We are now just one week away from the start of GPB Sports Football Fridays in Georgia. Looking forward to kicking off my 12th season with Georgia Public Broadcasting next Friday night, Sept. 5 with defending GHSA Class 3A Champion and No. 1 Calhoun playing at 4A No. 2 Cartersville.

Each week in this space we’ll tell you about the top prospects to watch on Football Fridays in Georgia. So, before we dive into our weekly routine, let’s get caught up with what’s been happening in this state over the summer.

When it comes to the state’s top prospects, “the hay is in the barn” so to speak. The top 112 prospects in Georgia in the On3 Industry Rankings are already committed. This is extraordinary. Typically in the past the top 40 or so would be committed this time of year but we are nearly triple that number before Labor Day.

I don’t have a concrete reason why, but I have my theories. I believe that because the recruiting game has become more transactional than relational players are locking up deals, and vice versa, a lot quicker than they used to.

Tyler Atkinson

Tyler Atkinson, Grayson

Credit: 247 Sports

Recruiting used to be about visits to campuses and building relationships with coaches. This is not to say these things aren’t still important but it’s apparent that recruiting has become more and more a negotiation between two interested business parties.

In other words, when a player hears an offer (of money) that sounds good to them, better to take it now than wait when that offer might not be there in the future. I think we started to see that unfold last December at signing day when players who had been committed to a program for a long time, suddenly changed their minds and signed elsewhere.

We’ve always had “flips,” but last December felt different. One could surmise that a better offer might have arisen and one program outbid the other as the clock was about to hit midnight. One flip seemed to trigger another.

So, all that said, we can tell you that Jonesboro 3-Star Jerimia Collier is the top uncommitted senior in the state of Georgia right now. He’s rated as high as the No. 73 linebacker in the country and On3 has him ranked as the No. 113 recruit in the state. He reportedly has 18-plus offers with Cincinnati at the top of the list.

The top-rated prospect in the state is Grayson 5-Star Tyler Atkinson who is ranked as high as the No. 1 LB in the country and the overall No. 9 prospect (regardless of position). He committed to Texas this summer on the ESPN Pat McAfee Show.

 

Such was the anticipation surrounding Atkinson’s decision. Unfortunately, he is yet to play this season because of injury but I can personally attest that he’s one of the most dominating defensive players I’ve seen in my over 30 years of calling high school football. In other words, he’s really good!

Kaiden Prothro

Kaiden Prothro, Bowdon

So, a term that is used quite often used in football is the “all 22.” This is a term that coaches, talent evaluators, TV folks, etc., use to describe the video picture that encompasses all 22 players on the field (11 offense, 11 defense) at the same time. Not the tighter angle shot that you typically get in your TV coverage of a game

In terms of recruiting “the all 22,” or the top 22 players in the state for the class of 2026 included 5 Edge (that’s the catch-all phrase used in the industry to include DE and/or OLB), three each LB and RB, two TE, WR, CB and DL and one each SAF, OT and QB. That one QB is Grayson 4-Star Travis Burgess who is committed to North Carolina and ranked the No. 21 player in the state. Unfortunately, he suffered a leg injury last week and his high school career is now over.

In that all (or first) 22, Georgia has 4 commitments led by Bowdon 5-Star TE Kaiden Prothro.

Texas A&M has 4 commitments led by Buford 4-Star Edge Bryce Perry-Wright. Alabama and Florida State have 3 commitments, Florida two and there’s one each for Texas, LSU, Tennessee, Stanford, Notre Dame and North Carolina. All but one of those Top 22 made the GPB Sports Preseason All-State All-Classification Team we released several weeks ago.

Now to put a bow on it, there was one commitment of note this week with Hughes linebacker Kijon Braxton choosing Eastern Michigan. The 6-2, 215-pound, senior picked EMU over eight-plus offers including Wake Forest. I’ve seen Kijon play a number of times on GPB Sports and for the life-of-me I couldn’t tell you why he doesn’t have any “stars,” because this young man can play and always makes plays (at least every time I see him).

As a junior on last season’s state finalist team, Braxton had 96 total tackles with 14 TFL and 11 QB sacks. He is the first cousin of former Panther Jelani Thurman who’s now at Ohio State which means his aunt is former Lady Bulldogs basketball SEC Freshman of the Year and All-SEC Kara Braxton and his uncle is former Bulldogs star LB Odell Thurman. So yes, they have some serious athleticism in that family, and I expect Kijon to go much further than his recruiting ranking might indicate.

In the meantime, we have another GPB Sports Stream game tonight with Northside-Warner Robins playing Warner Robins. This will be the 68th all-time meeting with Demons leading the series 42-25 and have won eight straight in the rivalry that started back in 1964. Check that out tonight with Cody Chaffins on the call and we’ll see you next Friday night at Weinman Stadium in Cartersville.

Stream the game right here with GPB, YouTube and across the GPB Sports social media platforms.

Enjoy your Football Friday in Georgia!

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