South Georgia - In The Game High School Sports Magazine

Josh Harvey-Clemons Lowndes High School Valdosta, Georgia by Robert Preston Jr. photography by Micki K Photography

Head coach Randy McPherson and the Lowndes High Vikings turn out some of the best players in the state each year. The list of football Vikings who have graduated in the last several years reads like a Who’s Who of Georgia high school football players. This year, Lowndes has done it again. Maybe the most highly sought player in the state lines up on both sides of the ball for the Vikings each Friday night, a 6’5”, 220-pound wonder named Josh Harvey-Clemons.

It’s hard to say something about Clemons that hasn’t already been said. All of the recruiting services have covered him to the point that it’s hard to see how he has even had time to go to sleep without someone somewhere filing a report about which side of the bed he prefers. All the top schools in the Southeast want him, including Georgia, Florida, Florida State, Tennessee, Miami, Auburn, Alabaman and others. Despite the attention, Clemons has yet to make a decision as to where he will attend school next year. Blogger Kimberly Nash believes Georgia has an inside track on Clemons, but he also has former Vikings teammates at Florida State and Tennessee. Nash also writes that Florida made Clemons his first offer. As such, the Gators remain a strong contender for his talents. Clemons says that he has wanted to be a Gator since his days of playing as a kid with the Boys and Girls Club. He played on the Gators with Greg Reid (now a Seminole) and a few other players who signed with colleges. Their chief rivals were the Seminoles, headlined by Tyler Hunter, who remains a Seminole. “We had some good games with the Seminoles,” laughs Clemons. “Ever since then, I’ve wanted to play for the Florida Gators and then play in the NFL.”

What might be even more uncertain about Clemons than where he will attend college is what position he will play. At Lowndes, he’s a linebacker and wide receiver. He’s listed on some recruiting services as simply “athlete,” while others have him as a receiver, safety or outside linebacker. Clemons says he’s being recruited mainly as a linebacker, though Alabama and South Florida want him as a receiver. He won’t say much about which school he would like to attend, only stating that he will make his decision at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas, in January. “I’m looking for a chance to play early. I know I will have to work hard, but I want to get on the field quick. I also don’t want to go too far from home,” he says.

When Josh Clemons began playing football at seven or eight years old, he had no idea he would end up as one of the state’s top recruits.  Even though his Boys and Girls Club team was a future Division I All-Star squad, he played just because it was fun and he could hang out with his friends. That he was already head and shoulders above his peers in terms of talent made the game that much more fun. When Clemons came up through the middle school ranks at Lowndes Middle, he played several positions in the backfield and on defense. He played on the Lowndes junior varsity as a freshman, and played quarterback. His sophomore year, he earned a starting spot on the Lowndes varsity team. That year, Lowndes went 10-2 and lost to Camden by three in the second round.

The biggest moment of his football career came during the 2010 season. Against Colquitt County, Lowndes had a slim lead in the fourth quarter, and the Packers were threatening. A Colquitt County pass came Clemons’s way, and he made the most of the mistake. He intercepted the pass and took it all the way for a touchdown. The play shifted momentum back to the Vikings, who went on to win the game 37-27. “That was the biggest play of the year for me last season,” says Clemons. The Vikings went on to a 10-3 year and advanced to the quarterfinals. Collins Hill swiped the game from Lowndes in overtime, winning again by three points. “We had a championship team last year, but we let a few games slip away from us, especially that Collins Hill game. We were young this season, but we still expected to win,” he says. Lowndes had a disappointing regular season, going 7-3 and finishing third in the Region 1-AAAAA standings. Still, Clemons and his teammates are committed to winning a state championship. “We are the only class to come through without a ring in a long time. We’ve lost three games, but we’re still thinking state title,” he says.

In a season that Lowndes would classify as disappointing (a last minute-loss to Valdosta followed by a 34-7 defeat the following week at Colquitt), Clemons has been a bright spot. He is so versatile and athletic that he can play just about any position on the field, and play it well. Scout.com has him listed as a four-star recruit while espn.com ranks him as 23rd in the country, the second-best at his position (outside linebacker) and the best in Georgia. Clemons is fast, he is an excellent tackler and he knows how to get to the ball carrier. He doesn’t miss very many tackles and opposing ball carriers find him hard to elude. On offense, he’s a dependable receiver who can spread the field vertically. He is elusive when he gets the ball, but just how good he can be as a receiver remains a bit of a mystery. He does everything else so well that there’s no reason to doubt that he could be a go-to receiver in college, however, the run-first Lowndes Wing-T doesn’t give a wide receiver many opportunities to shine. When he has gotten those opportunities, Clemons has made the most of them. “I like catching the ball, but I’ve never played in a spread-type offense, so it’s hard for me to say whether I like offense or defense more.”

Clemons is focused on winning a state championship, and finds that all the attention he gets can take away from his goal of ending a four-year state title drought at Lowndes High. “I block it out and just play the game I love. I try not to read what’s out there on the Web. I just try to stay away from it,” he says.

Clemons has been getting a lot of attention since he was in the 10th grade. During the spring of that year, Jimbo Fisher, head coach at Florida State University, came to Lowndes to visit with Telvin Smith and a few other players. After practice, he took a minute to speak with Clemons as well. From that point on, Clemons has known he could play football at the Division I level. As if he needed verification of his talents, he was selected to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, in which 90 of the top high school football players in the country participate. The game is a gathering place for future NFL draft picks - the first Army All-American Bowl took place in 2000, and there are currently 150 former All-American Bowl players in the NFL.

Clemons was selected to play in the All-American Bowl and the Under Armor All-Star game. He chose the bowl because his coach, Randy McPherson, will be on the sidelines coaching. “He knows what I can do, and I’ll be more comfortable with him there. I’ve got to play well if my coach is going to be there,” he laughs. Clemons will probably play linebacker in San Antonio.

In addition to being a superb football player, Clemons is also a good student. He makes As and Bs, and when his motivation to study wanes, his grandfather keeps him in check. He also says that most of his family works in the Lowndes school system, and they don’t want to hear other teachers talking about him in unflattering terms. They make sure he does well, and he reciprocates by keeping up his grades. Plus, he also understands that no matter how good a football player he happens to be, if the academics aren’t there, he’ll never get into school. Clemons likes math more than any other subject. He doesn’t like to write much, and with math, there’s always one right way to work a problem. “With math, you’re given an equation and the steps you need to take to solve it. You either get it or you don’t,” he says.

Clemons is another Viking who has the potential to be an impact player at the next level. All the pieces are in place. He has the academics, the size, the speed, the athleticism and the work ethic to excel in major college football. Several former teammates are playing very well on Saturdays, and more than one could find his way onto an NFL roster one day. And Josh Clemons just might join them a few years down the road. ITG