Steve Carter/News Editor
CNHI
TIFTON —
In 2005, the Tift County Blue Devils football team traveled to Atlanta to face the Stephenson High Jaguars in the first round of the state Class AAAAA football playoffs.
Tift was a relatively young team at the time, but had noticeable talent. However, Stephenson had six Division I prospects and had several other players that would go on to sign college scholarships. The talent level at Stephenson was so great that season that two of the players — Jermaine Cunningham and Perry Riley — are on NFL rosters this season.
Even with all of that in that 2005 encounter, the Jaguars had to take advantage of a late fumble to pull out a 6-3 victory.
Friday night at Brodie Field the two teams meet for only the second time as the Jaguars come to Tifton for an 8 p.m. contest. The circumstances are similar as Tift is an inexperienced squad, but has some talented youngsters. Meanwhile, Stephenson has eight players that have already verbally committed to Division I schools, and another three that have garnered notice from the upper echelon of college football.
The strength of the team could be in the defensive backfield as Jared Boyd (Duke), David Stevenson (Connecticut) and Kadetrix Marcus should all be at Division I schools next season. The offensive backfield also features standouts in quarterback Jordan Tarver (Kent State) and running back Willie Davis (South Florida).
Cey-Ron Willingham (Middle Tennessee State) gives Tarver an attractive target to pass to, while among the players providing Tarver pass protection is lineman Tarik Cook (Central Florida).
Defensively, Regis Ball (Memphis) is a standout at linebacker. Ball is the brother of former Georgia Tech quarterback Reggie Ball, as well as Marcus Ball, who went from Florida State to currently being a standout at Memphis.
Joining him at linebacker is another player drawing Division I interest, Jordan Mincy, while the other Jaguar receiving notice from major colleges is defensive end Preston Smith.
The one other Jaguar who has verbally committed to a D-I school is place-kicker Colin Anderson (University of Alabama at Birmingham).
Stephenson will come into the game with a 2-0 record, and ranked No. 8 in the state Class AAAAA GACA Coaches Poll.
