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By Kevin Price

Photo by Dwayne Culpepper   

Kamarion Johnson loves to play football for the

Clinch County Panthers, and the senior standout

certainly likes playing in front of the hometown

fans in Homerville on a Friday night in the fall.

“Our fans are crazy. We’re definitely a football

town,” he says. “When it’s go-time and the

stadium lights start flashing and the fans get going,

you can definitely feel it.”

Johnson, a star wide receiver and defensive back,

is the kind of player who can give the local fans

plenty to cheer about on a Friday night, too. The

MVP featured athlete in this edition of 912 Sports

Magazine which is the preview issue for the

upcoming 2026 season here in our Southeast

Georgia coverage area, Johnson is an electrifying

talent and big-time play-maker on the field.

The 6-foot, 190-pounder is also a big-time college

prospect who committed to the University of

Florida just last month after getting heavily

recruited by the new coaching staff that took over

the Gators program when changes were made in

Gainesville after last season.

Johnson became a highly-sought-after prospect

following a breakout junior season for the

Panthers when he played a key role in the team’s

march to the state semifinals in Class A, Division II

before it lost its only game of the season to

eventual state champion Bowdon to bring another

exciting campaign to a close for the small-school

power here in Southeast Georgia.

Johnson, who also excels in basketball and also

track and field for the Panthers, displayed his

extreme athleticism and penchant for making

those jaw-dropping type plays throughout the

2025 football season as he finished with 832

receiving yards and accounted for 15 total

touchdowns.

“KJ is the ultimate competitor,” said Rance

Morgan, the new head coach for the Panthers. “It

doesn’t matter if its ping pong, basketball or

football, he’s going to give you all he has and try to

beat whoever he plays. He doesn’t back down

from a challenge against anyone.”

Morgan has been off the sidelines with the

Panthers the last few seasons since stepping away

from coaching to become an assistant principal at

Clinch. Once the offensive coordinator for the

Panthers, he accepted the head coaching position

with the team after previous head coach Jim

Dickerson chose to give up the position following

the 13-1 season last fall.

Dickerson served as Clinch head coach for two

seasons on an interim basis after returning to the

sidelines in an emergency situation prior to the

2024 season. He previously served as the

Panthers’ head coach from 2004 to 2018, winning

seven region championships and five state titles

during that time.

This will be Morgan’s first season actually coaching

Johnson on the field, but the coach knew the

player well before he put the whistle back around

his neck this spring.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with KJ since he

was a freshman,” Morgan noted. “He’s a funny kid,

has a very charismatic personality. Sometimes,

when he was younger, he liked to cut up, have a

good time. And, that carried over onto the field

and also into the classroom some as well.

“But he’s really matured and has been more about

business these last two years. A kid like him, you

can see he has potential and the chance to go

somewhere big-time. He’s made the right choices

and put in the work to get there.”

Of course, now that Morgan and Johnson will be

united on the field this fall, the coach knows he

has a game-breaker on his side and certainly plans

to feature him in an offense loaded with talent in

the skill positions. That talent also includes junior

quarterback Traviaan Miller who threw for 1,599

yards and 20 touchdowns a year ago for the

Panthers.

“We plan to get the ball to him as much as we

can,” the coach says. “He needs to touch it 12 to

15 times a game, whether he runs it or we throw it

to him. He may even throw it a little bit, too.”

Johnson will hardly leave the field for the

Panthers. He will start at cornerback for the Clinch

defense and also returns punts and kickoffs as

well.

“When he goes through drills, he’s as good as a

player as I have ever seen,” Morgan notes. “He’s

got great lateral quickness. He explosive out of

breaks and cuts. He does things normal people

don’t do.”

Johnson likes being able to impact a game in all

three phases - offense, defense and special teams.

“The only bad side to it is that I am usually pretty

tired after a game,” he says with a chuckle. “But, I

definitely like being able to help my team win and

saying I played a part in 100 percent of the game.”

Johnson comes from a family full of athletes,

several who starred for the Panthers previously as

well. His brother Jeremy Bell was also a multi-port

athlete who suited up for the Panthers in football,

basketball and track and field and is now at the

University of Georgia as a wide receiver for the

two-time defending SEC champions.

