Prep Zone: AJC High School Sports

AJC's Michael Carvell

There’s something special about Redan girls.

Actually, there are a lot of special things about the Raiders. They loaded at every position, including at least three major-college prospects as starters, and have one of the deepest benches in the state.

Is Redan on the brink of greatness? Or are they already there?

Redan is 23-0 , including a dominating win over archrival Stephenson. The Raiders are the defending state champions, and expected to win it all again, currently ranked No. 1 in Class AAAAA. They are the nation’s No. 6 team in USA Today

Is Jerry Jackson getting a little too much credit for the team’s success in his first year as head coach? Probably. But he also deserves praise for not letting pride get in the way. You know, to make changes just to make changes, like many new leaders do.

Let’s just skip to the bottom line: Is Redan the best girls basketball team in Georgia? Is there anyone close? And if they win repeat as champs, where will they …

Continue reading Are the Redan girls the best basketball team in the state? »

There are four new No. 1-ranked teams this week in what represents the biggest shakeup at the top this season.

New at the top are Westlake (AAAAA boys), Wilkinson County (A boys), Rome (AAAA girls) and Vidalia (AA girls).

Class AAAAA boys is really getting fun. There’s no right way to separate the top five teams. No. 5 could easily be No. 1. In fact, when the GaSports and AP polls come out, I wouldn’t be surprise if our No. 5 is their No. 1.

Here are some of the pros and cons of each …

No. 1 – Westlake (21-2). The Lions would be a slam dunk for No. 1 if they hadn’t lost to Morrow last month. But it was a controversial one-point loss that will have no effect in Westlake’s Region 4-AAAAA standing. Westlake beat Morrow by 40 points the other time they played, so that mitigates things a bit. Meanwhile, Westlake has beaten Centennial, our No. 2 team, and Rice of New York, a team ranked in the top 50 of at least two national rankings. Westlake’s other loss is 60-54 to Ridgeway of …

Continue reading Westlake replaces Milton atop AAAAA boys rankings »

Dunwoody High’s Michael Youngblood was fired as head football coach on Thursday.

“Mr. Youngblood is no longer the coach, that is correct,” DeKalb County Schools spokesman Dale Davis said.

When asked for the official reason, Davis said, “We decided to go in a different direction.”

Youngblood was still in a state of disbelief on Thursday evening. Dunwoody was his first head coaching job, and he led the Wildcats to a 7-5 record and appearance in the state playoffs this past season. He was informed of the news by Dunwoody principal Kevin Harris.

“When I asked (Harris) ‘What were the grounds for my removal?’ He said the things that they are going to say when the principal and football coach don’t see eye to eye … that they ‘are going to move in a different direction’ and not really give you an answer,” Youngblood said.

Youngblood speculated that his firing was related to an incident between the two men at at halftime of Dunwoody’s homecoming game against Cedar Grove on Sept. 25. …

Continue reading Dunwoody High fires its first-year football coach »

AJC's Michael Carvell

Championship ring ceremonies aren’t usually performed at 6 in the morning.

However, that’s what Woodward Academy volleyball team has planned after winning the state championship last fall. They will pass on the championship hardware between 6-6:30 a.m. on Friday.

Why the early start time? TV, baby. Woodward’s ring ceremy will happen in conjunction with CBS Atlanta’s production of “Cool Schools.”

Congrats to Woodward.

What is the coolest way you’ve seen a school do a ring ceremony?

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Continue reading Woodward’s state championship volleyball team picks an usual time for ring ceremony »

AJC's Michael Carvell

Former East Coweta football coach Danny Cronic is coming out of retirement to lead The Heritage School. The Newnan private school plays in the Georgia Independent School Association (GISA).

“Coach Cronic is noy only respected in our community as an outstanding football coach, but he also has a repuation for instilling character and discipline in young men,” said Otis Jones, board chairman for The Heritage School.

“He will be an excellent representative for our school on and off the field, and will have a tremendous impact on the lives of our students. We are a small school and feel truly blessed to have a coach of his caliber.”

