With our 2024 season now behind us, we look back at our officially published Preseason Predictions. Many of these naturally were way off, but some were spot on.

OFFENSIVE PREDICTED LEADERS

• Passing Yards – Ty Truelove (Rabun County)
  • ACTUAL – Tripp Nix – White County – 2,298 yds
    • VERDICT – Truelove was hurt in the first game (as was Nix), though the Rabun QB missed several games, which hurt his chances. Here. Nix led Class 3A in the regular season in passing yards.
• Passing TD – Tripp Nix (White County)
  • ACTUAL – Tripp Underwood (Stephens) & Paris Wilbanks (Habersham) – 22 TD
    • VERDICT – Nix has his fewest TD passes in a season (9), tying his sophomore year total. Underwood put up a career-high (22), surpassing his 13 of last year. Habersham’s Paris Wilbanks (22) notched all his TD passes in the regular season.
• QB Total Yards Pass+Rush – Cal Faulkner (Lumpkin County)
  • ACTUAL – Paris Wilbanks – Habersham – 2,854 yds
    • VERDICT – Wilbanks didn’t even start til the 3rd game, yet had 2,854 yards. Right behind him was Tripp Nix (2,821). Faulkner ended with 1,927.
• QB Total TD – Tripp Nix (White County)
  • ACTUAL – Gavin Markey – Jefferson – 29 TD
    • VERDICT – Markey was unbelievable as a dual threat this year with the most TDs (29). Wilbanks (above) had 28, and Faulkner did have 21. We weren’t too far off here.
• QB TD:INT Ratio – Cal Faulkner (Lumpkin County)
  • ACTUAL – Cal Faulkner (5:1) was correct.
    • VERDICT- He threw 10 TD against just 2 picks, having the best ratio among our local QBs. We were right!
• Rushing Yards – Jaiden Daniels (Commerce)
  • ACTUAL – Tysean Wiggins (1,579)
    • VERDICT: Wiggins wins this one, and often led the state in Class 1A DI. Same team, so does that mean we were close? Jacari Huff (1,004) and Daniels (813) made for a huge number combined. But Daniels was limited coming off an ankle surgery, and made the selfless move to QB to do what was best for the team. Reid Giles (1,348) was right behind Wiggins, and Nolan Matthews (1,270) and Connor Schuknecht (1,124) were too.
• Rushing TD – Jaiden Daniels (Commerce)
  • ACTUAL – Tysean Wiggins (17)
    • VERDICT: See above for Daniels’ lower numbers this year. Wiggins (17 TD), Huff (15), Reid Giles (16), Nolan Matthews (14), Lake Evans (13), Dustin Barrett (12), and Antonio Cantrell (12) all had a dozen or more. Daniels finished with 9.
• RB Total Yards Rush+Receiving – Javin Gordon (Stephens County)
  • ACTUAL – Reid Giles (1,741)
    • VERDICT: He had 1,348 rushing and 393 receiving. For any running back that had at least 150 receiving yards, it was Giles then Gordon (1,359)
• RB Total TD – Jaiden Daniels (Commerce)
  • ACTUAL – Tysean Wiggins, Javin Gordon, and Reid Giles (18 each)
    • VERDICT: If you count other forms of TDs (kick/punt returns), Gordon and Giles both had 19 total TD.
• Yards Per Carry – Reid Giles (Rabun County)
  • ACTUAL – Reid Giles (7.7)
    • VERDICT: Though Jefferson’s Gavin Markey (7.9) was higher, he’s a non-RB, so it doesn’t fit this list. Teammate Rett Hemphill (7.8) was 0.1 higher than Giles, but only on 42 carries.
• Receiving Yards – Zeke Whittington (Habersham Central)
  • ACTUAL – Zeke Whittington (978)
    • VERDICT: Exactly right. Not even close to being in question.
• Receiving TD – Gaines Clark (White County)
  • ACTUAL – Zeke Whittington (13)
    • VERDICT: Clark only had 1 receiving TD. We were way off, though Zeke’s 13 was just 3 less than the other 3 years combined in his career.
• Receptions – Zeke Whittington (Habersham Central)
  • ACTUAL – Zeke Whittington (74)
    • VERDICT – Correct again on this prediction. Maddox Young (60) was the next closest.
• Yards Per Reception – Zeke Whittington (Habersham Central)
  • ACTUAL – Talan Childress (21.5)
    • VERDICT – With receivers of more than 20 catches, no one had a higher average than Childress. Jonah Swinton (17.9) and Chantam Burnett (17.0) were kind of close close, and Jake Payne (21.5) would have possibly won if he had more than his 13 receptions. Whittington had a 13.2 average.

