*Best player: Prince Avenue Christian quarterback Brock Vandagriff is a five-star recruit committed to Georgia. Against eventual champion Eagle’s Landing Christian in the playoffs, Vandagriff passed for 525 yards and six touchdowns and rushed for 79 yards and two touchdowns. His team fell short 62-57.
*Best position: Vandagriff and Hebron Christian’s Colten Gauthier, who is committed to South Carolina, are the most highly recruited pair of Class A quarterbacks to come out in the same year since the GHSA went to five classifications in 2000, and probably for much longer than that. Virtually every first-team all-region quarterback from 2019 returns, a list that includes Savannah Country Day’s Barry Kleinpeter, Christian Heritage’s Christian Thomas, Trinity Christian’s David Dallas, Athens Academy’s Palmer Bush and First Presbyterian’s Parker Ingram.
*Most highly recruited: Vandagriff is the highest-rated Class A prospect in Georgia since Champ Bailey of Charlton County 25 years ago. Athens Academy wide receiver/cornerback Deion Colzie is a four-star recruit who plays across town from Vandagriff in Region 8-A Private.
*Underrated: Conor Swennumson of Holy Innocents’ is only 5-10, 215, but he was the center and best offensive lineman last year on a state semifinalist that rushed for 352 yards per game and scored 62 rushing touchdowns. He’s also a good long snapper. Not a blue-chip recruit, but a smart one, Swennumson has an offer from Washington & Lee.
*That's interesting: Athens Christian sophomore Johness Davis rushed for 1,789 yards and 18 touchdowns on just 170 carries as a sophomore. He played for a 4-6 team in 2019.
*Snubbed? Defensive end Fuches Lewis of Calvary Day and linebacker Coleman Cauley of First Presbyterian are the only players south of metro Atlanta on the team. The lower part of the state put only one team, Savannah Christian, in the 2019 quarterfinals, but 2020 is expected to be a better year.
*What else is new? Five-time defending champion Eagle’s Landing Christian has two members on the team, but that trails Prince Avenue Christian (four), Athens Academy (three), Christian Heritage (three) and Holy Innocents’ (three), suggesting the talent gap is narrowing.
OFFENSE
DUAL QB - Brock Vandagriff, Prince Avenue Christian, Sr.
PRO QB - Colten Gauthier, Hebron Christian, Sr.
RB - Johness Davis, Athens Christian, Jr.
RB - Murphy Reeves, Fellowship Christian, Sr.
WR - Andrew Douglas, Mount Vernon Presbyterian, Sr.
WR - Logan Johnson, Prince Avenue Christian, Sr.
TE - Landon Kardian, Holy Innocents', Sr.
OL - Bryson Estes, Eagle's Landing Christian, Sr.
OL - John Ferguson, Athens Academy, Sr.
OL - Charlie Patterson, Fellowship Christian, Sr.
OL - Conor Swennumson, Holy Innocents', Sr.
OL - Davis Watson, Darlington, Sr.
ATH - Deion Colzie, Athens Academy, Sr.
PK - Noah Maupin, Trinity Christian, Jr.
DEFENSE
DL - Tanner Bivins, Wesleyan, Sr.
DL - Nick Jackson, Mount Pisgah Christian, Sr.
DL - Hugh Laughlin, Athens Academy, Sr.
DL - Fuches Lewis II, Calvary Day, Sr.
LB - Coleman Cauley, First Presbyterian, Jr.
LB - Gage Leonard, Christian Heritage, Jr.
LB - Davis Ridings, Prince Avenue Christian, Sr.
DB/LB - Josh Dallas, Trinity Christian, Jr.
DB - Kaleb Anthony, Eagle’s Landing Christian, Sr.
DB - Cooper Blauser, Wesleyan, Jr.
DB - Evan Lester, Christian Heritage, Sr.
DB - Chas Scoggins, Prince Avenue Christian, Sr.
P - Marshall Nichols, Holy Innocents', Sr.
Coming Wednesday: Class A Public
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