Today is national signing day for college football scholarships. It is a big day for a select group of young men who live in the state of Georgia. Valdosta, Georgia is a small city with a population of roughly 54,000 people down in the heart of south Georgia farming country. Valdosta is located only about 35 miles from Tallahassee, Florida, the home of Florida State University. It so happens that I personally know the city of Valdosta fairly well. My wife was a cheerleader at Valdosta high school.We still have family who live down there, including our daughter and grandchildren. Compared with metropolitan Atlanta, the crime rate in Valdosta is fairly low, and violent crime even more so. It may not be paradise, but it isn't a bad place to grow up. Valdosta is more or less known for two things: farming, and high school football. For a very long time, Valdosta has had a reputation for developing high school football talent, and Valdosta High School was a football powerhouse, claiming an incredible 23 state championship titles in their program's history that dates all the way back to 1913. In more recent years, the balance of power shifted more to arch-rival Lowndes County High School. The Vikings football program didn't exist prior to 1966. yet they have won 5 state championships of their own. Georgia Bulldog fans will remember Buck Belue, quarterback of the 1980 national championship team, played high school football for the Wildcats. More recently, Jay Rome and Malcolm Mitchell came to Athens by way of Valdosta. Another young man named James … [Read more...]