Which QBs in NEGa are ready to break out?

Let’s be honest. Northeast Georgia area prep football fans have been spoiled.

Since 2004, our area has been known as one of the hotbeds in the state for producing high-caliber quarterbacks year-in and year out.

Jaybo Shaw, Connor Shaw, Austin Brown, Kanler Coker, Blake Sims, Deshaun Watson, Bryant Shirreffs, Austin Parker, Coey Watson, Bailey Fisher, J. Ben Haynes, Zach Holtzclaw, David Renard, and Gunnar Stockton -- the last three graduating after the 2021 season -- all gave area fans plenty to watch during their prep careers.

Deshaun Watson and Shirreffs led their teams to state titles. Sims, Connor Shaw, and Stockton each led their teams to a state championship game appearance.

Deshaun Watson and Stockton became all-time state record-setters. The Shaw brothers, Brown, Coker, Sims, Fisher, Deshaun Watson, and Shirreffs, all went on to play at the Division I level. Stockton could do the same before he leaves Athens. Connor Shaw and Deshaun Watson both made NFL rosters. Sims hooked on briefly with the CFL.

It has been a tough legacy to maintain from year-to-year. Current Lanier Christian Academy and former Gainesville High coach Bruce Miller, who was at the helm of the Red Elephants during the Sims and Watson years, said the entire group had one thing in common.

“They had that ‘it’ factor,” Miller said.

And just what is that, and how do you define it?

“To me, it’s having that knowledge of the game,” Miller said. “It’s also having that athletic ability, the work ethic. They see things that others don’t. Not many kids have the kind of understanding of the game (at the age of 16), but Blake and Deshaun both did; you could see that early on. Another big aspect is that these kinds of players don’t ever panic.”

Current Union County head coach Michael Perry was on the Gainesville staff from 2006-15 and agreed with his old boss.

“Definitely. Every one of those guys had that ‘it’ factor for sure,” Perry said. “To me, the mental aspect is the biggest difference between that group and your average quarterback.”

Perry witnessed it intimately as the Gainesville quarterbacks coach over his final five seasons. Miller credited Perry with pushing Watson into a future Division I and later NFL prospect.

“I appreciate Coach Miller saying that, but truthfully, Deshaun was just one of those guys that come along once in a generation. He just was so smart and just had tremendous God-given ability. My goal was just not to mess him up,” Perry said.

Current Habersham Central coach Benji Harrison and current Chestatee coach Shaun Conley were instrumental in the development of a slew of Flowery Branch quarterbacks -- both Shaws, Brown, and Coker -- from 2004-2011.

“All of those guys were gamers and leaders and wanted that ball at the end of the game,” Harrison remembered. “But you can’t create robots. As a coach, you have to play to each player's unique abilities.”

“Those guys were all coachable and just focused on doing all the little things that are necessary to take that step to the next level,” Conley said. “But they were all different, for sure. As a coach, you would like to take credit for how they turn out, but all of those guys would have been good regardless of who the coach was. Looking back, it’s pretty cool to have been able to watch those guys from year-to-year.” 

Chad Bennett, now the White County head coach, also was on the Flowery Branch staff during the Shaw brothers, Austin Brown and Coker years. He also was the QB coach at White County during J. Ben Haynes’ run with the Warriors and for Gainesville in 2021, Baxter Wright’s first full season as a starter.

“I hadn’t thought about it as a whole until you asked, but that’s an incredible 20-year run for such a small area of the state to have that many great quarterbacks,” Bennett said. “To me, the things that stand out are they were all fierce competitors, they had incredible work ethic, were very coachable, and just super smart. It’s been really cool to be able to coach some of the guys that I did.”

While downplaying his role, Bennett acknowledged that coaching stability in the area has contributed to sustained excellence at that position. 

“It’s crazy how many great offensive coaches we have like Coach Miller, Coach Perry, Coach Harrison, Coach Conley, Michael Davis [Rabun County head coach], and I’m sure I’m leaving some guys out,” Bennett said. “When you have that many consistent coaches that have the knowledge they do, you’re going to produce some great players.”

