303-yard game moves Jones to top

Walton running back Tyren Jones used a 300-yard rushing

Jones

New to the POY Watch this week are junior quarterbacks Deshaun Watson of Gainesville and Malcolm Parrish of Brooks County. Out are Cedar Grove quarterback Johnathon McCrary and Eagle's Landing Christian running back and linebacker Keyante Green.

Expect more movement next Wednesday as most of our top 10 players are playing their season openers this week. 

1. RB Tyren Jones, Walton: Jones rushed for 303 yards and five touchdowns on 30 carries in a 35-24 victory against Brookwood. Jones, who has committed to Alabama, led the state with 2,375 yards rushing last season. Walton is ranked No. 3 in Class AAAAAA.

2. DL Robert Nkemdiche, Grayson: Nkemdiche rushed for 51 yards on seven carries, scored a touchdown and had four tackles in a 31-12 victory over McEachern. Nkemdiche, who is committed to Clemson, was the all-classification player of the year in 2011 when he scored 18 touchdowns and had 17 sacks for a state championship team. Grayson is ranked No. 1 in Class AAAAAA.

3. HB/DB J.J. Green, Camden County: Green rushed for 88 yards on eight carries, caught three passes for 38 yards, scored a touchdown, forced a fumble and made two tackles in a 42-0 victory over Peachtree Ridge. Camden County is ranked No. 2 in AAAAAA.

4. QB Eddie Printz, Lassiter: Printz's first game is Friday against Hillgrove. Printz passed for 3,350 yards in 2011 for a team that reached the state semifinals. He is committed to UCLA. Lassiter is ranked No. 4 in Class AAAAAA.

5. QB Taylor Lamb, Calhoun: Lamb's first game is Friday against Ridgeland. A South Alabama recruit, Lamb led the state with 3,638 yards passing for the Class AA championship team in 2011. Calhoun is ranked No. 1 in Class AA.

6. WR Demarcus Robinson, Peach County: Robinson's first game is Friday at Perry. Robinson, committed to Clemson, had 1,027 yards receiving in 2011 for a team that reached the state finals. Peach County is ranked No. 1 in Class AAA.

7. QB Joshua Dobbs, Alpharetta: Dobbs' first game is Friday against Milton. Dobbs threw for 3,113 yards last season for a team that won its region. Alpharetta is ranked No. 9 in Class AAAAAA.

8. DL Montravius Adams, Dooly County: Adams' first game is Friday at Macon County. The consensus No. 2 recruit in Georgia and the nation's No. 1 defensive tackle, Adams had more than 20 sacks and 40 tackles for losses in 2011.

9. QB Deshaun Watson, Gainesville: Watson's first game is Thursday against West Forsyth. In 2011, Watson, a junior and a three-year starter, was 230-of-379 passing for 3,251 yards and 41 touchdowns for a team that reached the state semifinals. He also rushed for 1,073 yards. Gainesville is ranked No. 8 in Class AAAAA.

10. QB Malcolm Parrish, Brooks County: Parrish, a junior and a three-year starter, was 15-of-22 passing for 198 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 150 yards and two scores in a 43-3 victory over Clinch County. Parrish played only 2.5 quarters. Parrish passed for 1,504 yards and rushed for 1,056 yards last season. Brooks County is ranked No. 3 in AA.

Georgia has had 10 national champs 

Grayson, ranked No. 1 by ESPN, is seeking to become the 11th Georgia team to be recognized as a national football champion.

Here are the 10 Georgia teams that have won national titles:

1962 Valdosta

1969 Valdosta

1971 Valdosta

1974 Thomasville

1976 Warner Robins

1981 Warner Robins

1984 Valdosta

1986 Valdosta

1991 LaGrange

1992 Valdosta

Here are 10 more that perhaps should have been national champions:

*1940 Boys: The Purple Hurricanes of Shorty Doyal won nine state titles in the Great Depression-World War II era, playing top programs from all over the South. The '40 team allowed only two points all season and beat Miami High 13-0 in the Orange Bowl to finish 10-0. The team's best player was Clint Castleberry. Two years later, he was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy at Georgia Tech. Massillon of Ohio, coached by Paul Brown, was the Sports News Service's choice as 1940 national champion. Boys, an Atlanta school housed at what is now Grady High, closed in 1947.

*1972 Lakeside: Valdosta's 1971 team won a national championship and is considered by many to be the best team in Georgia history, but Lakeside of DeKalb County won state titles on either side of that Valdosta team and went 36-1 from 1970 to 1972 under Hall of Fame coach Wayman Creel. Nine players off the '72 team (14-0) signed to play college football, including star QB Mike Johnson (Georgia Tech). Lakeside finished No. 2 to Bristol, Tenn., in the final 1972 National Sports News Service Poll.

*1973 Southwest Atlanta: Anthony Flanagan (the first African-American QB at Georgia) threw a state-record 31 TD passes for this 13-0 team that wound up No. 2 in the final National Sports News Service poll behind Baylor of Chattanooga. Future NFL player Reggie Wilkes also was on this team, coached by Ted Sparks. This was the first all-black team to win a GHSA state title, and no City of Atlanta team has won one since.

*1973 Thomasville: Thomasville won a national title in 1974. It might've been a guilt award for overlooking the undefeated '73 team. Williams Andrews, later an All-Pro with the Falcons, rushed for more than 1,600 yards for each of coach Jim Hughes' Thomasville state championship teams. The '73 team allowed just 20 points in its first 12 games, then held off Wheeler 40-35 for the title. Thomasville was ranked No. 13 in the final National Sports News Service Poll.

