South Georgia - In The Game High School Sports Magazine

Two of the State’s Best Players Bring National Attention to South Georgia

Southern Georgia is known for turning out some of the best football players in the nation. That trend won’t be changing anytime soon. The 18 schools covered by the South Georgia Edition of In The Game are loaded with talent and have colleges and universities regularly spending time below Macon. Two of the best players – both 2011 U.S. Army All-American Bowl nominees – can be found a little over 40 miles apart, in Thomasville and Adel.

Ray Drew of the Thomas County Central High School Yellow Jackets and Shannon Brown of the Cook High School Hornets are among the most coveted players in Georgia’s Class of 2011. They are big, bruising defensive players who possess the ability to turn a game around on their own. Brown has the added advantage of being a top-notch running back. As a freshman, he rushed for over 1,300 yards and he will again play a pivotal role in the Hornets backfield during his senior year.

Of the two athletes, Drew grades higher according to ESPN.com, who ranks Drew, a defensive end, at 87. Brown, primarily a linebacker, comes in at 79. Both are blue chip prospects headed for big-time college football.  Brown has committed to Alabama while Drew remains undecided, although he is considering Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Florida State.

Drew is intimidating at 6’5”, tipping the scales at 253 pounds. In the 40, he has posted 4.65 – a personal best – and routinely clocks 4.7s.  Drew’s imposing figure is tempered by the fact that he is a licensed minister, an excellent student and a humble young man who refuses to let attention go to his head. He could easily adopt a prima donna attitude. Last season, Drew recorded 72 tackles (including 16 for a loss), six sacks and 20 pressures.

He’s entertaining offers from more than 40 Division I schools, including just about every ACC and SEC university. Notre Dame and Southern Cal have also expressed interest. “They all want him,” says Yellow Jackets head coach Bill Shaver.

Drew was a big part of the Yellow Jackets’ 2009 region championship season, capped by an appearance in the quarterfinals of the state playoffs. As a result of his work between the sidelines last year, Drew was named 2009 Defensive Player of the Year for Region 1-AAAA.

A combination of raw athleticism, incredible speed, strength and intelligence makes Drew a lethal weapon. He has room to add weight without affecting his mobility. Drew has the basic tools to succeed at the next level: he has good movement, he’s a great tackler, he sees the field well and he knows how to get in position to make a play. Most important, he is adept at getting the most from his strengths.

Drew acknowledges one weakness in his game and says it’s been a focus in the offseason. “My goals have been to get bigger, stronger and quicker. I need to get off the ball quicker. Sometimes I watch my opponent and not the ball. When I do that, I get a late jump,” he says.

Drew’s career is one filled with big games. His favorite came last year against Westside (Macon). The Seminoles beat TCC, 51-0, in 2008. Drew and the rest of the Yellow Jackets didn’t want a repeat in 2009. Adding to the drama, the Yellow Jackets were in position to win the region title by the time the Westside game rolled around, something few pundits thought possible when the season began. “We didn’t want the same thing to happen. We hunkered down as a team and took it,” recalls Drew. TCC stunned Westside, defeating the visiting Seminoles 27-18 and winning the region title. “We were ready to play that night. It was a total team effort,” he says.

It’s still a little difficult for Drew to accept the attention he receives. “Some of the rankings have me as high as number three, others at 15. But I don’t see that I’m that great of a football player. I don’t see where I’ve done anything that great,” he says.

Division I schools might disagree with Drew’s assessment. Despite the interest, those schools will have to wait a little longer before he lets them know where he plans to attend college. Drew doesn’t anticipate making an announcement until National Signing Day or maybe even later. “I’m taking a look at everything. I want to make sure that I make the right decision,” he says.

He’s spoken with Joe Burns, a former Yellow Jacket who had a great career at Georgia Tech before being drafted by the Buffalo Bills. Burns conducts a football clinic each year in Thomasville and the two have spoken at length about the recruiting process. “Joe has told me not to make a decision on college the way he did. He went to Georgia Tech just because he wanted to keep being a Yellow Jacket. He didn’t know it was an engineering school, and he had struggled in math. He told me to do things differently,” laughs Drew.

