The 2019 GHSA football season is less than four weeks away from its kickoff and the excitement in Gwinnett County is already ramping up. Coaches and players from the county’s 19 public high schools celebrated the year ahead at 12 Stones Church on Thursday and Gwinnett’s gridiron pride was on full display.
Copies of Ernie Johnson’s Unscripted and Tony Dungy’s The Soul of a Team were given to everyone in attendance and former Brookwood High School standout Rennie Curran delivered an inspiring speech as the event’s keynote speaker. Curran, who went on to play at the University of Georgia and with the Tennessee Titans after his varsity playing days, spoke about how much Gwinnett County football continues to mean to him.
The first wave of teams that came through included Archer, Brookwood, Dacula, Duluth, Lanier, Meadowcreek, Mountain View, Norcross, Parkview and Peachtree Ridge. Lanier head coach Korey Mobbs spoke about the challenges of replacing a group of graduates from this past season, which included quarterback and Texas A&M signee Zach Calzada, but was confident in his 2019 team. This group of Longhorns features senior Phillip Webb—the fourth-highest rated outside linebacker in the nation. Webb is also the highest-rated player from Gwinnett County entering the 2019 season according to 247sports’ composite rankings.
Following the lunch break, the counties other nine teams arrived. This included Berkmar, Central Gwinnett, Collins Hill, Discovery, Grayson, Mill Creek, North Gwinnett, Shiloh and South Gwinnett.
North Gwinnett’s 2017 capturing of the Class AAAAAAA state championship makes the Bulldogs the most recent program out of the county to take home a state championship. While last year’s season ended in a disappointing loss to Colquitt County in the state quarterfinals, North Gwinnett will be opening this season ready to turn the page with a rematch against the Packers at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Aug. 24. The Bulldogs have tremendous talent on this year’s roster, including senior receiver Josh Downs and junior linebacker Barrett Carter.
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