Year-in and year-out, the state of Georgia produces talented football players who are able to play beyond their high school days. The intense competition within Georgia high school football is what makes it one of the top states in the country in terms of the quality of the talent, week-to-week matchups, and production of players moving onto the next level.
This season, it’s more of the same as some of the top talent in the country in college football are Georgia-natives. Whether they are seasoned veterans or first-year starters, the state repeatedly generates some of the best players in the country. As the 2024 college football season is now underway with Week 0 kicking off last week, the question needs to be asked: Who are the top current college football players from Georgia?
The full list is at the bottom of the file.
The All-Georgia team quarterback, Max Johnson is a graduate student who has played college football at LSU and Texas A&M prior to arriving at UNC. Johnson is joining the Tar Heels as their starting quarterback after spending two seasons each with the Tigers and the Aggies. The graduate student has a 17-13 record in games he has seen action in throughout his four years of SEC football experience. Johnson has seen plenty of opportunity at both schools, starting in 22 games total and appearing in 30 throughout his career. He has has displayed that he is more than capable of commanding a Power 4 offense at two prominent schools and looks to put his ability on display in a new offense in Chapel Hill. At Oconee, Johnson led the team to a 4A state title appearance and threw for 5,140 yards, 47 passing touchdowns along with 289 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns during his career with the Warriors.
The running backs for the All-Georgia offense are stout.
The duo of former Buford Wolves 5-star Alabama sophomore Justice Haynes and former Grayson Rams standout, Clemson senior Phil Mafah provide a powerful pairing that would give opposing defenses fits. In his second year with the Crimson Tide, Haynes will see a much higher volume of touches than a season ago as his role within the Alabama offense will expand drastically. The second-year back has earned his opportunity as a top option in Alabama’s backfield along with Jam Miller due to his strong display as an effective runner in his short time on the field a season ago as a freshman. Haynes transferred from Blessed Trinity to Buford for his senior season and rushed for 7,574 yards (sixth-highest in GHSA history) and scored 95 touchdowns (10th-highest in GHSA history) while playing high school football.
Mafah is entering his first season as the work-horse for the Clemson offense after the departure of Will Shipley to the NFL. At 6-foot-1, 230-pounds Mafah is tough to tackle in open space with his large stature and violent running attack. The senior-running back played three years at Grayson, rushing for 2,526 yards, 37 touchdowns and averaged 8.8 yards a carry during his tenure with the Rams.
The pass catchers for the All-Georgia team feature some of the top-talent in the country in former-Buford wideout, Texas receiver Isaiah Bond and former Collins Hill, now Colorado two-way star, Travis Hunter. Both Bond and Hunter played vital roles for their teams a season ago with Hunter playing on both sides of the ball for the Buff’s. Bond was a member of the Alabama football program last season before transferring to Texas after Nick Saban’s retirement. Bond played in 27 games for the Crimson Tide accumulating 888 yards and five touchdowns in his last two seasons, including the game-winning touchdown in the Iron Bowl against Auburn to lift the Crimson Tide over the Tigers. The junior averaged over 13 yards per reception a year ago and proved himself to be a big play threat.
Hunter is regarded as one of the most electrifying players in the country due to his versatile skill-set playing on both sides of the ball. Offensively, Hunter is more than capable of handling responsibilities as a No. 1 receiver on a roster, finishing with 57 catches for 721 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 80.1 yards per game through the air. The versatility of Hunter is displayed through his snap count, accounting for 1,102 snaps last season (475 on offense and 631 on defense) over nine games. In high school, Hunter was cemented as the No.1 player in the Class of 2022 because of his multi-talented skill set playing on both sides of the ball. At Collins Hill, Hunter accumulated over 3,600 yards receiving and 46 touchdowns on offense to go along with 19 interceptions on defense, excelling everywhere on the field.
The rest of the pass-catchers include Georgia Tech wideout Eric Singleton Jr., Georgia tight end and West Forsyth product, Oscar Delp, who looks to replace Brock Bowers in the Bulldogs offense and UNC tight end, Jake Johnson, the younger brother of Max Johnson as they both transferred from Texas A&M to UNC.
The men in the trenches in the All-Georgia offensive line features four experienced, proven lineman around the country and the only freshman featured on the team. The group is anchored by a pair of Georgia Bulldogs interior lineman in Tate Ratledge and Dylan Fairchild on the inside along with Georgia Tech’s Joe Fusile to round out the inside of the offensive line. Auburn sophomore Connor Lew and Notre Dame freshman Anthonie Knapp round out the line as the tackles for the All-Georgia team. Combined, the average size of the All-Georgia offensive line stands around 6-foot-4, 309-pounds, each creating problems for anyone lining up across from them.