Johnson is also related to former Clinch standouts

Trezmen Marshall who played in the Canadian

Football League last year after playing football for

both Georgia and Alabama and also Jeremiah

Johnson who was once committed to the Florida

Gators as well.

“My mindset has been to keep getting better and

be the best I can be,” Johnson said. “I think that’s

what separates me from a lot of others. I’m not

afraid to ask questions, ask what I need to do to

get better. I want to know what it takes for me to

get better and then go do it.”

Johnson knows he’s far from a finished product.

He plans on playing in the defensive secondary for

the Gators when he gets to college and says he can

definitely improve on fundamentals moving

forward.

“Playing so many positions, I don’t get to work on

things like someone who only plays one spot

does,” he notes. “I’ll be able to concentrate on just

one position when I get to college.”

He thinks he has more upside as a defensive back

as he looks down the road to a possible

professional career in football as well. Earlier this

summer, Johnson attended a prospects camp at

Florida where he competed against several other

players who also are already committed to play for

the Gators.

Equipped with size and speed - Johnson set a

school-record for Clinch in the 100-meter dash this

spring - he more than held his own against the

receivers on the other side of the ball.

“I wanted to show the coaches they were right in

picking me,” Johnson said. “They’ll see the film

and see that I did well.”

Johnson was attracted to the Florida program

because of the relationships he quickly built with

the coaches. He also likes Gainesville’s proximity

to his home in Homerville.

“I’m big on relationships and just clicked with their

coaches right away,” he says.

He can’t sign with the Gators until college

football’s early signing period this December.

When he was interviewed for this story in time to

meet a print deadline, Johnson wasn’t sure

whether he would early enroll in college come

January or stay for his entire senior year at Clinch.

He needed to make that decision prior to the start

of school in August so he could take the classes he

needs this fall to complete the academic

requirements that would allow him to graduate

mid-year.

It’s a tough call to make for Johnson as playing

basketball one final time for the Panthers is also

heavily on his mind. The Clinch basketball team

has a chance to defend the state championship it

won this past season, plus he has an opportunity

to become a member of the school’s 1,000-point

club.

“It’s a hard decision,” he says. “I guess I will have

to end up doing what’s best for the future.”

The immediate future seems to be bright for the

Panthers in football. They have the potential to

make another strong run in the state playoffs this

fall. They return eight starters on defense from last

season’s semifinal team while the offense should

be difficult to stop as long as the offensive line

which is being rebuilt continues to come together

after already showing great promise during the

offseason.

“They’re big and strong. They just need to play

more football,” Johnson said about the guys up

front. “I honestly believe we can be pretty good.”

By Kevin Price

Photo by Charles Smith

Davis Harrison has been a jack-of-all-trades

for the Statesboro High School football team.

He’s played wide receiver, fullback, tight end

and even quarterback for the Blue Devils at

some point over the past three seasons.

Harrison also has served as the holder on

extra points and field goals. He also is an up-

back on the punt team who acts as the

quarterback for the unit as he calls out

blocking assignments for the lineman and

serves as the final shield for the punter.

And what about playing defense?

“He has, yes,” said Statesboro head coach

Matt Dobson. “We’re gonna try not to use

him there this year. But, he does a little bit of

all of it.”

Harrison does a bang-up job in the classroom,

too, which is why 912 Sports has selected this

exceptional student-athlete as the Scholar-

Athlete for our high school football preview

issue which offers a glimpse of the prep

pigskin scene in our Southeast Georgia

coverage area going into the 2025 campaign.

He’ll be an integral player for the Blue Devils

who have surged as a program under Dobson

who is beginning his fourth season as head

coach at Statesboro.

This also will be the fourth season for

Harrison who is getting ready to suit up for

the Blue Devils for his final forray as a senior.

Just four years ago, he was chomping at the

bit to finally play for the team he grew up

watching as a kid.

“It feels like I was just coming into my

freshman year,” Harrison said. “It’s gone by

quickly. My sister just finished her freshman

year. I’ve tried to tell her how fast it goes.”

