The injuries continue to pile up for a number of teams this week. Marietta’s standout sophomore QB Harrison Bailey is apparently out for Friday’s game against Lassiter after reports that he injured his collar bone in the fourth quarter of last week’s victory over Pebblebrook. Blue Devils Coach Richard Morgan says his starting QB is week to week. Bailey was having a fantastic (record-setting) game before getting injured throwing four TD passes for a team-record 464 yards. If Bailey can’t go against Lassiter, then fellow sophomore QB Rashun Bass will get the start. The Blue Devils hope that their veteran defense and dynamic receiver core can step up. In South Georgia, Colquitt County may be without three of its offensive starters this week against Brookwood. Both QB Steven Krajewski and RB Daijun Edwards were injured in the second quarter of their victory over Roswell last week. Krajewski suffered a neck injury, and Edwards sprained an ankle. The Packers are also dealing with the loss of starting center Will Rykard. Stay tuned as we’ll all be watching to see who takes the field Friday night.

Georgia high school football fans have witnessed quite a few spectacular performances and dazzling endings in the first four weeks of the season, and week five should not disappoint. Here are some of the matchups to watch: In 7-A, Archer will take on Norcross.  Both schools have explosive offenses so we will look to see which defense will step up and win this key matchup. Down south, Northside Warner Robins will battle Ware County. Ware County is 0-2 but this is a rival game so look for Ware County to play extremely hard. This game is a classic and is always fun to watch for all Georgia high school football fans. Make sure to tune into GPB for Football Fridays in Georgia Inside Edition at 7pm where we will have insights, analysis, and highlights of all of the state’s top games.  

Now to the Arms Race… as mentioned, we saw a couple of top QBs go down to injury in Week 4. Marietta’s Harrison Bailey led his team on a game winning drive –before being sidelined with injury - to get the Blue Devils to 3-0 for the first time since 2007. Some others on this week’s list didn’t perform as well thanks in part to some pretty stingy defenses. This Friday there are several key matchups for QBs that could make or break their season.

Arm’s Race:

1.     Justin Fields. Harrison, DUAL, 6’3, 221. Last Game: Did Not Play Next Game: River Ridge.

2.     Trevor Lawrence. Cartersville, PRO, 6’6, 208, Last Game: 17-24 for 281 passing yards 2TDs. Next Game: Cedartown. 

3.     Jarren Williams. Central Gwinnett, DUAL, 6’2, 206, Last Game: 277 yards passing 2 TDs. Next Game: Norcross. 

4.     Harrison Bailey, Marietta, PRO, 6’4, 215. Last Game: Threw for a 75-yard TD pass in last Minute of the game to beat Pebblebrook threw for 464 yards before he was injured. Next Game: Lassiter. 

5.     Emory Jones. DUAL, Heard County, 6’3, 195, Last Game: 2 total TDs leads the Braves to a Victory against Darlington.  Next Game: Central 

6.     Steven Krajewski. Colquitt County, PRO, 6’4, 205, Last Game: Injured in Second Quarter did not return. Next Game: Brookwood 

7.     Knox Kadum. Rome, PRO, 6’2, 170, Last Game: 13-18 for 195 yards passing 2 TDs. Next Game: Paulding County.

8.     Luke Shiflett. Northwest Whitfield CO. DUAL,6’2 180, Last Game: Threw for 3 TDs in a win Vs. Model. Next Game:  Ridgeland.  

9.     Cordell Littlejohn. Roswell, DUAL, 6’4, 190, Last Game: Only had 78 Passing yards in loss. Next Game: Archer. 

10.     Gunnar Watson. Taylor County, PRO, 6’2, 187, Last Game: 8-11 for 157 passing yards 1 TD. Next Game: Macon Co. 

Others to watch:

11.     Jordan Yates. Milton, DUAL, 6’1,186, Next Game: Etowah. 

12.     Octavis Battle. Carver. DUAL, 6’3, 185, Next Game: Jackson. 

By Brooks Burns