GHSF Daily will begin running a GHSA yardage leaderboard in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, here are several GHSA players who hit milestones with 175 yards rushing, 275 yards passing or 125 yards receiving in the opening week of the season. If we’ve missed any, let us know.

A week after knocking off Buford, Class 5A No. 1 Milton will travel to Florida to face American Heritage in a matchup of teams ranked in the top 20 nationally. The Week 2 schedule also includes two high-profile games between private schools - Blessed Trinity at Holy Innocents' and Hebron Christian at Fellowship Christian.

Collins Hill upset a third-ranked powerhouse, North Murray beat an 18-point favorite, and Gordon Central ended a 31-game losing streak last week. Those teams and their coaches are rewarded today with first-place standings in the GHSF Daily’s first Improvement Tracker of the season.

Quarterbacks Jonathan Granby of Fellowship Christian and Ben Brown of Wesleyan help their teams knock off two of the top-ranked teams in the Class A divisions. Monroe Area's Jitt Carr, Heritage of Ringgold WR Cody Bryan and Ringgold's Cole Runion put up big opening-night numbers.

Four No. 1-ranked teams lost in Week 1 of the 2024 season, but two of the team - Class 6A Buford and Class A Division II Bowdon - held on to the top spots. New at No. 1 are Marist, which replaced Benedictine at the top of 4A, and Sandy Creek, which moved to the top of 3A after a loss by Jefferson.

GHSF Daily prides itself in its statewide coverage of Georgia high school football, but nobody knows local schools better than hometown newspapers and radio stations. GHSF Daily reached out to members of the Georgia media this week to get their observations about the new season.

Douglass and Kell opened the 2024 football season with victories Wednesday in the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic at Kell High. Douglass, ranked No. 8 in Class 3A, beat Class 3A’s No. 3 team, LaGrange, 18-3. Kell beat North Atlanta 29-15 in the nightcap.

The Georgia high school football season begins today with Douglass vs. LaGrange and Kell vs. North Atlanta in the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic. Those are the first two of 190 games in the season’s opening week. From a preseason vantage, here are the five most intriguing storylines to the 2024 season.

Rome’s football team pulled out of this week’s opening game with Creekside because of Thursday night’s bus crash that sent 15 players to the emergency room, Rome coach John Reid announced Monday morning. Rome, ranked No. 7 in Class 5A, was to play Creekside at home Friday night.

Reigning state champions Milton, Pierce County, Prince Avenue Christian and Bowdon are ranked No. 1 to start a football season that should be more unpredictable because of reclassification. Also No. 1 are Buford, Benedictine, Jefferson and Toombs County.

Rome’s football team has no plans to alter its season opener Aug. 16 against Creekside despite a traumatic rollover bus crash Thursday evening that sent up to 15 students and adults to the hospital. “The team is doing fine,” Rome coach John Reid said Friday morning.

Pierce County’s Caden MaGatha and Rockmart’s Tristan Anderson vie for the honor of best player on GHSF Daily’s Class 2A preseason all-state team, while Anderson and Prince Avenue Christian’s Hudson Hill beat out four other returning all-state players for the two spots at wide receiver.

Lumpkin County quarterback Cal Faulkner and wide receivers Thomas Blackshear of Calvary Day and Jack Rhodes of Aquinas are the headliners on GHSF Daily's Class 3A preseason all-state team. Calvary Day and Sandy Creek have three representatives each on the team.

Warner Robins LB/DE Isaiah Gibson, Central of Carrollton RB Jonaz Walker and four of the state’s best defensive backs headline GHSF Daily’s Class 4A preseason all-state. The defensive backs are Jones County’s Javion Butts, Warner Robins’ Rasean Dinkins, Cedartown’s Tae Harris and Jonesboro’s Cortez Redding.

Lee County running back Ousmane Kromah, five offensive linemen ranked in the top 300 nationally, and a seven-man contingent of Milton players headline GHSF Daily’s Class 5A preseason all-state team. Selected from Milton were QB Luke Nickel, WR C.J. Wiley, TE Ethan Barbour, PK Alex Nover, DL Caleb Bell, DB Dylan Lewis and DB Ty Redmond.

GHSF Daily will be announcing a preseason all-state team for each classification, beginning today with Class 6A. Five-star quarterback Julian Lewis of Carrollton, who reclassified as a senior in the offseason, and four defensive linemen that rank among the state’s top 100 players lead the way.

Five Georgia teams will be nationally televised over 10 days this month during ESPN’s 15th High School Football Kickoff series of six games, the network announced Thursday. The teams are Carrollton, Woodward Academy, Grayson, Milton and Rabun Gap-Nacoochee.

Since the final horn blew on the 2023 high school football season, the GHSA has hired a new executive director, warned athletes about illegal NIL deals and given football teams Thanksgiving week off for the first time in more than 100 years. Seventy-four GHSA teams hired coaches, one after a 300-game winner retired, another when a coach with five state titles unretired.

The Georgia High School Association’s board of trustees is expected to amend its bylaws Thursday to make clear that name, image and likeness collectives that pay athletes are illegal and can cost students their eligibility.

The Georgia High School Association warned schools this week that athletes signing up for a certain name, image and likeness (NIL) company are risking their eligibility if boosters pay them for their online news and content.