National Signing Day: Where 2024 Athens-area high school football players are headed
NOTE: If you are an athlete, coach or parent in the Athens-area who had an athlete who sign during the December football signing period, please email stidwell@gannett.com with the athletes' name and what school they'll be attending This story will be updated as more athletes sign.
Beginning Wednesday, high school seniors were able to sign national letters of intent to play football at the NCAA level. It's an exciting day for the athletes, their families and programs.
Here is a rundown of all of the athletes who have signed during the NCAA football early signing period:
Cedar Shoals
Devin Hester Jr., WR, Furman University
Hester had a stellar career with the Jaguars, racking up 134 receptions for 2,106 yards and 23 touchdowns in four years, completing two carries for 29 yards and a touchdown and recording 918 yards on kick returns and 243 yards on punt returns.
Clarke Central
Nicholas Paul, OL, University of Tennessee Chattanooga
Jefferson
The senior running back/linebacker committed to Clemson before his senior season. He made it official with his signature on the dotted line and is headed to South Carolina after the holidays as an early enrollee to prepare for spring ball.
Brown is a five-star recruit out of Jefferson, where he spent his senior year leading the Dragons to the Georgia High School Association state playoff semifinals. He helped his team to a 13-1 overall record and a 5A-Region 8 championship.
Offensively, he piled up 2,289 yards rushing and 36 touchdowns on 255 carries, completed two passes for 71 yards and a touchdown and had 11 receptions for 202 yards and four touchdowns − 41 total scores.
Defensively, he recorded 153 tackles (80 solo and 12 for loss), one sack, two interceptions, a pass deflected and three blocked punts to earn himself the High School Butkus Award, an award given annually to the nation's top linebacker.
He also punted 23 times, with seven landing inside the 20-yard line and a long of 75 yards.
"It's a joy and a privilege," said Jefferson coach Travis Noland of coaching Brown. "I've been blessed to coach a lot of good players in the past and he's one of the best, if not the best, high school football players I've ever seen. What he has done throughout this playoff run, putting so much on his shoulders and being able to respond the way that he has, it's been amazing, really. It's been a joy and a pleasure and a privilege to be part of his life and have him be part of our program."
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North Oconee
Jack Kelly, TE, Appalachian State
The senior tight end recently changed his commitment to Appalachian State. His original plan was to go to Army Westpoint, but around the end of November, as his high school career ended in the GHSA state playoff quarterfinals with North Oconee, the three-star recruit made the flip.
“There was a couple different things that went into that, but really, mainly, it just wasn’t, I don’t think, the right time for me to go to West Point,” said Kelly, who made his Army verbal pledge in July. “I didn’t think the 10-year opportunity was the right decision for me right now.
"I may do that later in life, the opportunity (to serve) could still (be possible for me). I could always go to ranger school or something like that, if I feel I missed my calling.”
The decision came down to a preferred walk-on at Georgia and a scholarship at Appalachian State. Kelly went with the latter.
"Obviously the full ride is a big thing, being able to go to college for free is always a big thing, but I also built really good relationships with the coaches out at App State," said Kelly. "They were the first ones to recruit me and I absolutely loved the place. I couldn't find very many flaws with it when doing my pros and cons and all that. App State seemed like the place for me."
Kelly is enrolling early to head to Boone, N.C., and preparing for spring ball with the Mountaineers. He had 26 tackles (23 for loss), 10 sacks on defense and 10 catches for 76 yards and 64 pancake blocks on offense, before the Titans' season ending loss to Benedictine.
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Trey Lenhardt, S, Appalachian State
Prince Avenue Christian
There's a lot to say about the Georgia all-time state passing yards leader. In his four years as a Wolverine, he did created a strong-standing legacy in Bogart, Ga.
Philo led his team to back-to-back GHSA A-Division 1 state championship titles with 13,922 passing yards and 159 touchdown passes in his career. He surpassed Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (13,902) and Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton (13,652) in his final performance wearing maize and blue.
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As a senior, the three-star quarterback recruit completed 328 of 469 attempts for 4,596 passing yards and 56 touchdowns. He's also recorded 83 carries for 610 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Earlier this season, he tied the Wolverine's school record for most passing touchdowns in a single game with seven, set in 2020 by head coach Greg Vandagriff's son and former Georgia quarterback Brock Vandagriff, who announced recently that he will be transferring to Kentucky.
"Aaron is a great football player, but he's a better human being," said Prince Avenue offensive coordinator Jon Richt. "I tell that to everybody. He's one of the best kids you can work with, not only because he's really good on the football field, but also the way he carries himself off the football field is impressive. He's a great ambassador for us."
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This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: National Signing Day: Where Athens, Ga. area football players are headed