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DEFENSIVE PREDICTED LEADERS

• Tackles – Jon Scott (White County)
  • ACTUAL – Jon Scott & Brock Tankersley (141)
    • VERDICT – Technically, Tank will win with still at least one more game to play. Scott got 141 in only 10 games with no playoff appearance for White Co.
• Sacks – Kelan Butler (Jefferson)
  • ACTUAL – Kelan Butler, Connor Holtzclaw & Kamari McCarter (5 Sacks)
    • VERDICT – Correct on this one!
• Interceptions – Caden Watson (Banks County) and Davon Swinton (Stephens County)
  • ACTUAL – 5 Players tied (4); Dustin Barrett, Cal Faulkner, Rett Hemphill, Ty Sorrells, Jonah Swinton
    • VERDICT – Several with 4 INTs, and at least the other Swinton brother means we were kind of right here.

KICKING PREDICTED LEADERS

Hard to predict, but some of the top local kickers back after solid seasons include Taylor McCall (Jefferson JR), Hayden Vandegriff (White SR), and Luke Waters (Stephens SR).

Josue Nieto (Lumpkin County) is one that got his feet wet last season as the backup. Banks, Habersham, Union, Rabun, Commerce, and Dawson will feature an all-new kicker with no Friday night experience kicking PATs or FGs, so those are just unknown at this time.

• Longest FG – Hayden Vandegriff (White County)
  • ACTUAL – Camden Meads (46)
    • VERDICT – Vandegriff’s long was 39. Not bad, but Camden Meads’ 46-yd boot was the standard!
• Most PATS – Taylor McCall (Jefferson)
  • ACTUAL – Taylor McCall (51/51)
    • VERDICT – Exactly right here, and he was perfect at 51/51!
• Most FGs – Luke Waters (Stephens County)
  • ACTUAL – Jacob Felkai & Taylor McCall (7)
    • VERDICT – Waters had 5 FG, so not far off.
• Best FG % – Luke Waters (Stephens County)
  • ACTUAL – Felkai & McCall (7/8)
    • VERDICT – That’s 88%. Waters (5/6) was 83%, so it was very close to being exactly right!
• Most Points (FG+PAT) – Hayden Vandegriff (White County)
  • ACTUAL – Taylor McCall (72)
    • McCall had 72 pts, and Vandegriff (45) far behind.

TEAM PREDICTED LEADERS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Offensive Points Scored (Most) – Lumpkin County & Jefferson
  • ACTUAL – Jefferson (378)
• Defensive Points Allowed (Fewest) – Jefferson
  • ACTUAL – Jefferson (176)
• Turnovers Created – Stephens County
  • ACTUAL – Rabun County (23)
• Shutouts – Jefferson
  • ACTUAL – Dawson County (2)
• Biggest Turnaround – Dawson County (2 wins last year to 5-6 wins)
  • ACTUAL – Towns County (0 wins to 5 wins)
• Team Wins (Most) – Tie: Jefferson, Commerce, Lumpkin County
  • ACTUAL – Jefferson & Commerce (8)
• Region Champions – Jefferson, Lumpkin County, Commerce
  • ACTUAL – Jefferson
• State Second Round or Deeper – Jefferson, Lumpkin County, Stephens County, Rabun County, Commerce
  • ACTUAL – Jefferson, Stephens, Commerce
• State Playoffs – Habersham Central, Jefferson, Stephens County, Dawson County, Lumpkin County, White County, Rabun County, Union County, Commerce
  • ACTUAL – Commerce, Habersham, Jefferson, Lumpkin, Rabun, Stephens, Union
• Best Games: Stephens County vs Elbert County (WK 2), Jefferson vs Stephens County (WK 4), Lumpkin County vs GAC (WK 5), Commerce vs Rabun County (WK 8), White County vs Lumpkin County (WK 9), Rabun County vs Elbert County (WK 12)
  • ACTUAL: These were all great games!! The Commerce/Rabun was probably the most intense (42-38 Commerce)

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