Over the course of 14 years, Josh Niblett led Hoover HS (Alabama) to six state titles, a 171-26 record and cemented its place as one of the top high school football programs in the nation.
But high school football in Georgia is different, so when Gainesville HS (the third-winningest program in the state of Georgia) went looking for a top recruit, they called Niblett, who decided to commit to the Red Lions in December 2021.
For those unfamiliar with Georgia high school football, this move may seem like a puzzle. But the resources and commitment to high school football in the Peach State are different, and Gainesville has talents like NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson and former Alabama quarterback Blake Sims.
The number of six-figure coaches in Georgia doubled in just five years, from 2015 to 2019.and this number grew with each subsequent year.
The Gainesville HS football account has posted several tweets over the past 24 hours that make the resources at its disposal seem more like FBS programs than other high school programs around the country.
For starters, how about those new TVs in their new $1.5 million weight room.
Take away the names and logos that are visible and you’d have a hard time telling if this was an FBS program or a college football program.
Then how about this…the only player cafeteria that offers athletes three meals a day.
To top it all off, Gainesville is a morning practice program where kids get off the field at 8:15am.
Granted, Gainesville isn’t the only high school program in Georgia or the country that has this kind of support and resources for kids, but it’s certainly more than enough to make the other 99.9% of high school coaches a little jealous.
For what it’s worth, Niblett has gotten Gainesville off to a 5-0 start, and they’re moving up in the 6A state rankings, where they’re currently ranked third. He took over a program that finished 5-5 last year.