On the defensive side of the ball, the front four, headlined by Georgia’s Mykel Williams and Alabama’s LT Overton would cause mayhem for opposing offenses. Both Williams and Overton were both 5-star prospects out of high school with Williams out of Hardaway and Overton out of Milton. Overton transferred to the Crimson Tide from Texas A&M and is looking to be a force on Alabama’s defensive front this season, having already shown flashes with the Aggies. Williams has caused chaos for offenses around the SEC since his arrival and is at the top of multiple 2025 NFL Mock Drafts as being one of the first players selected when his time comes. The rest of the defensive line consists of former Columbia defensive tackle and current-Georgia Bulldog, Nazir Stackhouse and Colorado’s BJ Green II who attended McEachern.
Linebackers are one of the strongest position groups high school football the state of Georgia has produced. Players like Clemson’s Barrett Carter (North Gwinnett) and Georgia’s Smael Mondon Jr. (Paulding County) are two of the top linebackers in the country and have represented the state well in the national spotlight. Both were heavily recruited 5-stars in high school with offers from major college programs and have taken their game to new heights in the college ranks.
Though he is already a part of the offensive unit, it’s hard to look past Hunter as being one of the top, if not the best defensive backs from Georgia in college football. As much of a threat as he is at receiver, Hunter is just as effective as a corner, matching up against opposing offenses’ best receivers. Along with Hunter, Ohio State’s Jordan Hancock (North Gwinnett) and Clemson’s Aveion Terrell (Westlake), brother of Atlanta Falcons cornerback, AJ Terrell, provide steady options at a very important part of the defense. As a freshman last season, Terrell recorded 19 total tackles and an interception across 13 games showing his potential and becoming one of the Tigers’ top corners.
The backend of the defense features two no-brainer selections at safety in Georgia’s Malaki Starks (Jefferson) and former Alabama, now Ohio State safety Caleb Downs (Mill Creek). Starks and Downs have been selected as preseason All-Americans on multiple major media outlets as the two have done nothing but consistently remain a problem for any offense they go up against. Both safeties started immediately as freshmen in their college careers and have continued to evolve into future-first round picks in the NFL after college. As a freshman last season, Downs won multiple awards such as SEC Freshman of the Year and the Shaun Alexander National Freshman of the Year. The Hoschton-native led Alabama in tackles with 107 total and two interceptions. Starks followed up his stellar freshman season a year ago by becoming a First Team All-American and was a semifinalist for major awards such as the Nagurski and the Jim Thorpe Awards. Both safeties will be at the top of NFL teams draft boards when it’s their time to declare.
Rounding out the All-Georgia team are the specialists with Florida State-kicker Ryan Fitzgerald (Colquitt County) and UNLV-punter Marshall Nichols (Holy Innocents Episcopal). Fitzgerald’s season has already begun in Ireland with the Seminoles losing a heartbreaker to Georgia Tech, but the Coolidge-native knocked through two field goals from over 50-yards to contribute some scoring for Florida State.
Although there are plenty of options at each position group, here are the players that make up the 2024 All-Georgia Preseason Team for this upcoming college football season:
OFFENSE:
QB: Max Johnson, UNC (Oconee County)
RB: Justice Haynes, Alabama (Buford)
RB: Phil Mafah, Clemson (Grayson)
WR: Isaiah Bond, Texas (Buford)
WR: Travis Hunter, Colorado (Collins Hill)
WR: Eric Singleton, Georgia Tech (Alexander)
TE: Oscar Delp, Georgia (West Forsyth)
TE: Jake Johnson, UNC (Oconee County)
OL: Connor Lew, Auburn (Kennesaw Mountain)
OL: Anthonie Knapp, Notre Dame (Roswell)
OL: Tate Ratledge, Georgia (Darlington)
OL: Dylan Fairchild, Georgia (West Forsyth)
OL: Joe Fusile, Georgia Tech (Richmond Hill)
DEFENSE:
DE: Mykel Williams, Georgia (Hardaway)
DE: LT Overton, Alabama (Milton)
DT: Nazir Stackhouse, Georgia (Columbia)
DT: BJ Green II, Colorado (McEachern)
LB: Barrett Carter, Clemson (North Gwinnett)
LB: Jared Ivey, Ole Miss (North Gwinnett)
LB: Smael Mondon Jr., Georgia (Paulding County)
CB: Travis Hunter, Colorado (Collins Hill)
CB: Jordan Hancock, Ohio State (North Gwinnett)
CB: Aveion Terrell, Clemson (Westlake)
S: Caleb Downs, Ohio State (Mill Creek)
S: Malaki Starks, Georgia (Jefferson)
SPECIAL TEAMS:
K: Ryan Fitzgerald, Florida State (Colquitt County)
P: Marshall Nichols, UNLV (Holy Innocents Episcopal)
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