OT: Insight to HS football in Georgia (and the South)

another thing people fail to mention is that this area is very affluent, and many pro players come to make this their home.  At almost every HS in Gwinnett, you'll find ex-players sons playing in every sport.  Orlando Brown's son plays for Peachtree Ridge, as did Cameron Heyward (of OSU).  Richard Seymour's son plays at North Gwinnett.  A HS game between North Gwinnett and Peachtree Ridge would have anywhere around 9-10 D-1 players in the game.  They can also bring in the best coaches because of the support from the community (i.e booster clubs)

I used to live in Peachtree City which is just south of Atlanta, and football was everything all year round except at my old HS. My team would get wrecked by every school all year. One of our rival schools just down the road produces D-1 athletes year end and year out most notably Calvin Johnson. 

It's athletics before academics in the suth it's sad really....

Our H.S. team this year has the # 1 or #2 rated RB in the state (depending on the rankings) and a high 3*/low 4* QB both committed to Alabama.  In addition, there are 3-4 linemen that have committed to play at Georgia, Tennessee and other D-1 Schools. 

As the OP said, there is no off-season and even middle school students are "highl encouraged" to attend off-season conditioning.

this is not where I want the resources going at my daughter's cash-starved school. Nor what I want her cultural life to revolve around. Fortunately--interestingly--soccer is very big here in Florida  (Tallahassee) and in Atlanta, too, from what I hear. . .

I think middle-schoolers doing organized conditioning and the pressure coaches face may be a bit more uncommon outside of the South, but year-round conditioning certainly is not. I think in parts of the South, you do see smaller programs emulate larger-schools more often, but something like year-round conditioning, formal and informal, has been around for a while pretty much everywhere. 

are abundant up here too. I am constantly deluged with 'fund raisers' for my son's elementary school, to the point where its a bit obnoxious. Teachers demand about $80 worth of school supplies per student to start the year, constant fliers asking for the purchase of overpriced items, etc. Anyway, the football gate receipts at the high school are phenomenal for its level. I think we should have an elementary sponsored football team and mini-stadium to keep up? Add beer sales and that would boost the bottom line!

So glad Milton lost! 

I'm a Roswell High grad ('93) and when I was in school, I played football, baseball & basketball.  Guys didn't specialize back then, we just played everything.  And when our season was over, we didn't really worry about that particular sport until it rolled around the following year.

I also live in East Cobb (right behind Wheeler High), like DamnYankee & my parents live in Gwinnett.  No matter where you go in the state, football is a 24/7/365 deal now & kids are deciding very early, what sport they want to focus on.  I would say the baseball & basketball in the south is JUST as competitive as the football.  A lot of these kids have rich parents who will spare NO expense to get their child to the next level.

There is a lot of good football here in Georgia.  My youngest sister goes to Norcross and she tells me that they are very, very good ('12 State Champs).  She also tells me that some of her buddies on the football team are nationally recruited.  One of her friends is already comitted/comitting to Ohio.  I told her to tell him it's a mistake!

Hell just look at Gwinnett County.  They have had a team win the last three state cahmpionships: Brookwood '10, Grayson '11 & Norcross '12.

Football is definitely a religion in these parts.

I went to two highschools in Gwinnett (Berkmar and South) and the amount of D1 talent that comes out of that county in all sports is amazing. When I was a Berkmar we were top 10 in the nation in basketball, and Brookwood and Parkview were the same in football.

Like Buccaneer said above, football is a religion in those parts. 

A question....even if conditioning and coaching is further advanced in certain areas, like the south,, wouldn't it be reasonable to surmise that with top quality collegiate S & C programs along with good coaching that catch-up occurs fairly quickly once kids get to college? 

My sons went to school with former Michigan recruit Donvan Tate. Presently,living in Jacksonville,AL (about 60mins from the ATL).

I made a comment,on this board, 2 years ago about recuriting here in the south. I still maintain that the I-10/I-20 corridors has enough talent to win any school a national title. I was ridculed for making that statement by some yahoo,however...someone here in allybama would agree would me. They have the hardware to show for it.

I love this article, and I love the highlights the poster provided. There are several reasons the south has exploded in football the past decade. And part of it is that we are handicapped up north in some regards when it comes to high school. In the south they have year round training (we have year round weight-lifting, but there are so many rules against off-season OTA's in MHSAA). They have spring practice (we don't), well paid coaches (I'm a 25 year old varsity assistant and I've been on staff for 5 years, I make $1000/year, and I'm doing football related activities all year long) we get paid barely anything for the time we put in and for as little as we make most people can't afford to put the time in and make almost nothing for it. Sometimes this leads to coaches hiring guys on their staffs who are low-quality coaches (insert like you thought here). There is immense pressure to win (I'd say we are under pressure, but not like for sale signs in your yard pressure), weather conditions (they can run 7 on 7 and do all things outside all year round that we can't). We have draconian rules (We can only work with 5 players and a ball at a time during the off-season). Way more resources for football, and I hate to say more passionate fans but I almost have too. I think it there was the same level of dedication here then the playing field would be a little bit more balanced in terms of production of HS talent.