Cronic was the coach at East Coweta from 1990-2007, with the team posting a 10-2 record in his final season. Cronic also had coach stints at Forsyth Central, LaGrange and Cherokee. His career record is 218-108-1 in 29 seasons as coach.

Continue reading Former East Coweta football coach coming out of retirement at another school »

Lassiter coach Chip Lindsey is good. How good? The college came calling after only two years at Lassiter. (AJC photo)

Chip Lindsey is leaving Lassiter after leading the Cobb County school to its best season in the program’s history.

Lindsey has been hired away as a college assistant, to serve as the quarterbacks coach at Troy University.

School officials have confirmed the news, while Lindsey is maintaining a low-profile. “I want to wait until I talk to my team on Wednesday morning before I say anything.”

Lindsey, 35, oversaw a stunning turnaround at Lassiter in his two years as head coach. He was 9-3 in 2008, setting a school record for wins in a season. This year, Lassiter was the Cinderella of the state playoffs, reaching the Class AAAAA quarterfinals with a 12-1 record.

Lindsey’s prized pupil was quarterback Hutson Mason, who shattered the state’s record books this year with his high-flying passing numbers. He set five records, including most yards in a single season …

Continue reading Lassiter High football coach leaving to take college job »

Cokely (Photo from GAC's Web site)

Greater Atlanta Christian’s new football coach, Tim Cokely, has won six state championships in Florida, and even got a endorsement from UGA’s Mark Richt.

Cokely’s hiring was announced on Monday by the Atlanta private school.

“His philosophy of being both excellent and Christ-centered fits perfectly into the mission of GAC,” athletics director Tim Vick said.

Cokely directed North Florida Christian to state titles in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2008. He also coached from 2005-2007 at Colquitt County High, compiling a 14-18 record, including 2-8 in his final season. His overall coaching record is 121-42.

Mark Richt released a statement about the coach. “I was at Florida State for 15 years and got a chance to know Tim Cokely extremely well over the years. (He will) be a fantastic, fantastic coach and represent (GAC) well. Coach Cokely handles people well, coaches well, and treats kids the way they should be treated.”

GAC had records of 4-7 …

Continue reading GAC’s new football coach from Florida, endorsed by UGA’s Richt »

AJC's Michael Carvell

We don’t know the full damage from the winter weather over the weekend. But we do now this — some of the state’s high school basketball teams will be turning in some overtime hours down the most important stretch of the season.

If you recall, icy conditions at another time last month triggered a series of cancellations of games. Many of those games were the all-important region games, which determine the ultra-important playoffs.

The GHSA addressed that situation the best it could, waiving its rule which restricted basketball teams from playing only one game on a weeknight. Why? To stay on pace for basketball’s first round of the state playoff tournament on Feb. 26. Any delay to the start of the playoffs would cause mind-boggling complications (host sites, scheduling) for the postseason tournament planned out months in advance.

So what happens now? What about this weekend’s weather?

It appears that the first option will be to get the games in. You might …

Continue reading GHSA ponders make-up basketball games before state tournament tips off »

My colleague Chip Saye wrote an article a few weeks back on the best college prospects in Georgia.

Jelan Kendrick of Wheeler came out No. 1 among boys. He’s the consensus choice of the recruiting services. I saw Kendrick play for the first time during the Milton-Wheeler game last month, and I can see why Memphis (to which he has signed) is eager to get him on campus.

But is he Georgia’s best player right now? In high school? Kendrick is outstanding, but is his status as the No. 1 recruit built partly on his upside potential? The season is still young. The state playoffs might decide that.

But here are is my choice: Ryan Harrow. Let these videos speak for the Walton point guard:

Ryan Harrow I

Ryan Harrow II

Another guy I like is Marcus Thornton Click on Marcus for some of his highlights. Not only a great talent (6-7 forward averaging 27 ppg), but a great student. Can’t remember if his coach told me 3.8 or 4.0 GPA.

I’ve seen Harrow, Kendrick and Thornton. I’ve seen the Milton …

Continue reading State’s best player: Let’s start with Harrow »

AJC's Michael Carvell

Many metro high schools are taking a wait-and-see …

Continue reading Weather conditions may affect this weekend’s high school events »