Dylan Raiola, the consensus No. 1 recruit for 2024, plans to play his senior season at Buford to be closer to the University of Georgia, where he is committed to play. Raiola played his junior season in Arizona and led Chandler High to a 9-3 record and a state semifinal.

Twenty-two former Georgia players and eight from Georgia Tech made the 40-player 2023 induction class for the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame. The class, released Friday morning by Hall of Fame founder Score Atlanta, will be inducted Oct. 21 at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta.

The Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in Dalton this weekend will induct five coaches who won state championships in eight sports in careers spanning parts of six decades. The coaches are David Boyd (basketball), Karl Bostick (cross country, soccer), Jim Glasser (wrestling, track, tennis), Greg James (baseball) and Tommy Perdue (football).

Pepper Rodgers, Dan Reeves, Billy Henderson and Mike Bobo are best known as prominent football coaches in the state, but their playing exploits have earned them places on this year’s 100-player ballot released this week for the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame.

New interstate games are the best new thing about Georgia’s 2023 football schedules, which the Georgia High School Association posted this week. Colquitt County, Buford and Creekside are playing consensus top-25 teams in the country from 2022, while Valdosta and Cedar Grove also are taking on powerful out-of-state opponents.

Five former Georgia high school players were first-round NFL Draft picks last week and 25 went overall, both exceeding state averages, but the most remarkable story came out of Gwinnett County, which claimed nine picks by itself. That’s more than the totals of 42 states that include Ohio (eight), Pennsylvania (six), Alabama (four), Oklahoma (four) and Tennessee (two).

With six former Georgia high school players projected to go in the first round, the NFL Draft could set records for the state this week. According to NFL Mock Draft Database, which produces composite rankings of draft projections, Georgia’s likely first-rounders are Dutchtown’s Will Anderson of Alabama, Calvary Day’s Nolan Smith of Georgia, Hillgrove’s Myles Murphy of Clemson, Lithonia’s Broderick Jones of Georgia, Sandy Creek’s Brian Branch of Alabama and Dalton’s Jahmyr Gibbs of Alabama.

The Georgia High School Association’s normally stable staff is taking on a new look with the recent hires of Jay Russell and Darrell Lane as associate directors, the retirement of Ernie Yarbrough and the resignation of Kevin Giddens effective in June. Things will stay the same at the top as executive director Robin Hines signed a three-year extension last month after six years in the position.

South Atlanta hired Jeff Franklin as football coach this week, leaving only eight GHSA jobs unfilled in an offseason that has seen 94 openings. South Atlanta, a Class 2A school, was perhaps the top job on the board. The Hornets have won three consecutive region titles and gone 11-2 and 11-1 the past two seasons under Michael Woolridge, who left for Pebblebrook, a Class 7A school in Cobb County.

The Atlanta Falcons honored Cherokee Bluff offensive lineman Jacob Benjamin as their High School Man of the Year and Blessed Trinity flag football player Joelle “JoJo” Miller with the Trailblazer Award on Thursday night during their awards show that recognized several coaches and athletes. Both won their awards, presented at the Georgia Aquarium, for their impact in the community and their schools.

Loganville hired former Jefferson football coach Gene Cathcart this week, ending a recent slow news cycle of offseason changes that have reached 92 but with only nine still open. Cathcart led Jefferson and Habersham Central to two region titles each and won a state championship at South Carolina’s Greenwood in 2012.

GHSA executive director Robin Hines will discuss name, image and likeness deals for high school athletes at next Monday’s executive committee meeting in Macon, but the GHSA won’t propose changing its bylaws until fall at the earliest, he said Monday.

The Georgia High School Association is ready to make it harder for high schools to use sports camps to recruit middle-school athletes and for parents and athletes to use camps to shop for high schools. A proposed bylaw, which could be voted on April 17 at the GHSA’s executive committee meeting, would make middle-school students ineligible until the 11th grade if they attend a high school skills camp and then transfer to the hosting high school.

Darius Smiley began last week as Class 3A champion Sandy Creek’s new football coach, filling one of 89 reported offseason hires. Thirteen jobs remain open. Smiley was coach at Central of Carrollton the past six seasons and got the Lions to the playoffs the past two.

The Georgia High School Association has established tentative video review protocols to be used for this year’s football championship games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The replay rules - shared with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday and almost certain to be approved at the GHSA’s executive committee meeting next month - call for three video review officials, two in a restricted area of the press box and one on the sideline.

The Corky Kell Classic, the August football games that have signaled the start of the Georgia high school season for more than 30 years, is updating its name to honor co-founder Dave Hunter, and this year’s event will serve as a trial run for the GHSA’s new video-replay protocols, event organizer Score Atlanta announced Tuesday morning at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Joe Sturdivant, a star player during Parkview’s glory days two decades ago, is the Panthers’ new football coach, the Gwinnett County school announced Thursday evening. Sturdivant will replace Eric Godfree, who took the North Gwinnett job last month. Parkview was 70-37 with two region titles in Godfree’s nine seasons.

Michael Woolridge, who led South Atlanta to two region titles and a 22-3 record in two seasons, was announced Thursday as Pebblebrook’s head coach. South Atlanta, a Class 2A city school, had won its first region title in history the season before Woolridge was hired, but he took the program to the next step, which was quarterfinal finishes in 2021 and 2022 with two-time 2,000-yard rusher Keyjuan Brown, who signed with Louisville.

Allatoona on Tuesday announced the hiring of Brad Smith as football coach to replace the retiring Gary Varner. Smith has been Loganville’s coach the past three seasons and led the Red Devils to a 9-2 finish last season, their best record since 2016.

Villa Rica coach Tim Barron, best known for his seven region championships and 2018 Class 2A title at Heard County, is retiring, joining a list of about a dozen coaches to hang up their whistles this offseason. Barron’s announcement last week brought to 84 the number of GHSA coaching openings overall since the 2022 season closed. Barron will be replaced by his son, Austin Barron, one of 64 new hires.