The Inaugural Georgia Junior Bowl will showcase the state’s elite 11th grade football players and Gilmer High School Head Coach Wes Tankersley will be on the West team’s sideline as an assistant coach.
Chip Walker, the head coach at Sandy Creek High School, contacted Tankersley last month with the offer to join the all-star staff.
“I think it’s going to be a neat experience,” Tankersley said. “I’ll get to coach with some of the best coaches in Georgia and see the top college prospects.”
Walker, Tankersley and seven other head coaches from around Georgia will make up the West coaching staff. Ed Dudley, head coach at Ware County, will lead the East squad and also have eight head coaches at his disposal as assistants.
The Junior Bowl is the culmination of the efforts by the website RisingSeniors.com, which touts itself as “an educational program and series of events created to assist high school juniors with their athletic, academic and social development.”
Partnered with the National Football League’s Players Association, Junior Bowl players will attend symposiums that deal with topics such as financial literacy, choices and consequences, NCAA compliance, SAT and ACT test strategies and social media.
The seminars will be held over a four-day period on Georgia Tech’s campus and the game will take place Dec. 31 at Grady Stadium in Atlanta.
The selection marks the second time Tankersley has been invited to coach an all-star squad. Following the 2010 football season, Tankersley was the defensive coordinator for Team Georgia in the Tennessee-Georgia all-star game.