The biggest celebration of the 2024 Georgia high school football and flag seasons will take place later this year as Score Atlanta announced Thursday a new group of awards, including a Mr. Georgia for football and a Miss. Georgia for flag, both honors coming for the first time in the 128-year history of prep football in the state.
The event will culminate on Saturday, Dec. 14, just three days after the state championships are played. The venue will be named at a later date but Score Atlanta, which hosts the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame at the College Football Hall of Fame in October, says the facility will hold at least 1,000.
The Georgia Athletic Coaches Association, which has more than 9,500 members, will assist Score with the awards which will also honor the eight state football champions as well as the four flag champions.
“It’s a long time coming,’’ said Score Atlanta President I.J. Rosenberg. “It’s a chance to honor the current players and coaches that make Georgia such a hotbed of football and one of the leading states in the fledging and growing sport of flag football. I have never understood why Georgia didn’t have a Mr. Football when so many other states have it and celebrate it. We are not only going to have a Heisman Trophy-type award for football but also for flag.’’
Said GACA executive director Craig Davis, “The mission of the GACA is to serve high school and middle school coaches in Georgia outlined in the Four Mission Pillars of the GACA- Giving Back, Advocacy, Career Development, and Awards. Partnering with Score Atlanta to promote and recognize coaches in Georgia provides another medium to fulfill the mission pillar of ‘Awards’ and serve our membership of almost 10,000 coaches!”
Score and the GACA will combine to name All-State teams in each of the eight classifications in football and the four classifications in flag. There will also be an All-Classification team for both sports as well as a coach of the year for each classification. The event will name an assistant coach of the year for 64 regions in football and 24 areas in flag, among other awards.
“The reason we are doing an assistant coach is because many of the regions are won by the same schools every year and most of the time the recognition is going to go to the head coach,” said Rosenberg. “This gives us a chance to recognize assistant coaches who rarely get the attention they deserve.”
Score Atlanta will promote the awards through its various platforms which include the 11 games of the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic as well as the Great Atlanta Bash and the 14-game Friday night schedule of the Drive for the GHSA State Title, which includes the first four rounds of the playoffs.
“The state championships hit only 16 teams in football and eight teams in flag,” said Rosenberg. “This is a chance to recognize the 415 schools that play football and 247 schools (expected to be more than 300 in 2024) that play flag. This will be Georgia’s ESPYs and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun with a chance to grow like we have done with events like the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic and the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame.”
There will be a television and digital component to the event that involves Peachtree TV, the Peachtree Sports Network and the National Federation High School Network.
Another key component in the awards will be the relationship with the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association. The GACA and Georgia Football Coaches Association recognizes coaches and players at their annual All-State Football Selection Meeting and Luncheon in February, putting out two All-State teams for each classification that are split between North Regions 5-8 and South Regions 1-4.
“The GACA has a tremendous event every February where in attendance will be the coaching staffs of many of the top college football teams in the south,” said Rosenberg. “It is a must attend event. We think adding these awards will only bring more exposure to the players and coaches in Georgia. The GACA and Score Atlanta both have our own all-star games and I think this is a great opportunity for two entities to get together and do something that is really going to be fun.”
Rosenberg added, “In the 20 years of Score Atlanta, I am proud to say we have tried to bring a lot of exposure to all high school sports. I think if this is something that becomes really popular and once we figure out the best way to do it, we will move to basketball and then other sports. The key here is to continue to show just how strong the state of Georgia is in high school athletics.’’
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