As it’s proven to be a task every year to find out exactly who are the top returning players at their respective skill positions, Friday Game Night has put together a series of top returning players in 2021.
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Some of these players already have accepted college offers, some have offers on the table, and some are starting to blip on the radar.
We begin our series with, perhaps, the richest position in the Northeast Georgia area: running backs.
Last season, the area had some bruising rushing attacks, and most are back this year.
Of course, some did graduate like Gabe Ervin Jr at Buford, Jaizen Ellingham of Flowery Branch and Jonah Daniel at Union County. But the bulk of the hard-churning backs return to wreak havoc on the opposing defenses around the area.
Below are the top returning running backs in our coverage area:
Buford – Sr. Victor Venn, 137-1,211 yards, 18 TD (committed to Colorado)
Buford – Sr. CJ Clinkscales (committed to Boston College), 38-360 yards, 5 TD
Cherokee Bluff – Sr. Jayquan Smith, 150-1,079 15 TD (Offers from Air Force, Georgia State, Arkansas State, Charlotte and Yale)
Commerce – Sr. Dreylan Martin, 127-858, 12 TD
Flowery Branch – Jr. Myles Ivey, 145-678 4TD
Gainesville – Jr. Naim Cheeks, 1,207 yds in 10 games, 6.32 yds/carry, 13 TDs rushing - 17 rec., 118 yds, 1 TD. All-Region as a Soph.
Jefferson – So. Sammy Brown, 133-1,368, 14 TD (offers from Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss and South Carolina)
Jefferson – Sr. Jordan Perry, 51-434, 5 TD (holds offers from Arkansas State, Bowling Green, Charlotte, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Kansas State, Kent State and MTSU)
Rabun County – Jr. Lang Windham, 160-1,392, 12 TD; 497 yards receiving, 5 TD
North Hall – Sr. Kevin Rochester, 899, 13 TD
Towns County – Sr. Kyle Oakes, 1,025 (8 games), 14 TD
White County – Sr. Silas Mulligan, 155-1,052, 15 TD
West Hall – Sr. Tilil Blackwell, 70-351 10 TD
- UP NEXT: WIDE RECEIVERS
