There’s never been a team like the 2016 Grayson Rams and you get to see them for yourselves Friday night on GPB when they host the Archer Tigers. There’s never been a team like them and there’s plenty of people in the state who hope there will NEVER be another team like them again. The Rams might win the state championship this year. There are a lot of people pulling against them.

It’s because of the transfers! There I said it. I said the dirty word. This is not a situation unique in Georgia. Many teams have transfers…some of them are star players…difference-makers. It’s just the HIGH volume of transfers that landed at Grayson this past off-season that caught everybody’s attention and led to so much controversy and debate. These transfers have created, if you will, a super-power team of four- and five-star recruits, the likes of which has rarely been seen.

Grayson was already good. The Rams went 13-1 last season and just missed playing in the state championship game when Roswell beat them in the semi-finals in the final seconds. Led by ESPN four-star QB Chase Brice, who is committed to Clemson, the Rams were expected to be state championship contenders again in 2016.

And that was before all the transfers. ESPN 5-star Deangelo Williams, the number two rated athlete in the country, transferred from Peachtree Ridge as did 4-star Breon Dixon, the number eight ranked outside linebacker in the nation. Four-star Jamyest Williams, the fourth-ranked cornerback in the nation, left Archer (the Rams opponent Friday night). Four-star Tony Gray, the nation’s number 11 offense tackle arrived from Central Gwinnett. Three-star running back Kurt Taylor, who is committed to Michigan, transferred from Newton. Sophomore sensation Tru Thompson, a young defensive lineman who is already offered by Florida State, came from Griffin.

I think you get the picture. I think you can see why opposing teams are upset. There have been calls for the GHSA to reform the transfer rules. It’s a complex issue. Some critics have argued that transfers should have to sit-out a season before being eligible. But this isn’t college football. There aren’t any redshirt seasons. You only get one junior season. You only get one senior season.

If a young man or woman moves from one school district to another, they are required to go to the school in the area in which they have moved. That applies to all students, whether they play sports or not. Furthermore, students don’t move by themselves. There are adults behind these decisions in one way or another. I’m not exactly sure what the GHSA can do about it or quite frankly if anything NEEDS to be done about it. Assuming that all the Grayson transfers moved into that school district, and I’m sure all that’s been checked out, then they should be allowed to participate in all school activities whether they’ve lived in the school district six weeks or 16 years.

All that said, from a football standpoint, it’ll be interesting to see this team in person. Having so many star players can be both a blessing and a curse. As Grayson’s new coach Jeff Herron pointed out, “we have so many weapons and just one football.” It’s a blessing if you can get your team to play together, for each other and on the same page, whether you are loaded with talent or not. Sometimes it is more difficult to get star players to play together because they, even more so than others, often have to sacrifice individual glory for team glory. Not all players can do that and it takes a special coach to be able to get a team to do it (again regardless of talent level).

Grayson’s situation this season was going to be tough enough for Herron as it was with 16-year head coach Mickey Conn (the only coach the program had ever had) leaving to join his friend Dabo Swinney’s staff at Clemson. Throw in the transfer controversy and Herron, who’s coached four state championship teams in his career, says he’s never experienced anything like this before. This team, right or wrong, has a target on its back, on and off the field.

So it should be interesting this Friday night on GPB when the Rams welcome Archer to Grayson. We saw the Tigers a month ago when they lost at Norcross. They were just getting injured quarterback Dillon Waye back in the mix. With Friday’s game against Grayson, Archer will have played the top five ranked teams in the state’s AAAAAAA classification in their first seven games of the season. Don’t let the Tigers 2-4 record fool you. This is a good team. A team that is getting better having lived-out the adage schedule-wise, “that what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” We’ll see if that’s true Friday night when the Tigers add the Rams to that gauntlet.

Here’s the unbelievable list of college prospects playing on GPB this Friday night:

Grayson

Deangelo Gibbs - ESPN 5-Star - #2 Athlete in the nation - #10 Player overall in the country - #1 ranked player in Georgia - 33 Offers - Georgia and Tennessee are his leaders
Jamyest Williams - ESPN 4-Star - #4 CB in the nation - #37 player overall - Committed to South Carolina
Tony Gray – ESPN 4-Star - #11 OT in the nation - #8 player in Georgia – 32 offers with Georgia and Kentucky considered his leaders
Breon Dixon - ESPN 4-Star - #8 OLB - 25 offers including Georgia, Michigan and Miami
Chase Brice - ESPN 4-Star - #14 Pocket Passer QB in the nation - Committed to Clemson
Will Taylor - ESPN 3-Star - #11 ranked Center in the nation - Committed to Duke
Kurt Taylor - ESPN 3-star RB - Committed to Michigan
Ellison Hubbard - ESPN 3-Star DT - 16 Offers - Wake Forest, Boston College, Minnesota and Rutgers are his leaders
Jalen Jackson - ESPN 3-Star OG - 17 Offers including West Virginia, Wake Forest and Illinois
Aaron Brawley - OLB - Offered by Georgia State and Eastern Kentucky
Demetrius Murray - CB - Committed to Fresno State
Elijah Shah - WR - Offered by Clemson
Eugene Mafah - ILB - Offered by Jacksonville State
Jaquavius Lane – Junior Athlete - Offered by Syracuse
Owen Pappoe – Sophomore OLB - 33 Offers - Georgia, Bama, Tennessee, Auburn his leaders
Kenyatta Watson – Sophomore Safety - 8 Offers - Tennessee and Nebraska are his leaders
Tru Thompson – Sophomore DT - 3 Offers - Florida State is his leader

Archer

Junior Taiyon Palmer - CB - Committed to Duke
Senior Quinn Miller - LB - Offered by UCF, Cincinnati and Mercer
Senior Sam Wright - DT - Offered by Duke
Sophomore Jalyn Phillips - RB - Offered by South Carolina