VALDOSTA —
High school football recruiting has became a phenomenon around the country.
With coaches from schools battling to sign the best players in the country, the grind of recruiting can put a coach through rigorous hours of driving and sitting in various living rooms luring players to attend their school.
Luckily for the coaches at Valdosta State, they don’t have to go very far to find their talent.
“We start in the state of Georgia,” Valdosta State head coach David Dean said. “That is where our bread and butter is. There is great football, there are great football coaches in the state of Georgia and when we get state of Georgia kids in here, they have been well-coached, they understand the game and they understand what work it takes to be very good.”
Twenty-three of the 25 starters on the Blazer football team this season are from the state of Georgia. The only two that are not from the state are quarterback Cayden Cochran (Oklahoma) and offensive tackle Ryan Schraeder (Kansas).
“I always knew they played good football down here,” Schraeder said. “I knew when I thought about coming down here, I knew it was good football, and that is part of the reason why I came here. I knew it was good down South.”
From offense to defense to special teams, high schools from throughout the state of Georgia are represented on the Valdosta State football team.
With the high-number of players on the Blazer roster from the state of Georgia, VSU coaches have been able to use that as a tool when recruiting other players.
“It says the state of Georgia has the best football,” senior offensive lineman Mesh Wokomaty said. “That helped my recruiting when I first came here. At first, I really didn’t know too much about Valdosta State, but then I was watching before a basketball game and saw they had won the national championship and then they called me and said they wanted me. They had a nice campus and they recruit local guys, so I was familiar with most of the guys. So it definitely helps.”
Speaking of local guys, the Blazers have several local area players on the roster. Of the players on the gameday roster that are from Georgia, 11 are from either Region 1-AA or Region 1-6A schools, including Lowndes, Valdosta, Colquitt County, Fitzgerald, Cook and Brooks County.
“With us having so many good football players, especially in the South Georgia area, we feel like if we can keep guys close to home and in the state, they are going to play hard for a state school,” Dean said.
But even when Dean and his coaching staff recruit players from within the state, sometimes those players opt to play football somewhere else. Luckily for the Blazers, those players usually find their way back home and onto the Valdosta State roster.
One of those players that started his career somewhere else and returned home is receiver Quin Roberson, who was recruited heavily by Dean and the Blazers out of Colquitt County. But following his senior season with the Packers, the former Region 1-AAAAA Player of the Year chose to attend Division-I Samford. After a season, Roberson came back home to South Georgia to play for the Blazers.
“The winning tradition, as far as it being close to home, I always knew about Valdosta State,” Roberson said. “So I always knew where I needed to go.”
Saturday, the Blazers’ Georgia talent will be put to the test when Valdosta State (10-2) visits the Minnesota State-Mankato Mavericks (13-0) in the NCAA Division II national semifinals. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. Eastern and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.com.
Local Sports
Blazers winning with home-grown talent
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VSU softball wins South Region, headed to nationals
For the third time in four years, and second in a row, Valdosta State’s softball team will play in the national championship tournament.
The Blazers won their third South Region championship Saturday, beating Alabama-Huntsville 8-3 in game three of the best-of-three series at Steel’s Diamond at Blazer Park. -
VSU baseball season comes to an end
Delta State scored seven unanswered runs to defeat Valdosta State 7-2 in an elimination game of the NCAA South Region Tournament at the UT Baseball Field Saturday afternoon.
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Blazers take 1-0 series lead
Angela O’Connor launched a pinch-hit two-run home run over the left-field fence, tying the game against Alabama-Huntsville in the bottom of the sixth inning, and sparking the Blazers and their fans along the way.
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Blazer baseball stays alive, beats Stillman
Valdosta State scored five runs in the first inning to defeat Stillman 6-2 in an elimination game of the NCAA South Region Tournament at UT Baseball Field Friday morning.
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Lowndes’ Harwell, Wortham sign with Valdosta State
Lowndes’ Ty Harwell and David Wortham won’t have to go far to play college baseball.
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Blazers host respected rival UAH in Super Regional
One would expect a matchup featuring two of the top softball programs in Division II to come in the national championship game.
Unfortunately for Valdosta State and Alabama-Huntsville, who have combined to appear in four straight national championship games, they won’t be meeting in title game on Memorial Day in Salem, Va. -
Pop Warner Football coming to Valdosta
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The nationally known organization that puts an emphasis on education and developing American youth has been established in the Valdosta area and will begin playing football this August. -
Blazers lose to Delta State, fall to loser’s bracket
If the Valdosta State baseball team is going to win the South Region Tournament, the Blazers going to have to do it from the loser’s bracket.
The Blazers (33-17) dropped their first game of the tournament Thursday, falling to Delta State 4-2 at UT Baseball Stadium.
VSU will face Stillman College, which lost to No. 1 seed and tournament host Tampa Thursday, Friday at 11 a.m. to advance to the weekend portion of the tournament. The loser will be eliminated. -
Lowndes’ Willis, Breit named Region 1 Coaches of the Year
The All-Region 1-AAAAAA soccer teams were announced Wednesday and Lowndes was well represented.
Lowndes coaches Chris Willis (girls) and Jordan Breit (boys) were named the Region Coaches of the Year, after leading the Lowndes teams to region championships and going undefeated in region play. -
Vikings commit 4 errors, fall to Roswell, 5-2
The small things matter in baseball, especially in a winner-take-all game three.
On Wednesday, Lowndes’ baseball team made too many mistakes on the little things. The Vikings committed four errors that led to five Roswell runs and were eliminated in the Class AAAAAA state playoffs with a 5-2 loss to the Hornets. - More Local Sports Headlines
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