Harrison has played football and baseball for

Statesboro since the ninth-grade. He saw time

of the varsity football team as a freshman and

started every game for the Blue Devils each of

the last two seasons.

Statesboro went 4-8 his freshman year, but

did qualify for the state playoffs and wound

up winning a Class AAAA first-round game at

Tucker. His sophomore season, the Blue

Devils were 4-6 and missed out on the

postseason in their first year in Class AAAAA.

Last season, Statesboro challenged for the

Region 1-AAAAA championship after getting

in position to make a run at the league crown

with an upset-victory at home over

Brunswick, the preseason favorite to claim the

region title. The Blue Devils could have won

the region with a victory at home against rival

Effingham in the season finale, but lost a 42-

41 heart-breaker in overtime, a loss which

relegated them to the third seed for the state

playoffs.

They won their opening-round game at

Habersham Central before losing in round two

at Woodward Academy to close out an 8-4

season.

Harrison found himself starting at quarterback

for the Blue Devils in the middle of the

season, something that certainly wasn’t in the

plans when the season began. But when the

starting quarterback went down with an

injury in the second region game on the

schedule against Glynn Academy in mid-

September, there was no doubt who

Statesboro would choose to direct the offense

until the starter, Beckham Jarrard, could

return to the field.

“We needed someone we could really trust,

and Davis was that guy,” Coach Dobson

noted. “For sure, we were going to turn to

Davis in that situation.”

Davis would guide the make-shift Statesboro

offense through the adversity with victories in

the next three games. The third win in that

trio was the 28-21 triumph over the Pirates at

Womack Field.

“The last drive, with us holding onto the ball,

he ran the ball nine times for like 50 yards,”

Dotson noted. “He was someone we could

trust to hold onto the ball, not risk a fumble.

“We needed 3 or 4 yards, and he stuck is head

down and got what we needed. Again, he

showed his toughness.”

Now 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, he packed on

15 pounds during the offseason and could be

harder to tackle with the football in his hands

this fall.

He might carry the ball some this season, but

he would rather it not be as the starting

quarterback.

“Let’s hope I’m not back there again,” he says

with a laugh. “Something’s wrong if I am.”

He put on the extra pounds in the offseason

because the Blue Devils primarily plan to use

him as their tight end this season.

That doesn’t mean he still won’t bounce

around, however. In Statesboro’s offensive

scheme, Harrison may line up attached to the

line of scrimmage, but he also might split out

wide like any other pass-catcher. He also

could line up in the backfield and become a

ball-carrier or blocking back.

“What makes him unique is how physical he

is,” Dobson said. “He loves contact and

doesn’t shy away from it.”

The Blue Devils would love to claim that

region title that eluded them last season, but

for that to happen, they would have to

conquer a new set of teams. With the Georgia

High School Association going back to seven

classifications this year, they will remain in

Class AAAAA, but they will be in a different

region that includes traditional powers

Benedictine and Ware County.

“We graduated a lot of seniors, but we have

guys stepping up and filling roles. I really like

our chances to make a run again,” Harrison

said.

Harrison is not only top-notch on the field,

he’s top-level in the classroom, too. He carries

a 4.0 grade-point average while taking dual-

enrollment and Advance Placement courses.

This school year, he will take AP Calculus and

AP Enviromental Science.

His favorite classes are science- and math-

related. “I like biology and chemistry and

really like math,” he said. “I’ve always like

crunching numbers and solving problems.”

Harrison says he would entertain offers to

play football beyond high school. Earlier this

year, he participated in an invitation-only

Valdosta State camp with other potential

college prospects.

He knows what he wants to be, though, in the

long run. Harrison plans on becoming a

dentist.

“I’m shadowing my dentist right now,” he

notes. “I’m getting experience, just watching

and observing. I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Harrison said he enjoys going fishing with

friends and also has fallen in love with playing

pickleball.

He didn’t say if he had a favorite television

show, but did admit to liking Marvel movies.

He added that his favorite superhero is

Spider-Man.

“I’ve always thought he was cool,” Harrison

says.