There are a ton of teams in Class 4A that have showcased exceptional rushing attacks so far this season, and the Central-Carroll Lions are the latest to earn praise for their phenomenal performance on the ground. The Lions received the Otter’s Chicken Offense Line of the Week Award by Georgia High School Football Daily following the team’s impressive 54-35 win over Northwest Whitfield—which was undefeated and ranked No. 6 in the polls at the time. Central’s front five consists of Collin Jenkins, Levi Lee, Brock Gibson, Justin Wilburn and Jackson Burns and Elijah Jackson lines up at tight end. This group has helped pave the way for running back Narada Levett—a 5-foot-10, 210-pound Class of 2021 prospect—that is having one of the most dramatic breakout seasons witnessed anywhere in the state.
Levett started taking carries in the Lions' offense his freshman season and his role continued to grow. As a junior in 2019, he took 58 carries for 257 yards and a touchdown. This ranked him as the team’s third leading rusher behind seniors Kashif Taylor (103 carries-373 yards-7 TDs) and Braden Dunson (140-718-3). Fast forward to this season and not only is Levett the team’s leading rusher, he is also currently leading the entire state in total rushing yards entering Week 8. In this past week’s victory over Northwest Whitfield, Levett took a career-high 47 carries for 430 yards and four touchdowns. This performance has followed a string of dominant outings by Levett that have led to the Lions' current four-game winning streak.
Central’s season started with a 17-14 loss to Temple. The following week, the Lions topped Whitewater 29-28 in overtime. Levett accounted for 154 yards off 27 carries and scored a touchdown and the game-winning two-point conversion in the victory. In the three games that have followed, Levett has been even more dominant, accounting for 961 yards (320.3 ypg) and 12 total touchdowns over that stretch. He posted 315 yards and four touchdowns in the 49-28 win over Villa Rica, racked up 216 yards and three touchdowns in the team’s 32-13 win over Heard County and then followed it up with his career night against Northwest Whitfield this past Friday.
“If any of my Facebook friends are college coaches, please check this kid out,” wrote Central head coach Darius Smiley on his social media. “5 games in and he has 1,230 yards rushing. 3 weeks ago he rushed for over 300 yards. Friday night, he rushed for 430 yards on 47 carries and 4 touchdowns. When you talk about a senior going unnoticed and playing his way to a scholarship during his senior year, Narada Levett is that kid.”
Central’s win over Northwest Whitfield gave the Lions a 1-0 start in Region 7 play and they will be back in action this week at Heritage-Catoosa. The Generals are another solid team, however, they proved to be vulnerable to the run game this past week in a 21-14 loss to Ridgeland that saw Jeremiah Turner accounted for 230 rushing yards and two touchdowns. This week could once again see Levett continue his impressive breakout campaign.
There were other big-time performances this week that put Class 4A programs in the spotlight. Fayette County, for example. exploded for 546 total yards of offense in a 41-6 win over North Clayton. North Oconee quarterback Bubba Chandler was incredibly efficient in his team’s 44-0 win over Chestatee—completely 7-of-11 pass attempts for 186 yards and five touchdowns.
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