Bainbridge; David Pollack, Shiloh; Tauren Poole, Stephens County; Jimmy Pope, Gordon Central; Otis Reese, Lee County; Zion Riggins, Jones County; Thez Robinson, Toombs County; Julian Rochester, McEachern; Mike Rogers, Campbell; JK Sabb, Laney; Dylan Singleton, Archer; Jamie Skalski, Northgate; Darius Slay, Brunswick; Malaki Starks, Jefferson; Damian Swann, Grady; Russ Tanner, Johnson County; Charlie Thomas, Thomasville; James Thomas, Mitchell County; Justin Thomas, Benedictine; Brandon Thompson, Thomasville; Michael Thornton, Stephenson; Ethan Tisdale, Heard County; Dalvin Tomlinson, Henry County; Brayden Tyson, Brookwood; Sham Umarov, Denmark; Jaden Upshaw, Lee County; Erik Walden, Dublin; Bo Walker, Cedar Grove/Rabun Gap; Gary Walker, Creekside; Travon Walker, Upson-Lee; Chico Washington, Swainsboro; Antavius Watts, Carver (Columbus); Whit Weeks, Oconee County; Brandon Whitaker, Pepperell; Sacovie White, Cass; Jamyest Williams, Grayson; Emaree Winston, Calhoun; Charlie Woerner, Rabun County; Nick Woodford, Northeast