The same can be said for Darius Walker and the undefeated Buford Wolves.
The two teams clash Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Buford for the Class AA state championship. buford has won 45-straight games and is the defending Class AA champ. The Wolves (14-0) won the Class A title in 2001 so they are going for their third straight title.
Charlton County (12-2) is led by Privett, who is the school's all-time passing leader with 7,417 yards. He also passed Champ Bailey, formerly of UGA and now with the Washington Redskins, as the school's all-time offense leader with 7,406 yards. Privett also has set single-season state records this year in passing (3,640 yards and 47 TDs).
Buford coach Dexter Wood said watching tape of Privett offers little solutions.
"It's scarey watching tape of that guy," Wood said. "I haven't seen anyone be able to get to him. He just picks everybody apart. he stands about 10 yards behind the line and you just can't get to him. This will be a huge, huge test for our defense."
Charlton coach Rich McWhorter said his senior QB is a special talent.
"We saw the kind of ability he had as a sophomore and started doing some different things. I' have normally run an I-formation type offense but Jeremy can throw the ball so we changed the offense," he said. "And this year we just really decided to open it up."
The Wolves defense is no slouch, however, giving up just 11 points a game for the season. And most of those points have come in the second half with games already put away and the second and third teams on the field.
"Yea, but when you have a talent like this kid, none of that matters," Wood said. "He's like a Michael Vick in that he can break down a defensive gameplan just by improvizing. We're just going to have to play very disciplined if we want to have a chance at stopping him."
Privett has several targets to choose from, most notable Tristan Bridges, who has 129 catches this year and 22 TDs. Justin Williams has 56 catches on the season and Harry Martin and Patrick Brooks make four receivers to defend on every play.
The Wolves can counter with Darius Walker, who is poised to break his own state record. Walker has scored 44 TDs this season, including one last week in a 42-13 win over Decatur. That tied him with Charles Grant and Herscel Walker for the most in one season in Georgia history.
"He's absolutely amazing," McWhorter said. "I haven't seen a running back that polished in high school in a while. If we don't find a way to stop him, it's going to be a long day for us."
Walker has just over 2,000 on the season to go with his touchdowns. But last week, despite 31 carries for 176 yards, he almost seemed like a decoy.
"Well, Decatur was geared to stop Darius so we called on the other players we have to step up. We have a lot of weapons but just really haven't been able to use all of them because of the big scores of most of our games," Wood said.
Six different players scored last week for Buford with QB Kyle Manley tossing three TD passes and also getting scores on a reverse and a fullback run.
"That was an impressive offensive display," McWhorter said. "It was scarey to watch. I don't know how we'll stop them but we have to find a way."
Of course, both coaches thought the other team was the favorite behind their superstars. But both agreed that they aren't sure what to expect.
"I could see a low scoring game with the great defenses, but I could also see both teams running up and down the field. We need a lower scoring game to win this thing," Wood said.
"We're going to have to score a bunch to win. It could go either way but a low scoring game for us would not be good. We're going to have to put up some points to win," McWhorter said.
Put your running shoes on. It should be fun.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/12/166897