Drew, a power forward on the basketball team, averages a double-double each game. He is a member of the TCC track team and competes in the discus and shot put. He owns the school discus record (171’11”) and is one inch shy of beating the school record in the shot put. “I’m going to break that this year,” he says.

Drew is very active in TCC’s chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and spends a great deal of time speaking at churches. “I do everything but weddings and funerals,” he chuckles. Drew credits his faith with keeping him humble and grounded. “It’s easy to lose your head in the recruiting process. But none of this is possible because of me. It’s all through Him. My faith helps me tremendously.”

Shannon Brown, Cook’s linebacker, has taken a different approach to his future. He’s had offers rolling in from just about everywhere, but instead of waiting, he committed to the University of Alabama earlier this year. “He had other offers but his heart was set on Alabama,” says Cook head coach Ken Cofer.

Brown has impressed the Crimson Tide with his raw athleticism, size, speed, and perhaps most important – his potential. Brown is 6’2”, 230 pounds, but he’s lost about 20 pounds over the summer. Both Cofer and the Alabama staff believe he could put that 20 pounds back on and play at 250 or more without a noticeable decline in his speed and mobility. If he gains weight at Tuscaloosa, he might find himself at defensive end instead of linebacker.

Brown has played several different roles at Cook. When he arrived at the high school as a freshman, he was the featured running back on a Hornets team that went 10-4 and advanced to the semifinals of the playoffs. That year, he rushed for more than 1,300 yards. He tallied a lot of carries as a sophomore as well. His star never shined brighter than it did against Appling County in the first round of the 2008 playoffs. He took the opening kick 75 yards. Two plays later, he went around the end and lost his shoe, but he kept running. He slid into the end zone on one cleat and one sock for the first score of the game. Cook went on to win 25-10 and advanced to the second round. Brown had 25 carries and 226 total yards in that game. “I look at that game and just go ‘Wow!’” says Cofer.

The Hornets threw the ball more in the 2009 season. As a result, Brown didn’t have as big a role on offense. This year, the plan was to play Brown primarily on defense but injuries have forced him back into a prominent offensive role. “He’ll carry the ball a lot this year. I just don’t see how you can go wrong giving him the ball 20 times a game. He just wears people down. He’s being recruited as a linebacker, but he could be a collegiate running back if that’s what a team needed,” says Cofer.

Brown might be the Hornets’ starting running back and linebacker but he’s played a number of positions. When he was playing recreational ball, he spent time on the offensive and defensive line – he was simply too big to run the ball. “The weight limit for running backs was 100 pounds my last year of rec football. I weighed 203, so I had to play on the line. It’s the only time I’ve ever been a lineman,” laughs Brown.  

For Brown, there is no debate as to what position he would rather play. “I like running the ball in high school, but I’m looking forward to playing linebacker in college. I feel like I’d be an average running back in college, but I think I can be a very good linebacker,” he says.

The Hornets finished 7-6 last season and advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to eventual state champion Buford. Brown and his teammates have one goal in mind for 2010: a championship. “Our quarterback can throw, our wide outs can catch. The offensive line is working hard and the defense is going all out. Everybody’s working hard,” he says.

According to Cofer, this year’s senior class is tired of coming in fourth in the region. “They want a region title and a state championship,” he says.

Brown is excited about the prospect of playing for the University of Alabama. Head coach Nick Saban and his staff have returned the program to national prominence. Saban really likes what he sees in Brown. He has an opportunity to make an impact very quickly in Tuscaloosa. Or at least that’s what he’s been told. “They say I could start as a freshman. But that’s recruiting,” says Brown. He also likes being the only game in town, so to speak. “I love the state of Alabama. They don’t have any pro teams and college football is it over there. Alabama, Auburn, Troy – they’re the celebrities,” he says.

When Brown was growing up, all he could think about was playing football on Friday nights. “I loved going to the games. I thought that was the best it could get. Now, all the attention can get distracting. I try to stay around people who give me good advice. I try not to think about the attention. I just want to stay focused and get to Alabama,” Brown says. •

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