The 2022 season is just about ready for kickoff, as most teams are getting in their final tune-ups with an August 12 scrimmage. State preseason polls have been released by multiple outlets, and feature a few of our local programs.

Rabun County tops the list with a #3-state ranking in the Maxwell poll, while the Wildcats show up at #7 in the MaxPreps poll as well in Class 1A Division I. Jefferson shows up in both polls as well. The Dragons come in ranked #6 in the Maxwell poll and #7 in the MaxPreps preseason poll for Class 5A. Both Rabun (moving down) and Jefferson (up) are in new regions this year.

Lastly, the Stephens County Indians came in at #10 in the Maxpreps poll for Class 3A. What about for the rest? Maxpreps has all teams in each classification in a ranking, so even though the trio of Rabun, Jefferson, and Stephens are the only ones that cracked the top 10, the following are ranked accordingly:

• Class 1A DI – Rabun County (#3/#7 Maxpreps), Commerce (#25)
• Class 1A D2 – Towns County (#35)
• Class 2A – Banks County (#35), Union County (#46)
• Class 3A – Stephens County (#10), White County (#19), Dawson County (#27)
• Class 5A – Jefferson (#6/#7 Maxpreps)
• Class 6A – Habersham Central (#32)