This will make the 2022 campaign for area programs one of the most intriguing since before Jaybo Shaw took the field for the first time for Flowery Branch in 2004.

Less than a handful of the 26 area teams covered by AccessWDUN return either a starter from the previous season or someone that has varsity experience under center coming into the 2022 campaign. The rest have been holding fierce competitions to find their next signal-caller.

Rabun County has senior West Forsyth transfer Keegan Stover; Gainesville has junior Baxter Wright returning; Habersham Central junior Carson Parker returns; North Forsyth will have senior West Roberts back; and White County has sophomore Tripp Nix returning, though he is locked in a battle for the starting spot. Towns County has junior Connor Chastain back.

In the ultimate team sport, no position is more important than quarterback. So who is ready to emerge as the next possible Watson or Shaw or Stockton?

Stover passed for 2,409 yards with 25 TDs and just 3 INTs for the Class 7A Wolverines in 2021 and probably has the most experience coming back. He also is in a system that produced both Fisher (now at Gardner-Webb) and Stockton (now at Georgia) over the past seven seasons.

Wright was up-and-down in 2021 for the Red Elephants (1,504 yards passing, 8 TDs, 369 rush yards). But he already seems to be bigger and more refined in the new Josh Niblett regime.

Buford will open the season with Dylan Wittke, who has started over a dozen games in his first three seasons while playing behind Ashton Daniels (now at Stanford).

Parker at Habersham Central hit 52 percent of his passes for 1,304 yards, 7 TDs and 10 INTs in 2021 as a full-time starter and may be poised for a breakout season.

North Forsyth’s Roberts played in six games, including starting the final four, for the Raiders passing for just 329 yards with 2 TDs and 2 INTs. But he has already been penciled in as the opening-game starter and is expected to have a breakout season as well.

Nix started seven games for the Warriors in 2021 but is being challenged by freshman Braxton Anderson.

Jefferson has senior Max Aldridge, who is coming off an injury-plagued 2021 and played sparingly for the Dragons behind now-Georgia Bulldog Malaki Starks in a triple-option attack. However, they are switching to a pro-style offense, and Aldridge was effective when called upon last year, going 5-for-5 for 87 yards and 2 TDs in 2021. Considering that Jefferson threw the ball just 34 times last season, those stats stand out.

Chestatee already has sophomore Josh Kermode penciled in. Kermode has little to no varsity experience but already is considered a rising star.

Conley is excited to see what Kermode can do as he takes the reins of what is typically a potent War Eagles offense. But he felt several of the current unknown crop of signal-callers could be ready to shine as well.

“Josh (Kermode) is a true quarterback,” Conley said. “He has the size, the arm, and already understands the game. How he develops those tools over the next few years will be the difference. But I really feel like he has a chance to be a special player.

“I like Aldridge at Jefferson. If he stays healthy, I think he has a chance to break out. Parker, under Coach Harrison, I think also is ready to put up some big numbers. Baxter (Wright) with that staff also could be ready for a big year, and I like (Tripp) Nix at White County. He has the tools to be really good.

“It will be fun to see which of these guys are ready to take that next step.” 

Perry agreed that it will be interesting to see who breaks out of the pack in 2022.

“I haven’t seen all of those guys, but having even a little varsity experience can go a long way,” Perry said. “We know what can be done in that offense in Rabun, so I see Keegan having a big year. 

“Baxter should have a better year now that he’s a year older and Aldridge, I think, has a lot of upside. Kermode is going to be a handful and also has a big upside. But there are a lot of guys that just aren’t really proven right now and are on the fence to go either way. It’ll be interesting to see who steps up out there.”

Bennett felt much the same way.

“I see the Stover kid having a big year in that offense, and I think Parker over at Habersham is ready for a big year,” he said. “I really think my guy (Tripp Nix) is also ready to break out. Baxter at Gainesville could have a big year, and Kermode under Coach Conley will get better and better each week.

“There are a lot of unknowns even with some of those guys. My guess is that next year we will start to see those big breakout seasons.”

For the rest of the programs in the area, it has been a spring and summer of battles to see who will be taking the reins of the offense on Aug. 19 and begin to etch their name among some of the area’s best ever.