Ashely is in the top five percent of her class (400+ students) at one of the highest achieving high school in Georgia and the nation.  She has received a letter recommendation in the National Merit Scholarship Competition.  In a new program at Pope that recognizes students a 4.0 grade point aver or higher, she received the Academic Letter award.  Ashley was on of twenty seniors recognized by pope teachers at the fall Who's Who Ceremony, which honors extraordinary senior students.  Ashley will graduate with a 4.37 GPA and attend the University of Georgia.

Ashely has excelled on the trails and track for four years.  As a cross country and distance track runner, she has received multiple All-County and All-Region honors.  She was region cross country champion as sophomore and finished in the top five at the state meet.  Later that year, she helped the girls track team to a state runner-up finish with superb performances in the 1600 and 3200 races.  She was captain of the cross country team as a senior along with being voted Most Valuable Runner.  Ashley not only is an excellent student and citizen, she is a strong contributor on very competitive Pope cross country and track teams.

Ashely excels in her efforts to give back to the Pope community.  Her involvement at Pope is second-to-none as she serves as senior class Vice President, is a member of the National Honors Society and the English National Honor Society, is a member of the Key Club, and a Pope Ambassador, who serve guests during Pope events.  She has also been a leader in the orchestra and participated in Pope SWAG (Shop with a greyhound) to benefit less fortunate children at Christmas.  Finally, she combined her love for running with citizenry by coaching a local Girls on the Run program and mentoring young girls with their running.  Ashely has grown into a model citizen in the Pope High School community.

 

"I know why Mickey left for Clemson.  Clemson has an easier schedule this year"

....incoming Grayson Coach Jeff Herron on why his predecessor Mickey Conn  went to join the Clemson staff.

Mickey Conn built the Grayson High School football program from scratch.   Beginning in 2000, Conn coached the Rams to a 137-48 record and a state championship in 2011 before heading off to join his former University of Alabama roommate Dabo Swinney at the University of Clemson.

But do not worry about the future of the Grayson football program.  Athletic Director Brian DeBerry has hired a Georgia high school legend to take over for the outgoing Georgia high school legend.

Jeff Herron is the new Ram's coach and Jeff's pedigree and resume are  second to none.  He has coached in Georgia for 26 seasons, winning 273 games, while losing just 51 and compiling an outstanding winning percentage of .843.  Add in that he has won four state championships, in 1999 at Oconee County and three with Camden County in 2003-2008 and 2009. The last three seasons he has coached Prince Avenue Christian to a 31-6 record.

"There was nothing wrong at Prince Avenue Christian. I am glad I came here.  But the competitor in me wanted to compete at the top level. It is a great situation at Grayson.  Mickey Conn did a great job for a lot of years and it was too good to pass up, I did not want to pass it up". Read more...

 

More Georgia high school teams will win state titles and make the playoffs in the coming years thanks to the addition of a seventh classification and the public/private split in Class A.

The Georgia High School Association doesn't want to pour cold water on the trend, but executive director Gary Phillips is calling for practicality ahead of Monday's GHSA executive committee meeting in Macon as his office deals with increasing logistical challenges of staging playoffs in 23 sports.

Several proposals before the executive committee address the issue of how many state champions and playoff teams are enough.

"Somewhere in the span of four years, we've gone from five state championships to eight in most sports,'' Phillips said. "That's a fast change. The number of our member schools hasn't really increased that much. If you look at it and are familiar with our operations, you can see the impact that seven classifications and eight championships can have.''

In Class A, there is a proposal from Region 4 to increase the number of state-playoff teams in the lowest classification to 64 (32 public and 32 private). In football, for example, that would bring to 256 the number of playoff teams in all classes, more than 60 percent of the 420 football-playing schools. Read more...

Related
Marietta Daily Journal

 

A prospective school board member in Clark County, Nev., is running on a platform to take football out of the district's high schools. The Clark County School Board, which includes Las Vegas, is the fifth-largest of its kind in the nation, and would be the first of its kind to take football out of schools.

Russell Davis, a veteran of the Nevada political scene, has forwarded the argument on the basis that football falls under the same umbrella as sex, tobacco and military service - that minors do not have the faculties to make that decision for themselves. Davis says he's not anti-football; he just wants it out of schools.

"This decision doesn't come lightly because I am a fan of football," Davis told USA Today. "High school football in the small town in Nevada where I grew up was the biggest thing to do on a Friday night. It pains me, but I believe it's the right thing to do.

"I believe the human brain is not designed to play football. The brain does not have an airbag between the brain and the skull. There is no equipment to protect the brain and especially the developing brain."

He has also called for removing headers from soccer and installing strict concussion training and protocol. For instance, he would ban Clark County schools from competing against private schools or public schools outside the district that do not employ the same protocol he advocates.

Davis has worked to arrange meetings between Clark County officials and the Dave Duerson Athletic Safety Fund to supply each school with $973,000 to purchase Concussion Goggles, which simulate the symptoms of the concussion. The Duerson Fund, it's worth noting, does not advocate banning minors from football. Read more...

 

We are all Johnny Football.

I could hear your indignation as you read that, but let me explain.

First, I am a former professional football coach who has seen the game at three levels - high school, college and the National Football League. And I currently teach a university class that includes most of the freshmen student-athletes. In that class, I preach the same thing that I once preached to players at the professional level: personal responsibility.

Johnny Manziel was recently indicted on domestic violence charges, and let me be clear, if Manziel is found guilty of the misdemeanor assault charge that was just levied by a Dallas grand jury, then he deserves the full weight of the law.

But this unfortunate saga is like a Greek tragedy that we have witnessed before. If Manziel plays the role of Icarus (who didn't heed his father's warning) and the Earth represents reality, then we - the fans of this sport - are the sun.

We have created a toxic environment that strips premiere athletes of perspective and accountability. We want our touchdowns, and we want them now. We crave wins and despise loses. What we have deemed soft skills, the ability to cope with adversity, empathize and lead with integrity, is now second on our depth chart for life.

Consider this: Of the 10 largest stadiums in the world, eight are American college football stadiums. The combined capacity of those stadiums stands at roughly 830,000. Rest assured, we will top the 1 million mark as rival schools continue to double down in the infinite game of "construction dare." And the schools have the money to do it - the 128 teams of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) have a combined value of $20 billion.

These holy sites serve as a home to our irrational exuberance. Unfortunately, they are also the trading floor for lucrative capital markets also known as college football. Read more...