*1975 Americus: The most dominant defensive team in the modern era, Americus set a Georgia record with 13 shutouts on the way to a 14-0 season under coach Alton Shell. Several players went on to play college ball, including LB/WR Makel Harris (Georgia Tech) and OL Matt Braswell (Georgia).  Americus was ranked No. 2 behind Loyola of Los Angeles in the National Sports News Service Poll.

*1985 Clarke Central: Probably the best of Clarke's three state titles (1977, 1979, 1985) under Billy Henderson, the '85 Gladiators had 19 of 24 starters who signed to play college football. Among them were QB Robbie Kamerschen (Stanford), TE Derek Dooley (Virginia) and PK John Kasay (Georgia). Clarke was ranked No. 3 by USA Today and No. 6 in the National Sports News Service Poll.

*2002 Parkview: This Parkview team (15-0) won its third consecutive state title under coach Cecil Flowe and set a state record with 45 straight wins. It was a smash-mouth team anchored by offensive linemen Zeb McKinzey (Georgia), David Overmyer (Florida State) and Brandon Pilgrim (Clemson). Parkview's state champions of this era finished No. 17, No. 20 and No. 2 in USA Today's rankings.

*2003 Camden County: The first of three Camden state champions under Jeff Herron, the '03 team posted nine shutouts and allowed more than one touchdown in a game only once - in a 21-14 victory over Lowndes in the second round of the playoffs. Camden lacked the high-profile recruits or tradition to make a bigger dent nationally and settled for a No. 12 final ranking in USA Today.

*2004 Lowndes: Some will say this isn't Lowndes' best-ever team, but it was the one that went undefeated and beat defending champion Camden County 30-0 in the semifinals. Like Camden in '03, coach Randy McPherson's first Georgia champion was not filled with Division I players, but only Parkview (17-14) in the final came within 14 points of beating Lowndes, which won four state titles from 1999 to 2007. Lowndes was ranked No. 11 in USA Today.

*2007 Northside (Warner Robins): The Eagles' 2007 team ended a 10-year run in which Northside averaged 12.3 victories under Conrad Nix. Star players included QB Marques Ivory, RB Tijuan Green and DL Abry Jones. Northside had won 30 consecutive games and was ranked No. 7, higher than Georgia's AAAAA champion Lowndes, in the final rankings of USA Today and ESPN Rise.

ECI defeated Metter 42-7 in the first Erk Russell Classic last week at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, home of Georgia Southern, the school that Russell led to Division I-AA national titles. Which school did Russell lead to a high school state championship? (Answer Thursday)

Answer to Tuesday's question: Warner Robins coach Bryan Way is the last Georgia head coach to win a state title in his first season at his new school, in 2004. His opponent in the final, Statesboro, also had a new coach in Steve Pennington.

Camden impresses

pollsters with win

Camden County's 42-0 victory over Peachtree Ridge helped earn the Wildcats rankings in USA Today (No. 25) and MaxPreps (No. 23) for the first time this season. Colquitt County fell out of two national polls after an opening loss to North Gwinnett.

Grayson is now in the top eight of all eight major national polls. The CalPreps' computer poll had the Rams at No. 18 to open the season but No. 7 now.

Georgia teams in the national rankings (with last week's ranking in parentheses):

ESPN

1. Grayson (1)

PrepNation

7. Grayson (7)

USA Today

6. Grayson (6)

25. Camden County (NR)

Rivals

5. Grayson (4)

14. Camden County (17)

25. Lassiter (30)

37. Walton (37)

48. Kell (52)

52. Northside, W. Robins (56)

MaxPreps

2. Grayson (2)

23. Camden County (NR)

CalPreps

7. Grayson (18)

56. Walton (N/A)

78. Camden County (N/A)

81. North Gwinnett (N/A)

Scout

3. Grayson (4)

42. Walton (NR)

CNNSI

3. Grayson (3)

16. Camden County (16)

25. Lassiter (25)

Status of Stephenson game remains uncertain

Hurricane Isaac could leave Stephenson without an opponent for its opening game on Saturday.

The Jaguars of DeKalb County were scheduled to play Pine Forest of Pensacola, Fla., at 3 p.m. in the middle game of the National High School Gridiron Challenge at North Gwinnett.

Pine Forest decided to pull out because of the impending storm, and event organizers initially reached out to Lincoln of Tallahassee, Fla., as a replacement. Lincoln, a more formidable opponent that won a state title in 2010, had its game with another Pensacola school canceled.

Ken Manning, chair of the National High School Gridiron Challenge, said he was working into the night Tuesday talking with both Pine Forest and Lincoln in hopes of salvaging something.

"We're still holding out hope that we may yet be able to get the original school [Pine Forest] to come," Manning said. "We're also talking to another school in the same scenario [Lincoln]. Everybody is in limbo. We feel bad for Stephenson. It isn't their fault. The storm has very little impact on us [weather-wise], but it still could affect our weekend [of football]."

The Stephenson-Pine Forest game would've started at 3 p.m. Valdosta plays North Augusta (S.C.) at noon, and North Gwinnett plays A.C. Flora (S.C.) at 6 p.m.

"It's very important to play if we can," Stephenson coach Ron Gartrell said. "We played our scrimmage early, so it would be three weeks if we had to wait until next week. We're tired of beating up on ourselves. At this point, we'd line up against the Falcons if we had to."

*Brooks County QB Malcolm Parrish was 15-of-22 passing for 198 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 150 yards and two scores in a 43-3 victory over Clinch County. Parrish played only 2.5 quarters.

*Hillgrove QB Troy Thompson was 18-of-25 passing for 281 yards and four touchdowns in a 31-15 victory over Westlake.

*North Gwinnett DE Dante Sawyer had 16 tackles, three for losses, forced two fumbles and hurried five passes in a 16-14 victory over Colquitt County.