Chattahoochee Valley football well-represented in Clemson-LSU national title game
The Chattahoochee Valley will be well represented Monday night, when top-ranked LSU and No. 3 Clemson face off for college football’s national title.
Four players from Columbus, Georgia and Phenix City, Alabama — most of whom hail from Phenix City’s Central High School — will take the field at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.
Here’s a look at those players.
Clemson’s Justyn Ross and Ray Thornton
Ray Thornton celebrated his final high school game by leading Central to a 52-7 win over Thompson on Dec. 4, 2018, capping the program’s first undefeated season since 1944 and first state championship since 1993. His former Red Devils teammate Justyn Ross also experienced a championship in 2018, as Clemson rolled past Alabama for the program’s second title in three years.
The two hope to help Clemson win its third national championship in four seasons.
Ross, a 6-4, 205 pound sophomore receiver and one of the focal points in a loaded Clemson offense, led the Tigers in receiving in last year’s title game against the Crimson Tide. The then-freshman had 153 yards and one touchdown. He entered the 2019 bowl season with 101 receptions for 1,742 yards, 17 touchdowns in 807 snaps over 27 career games (12 starts).
Ross is one of just three players throughout Lowndes coach (and former Central head coach) Jamey DuBose’s coaching career who have played varsity football without going through the JV ranks.
Thornton, a 6-1, 205-pound Clemson freshman safety from Columbus, had an interception and 68-yard return to set up a field goal in the third quarter of Central’s 7A state championship win over Thompson in 2018. He had 57 tackles and two interceptions in 2017, when Central made the semifinals of the state tournament.
Thornton appeared in four games for Clemson while redshirting this season. He played three defensive snaps and contributed on special teams for the Tigers.
Ross and Thornton were the first scholarship athletes to go to Clemson from Phenix City since Marvin Sims (1976-1979).
Clemson’s Ty Lucas
Ty Lucas, a 5-7, 205-pound redshirt freshman, who played at Columbus High for three years and Chattahoochee County for one season, accepted a preferred walk-on running back spot with Clemson on March 8, 2018. Lucas’ decision was a change of plans, as he initially intended on playing at Georgia State.
Tigers coaches had been in contact with him since a summer camp, but at that point Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney and special teams coach Danny Pearman truly showed their interest.
“Coach Swinney is an awesome man all around and really wanted me to go to Clemson. What he’s doing and has done with the program is just amazing,” Lucas told the L-E after picking Clemson. “For me to have an opportunity to be a part of that, I just couldn’t turn it down. The atmosphere from the campus to the team and the facilities, everything was just amazing.”
Lucas, who played his senior season at Chattahoochee County, said Swinney invited him to Clemson for a visit. The two talked for a while, and Lucas committed while on the visit.
Lucas, listed as a running back on Clemson’s roster, gained three yards on his first career carry against Wofford on Nov. 2. He redshirted his freshman season, and made his collegiate debut against Charlotte on Sept. 21. He played six games this season, including on special teams against Charlotte, Florida State and Boston College.
LSU’s Peter Parrish
Thornton was not the only Red Devil to cap his high school career with a state championship. Peter Parrish, LSU’s 6-1, 190-pound freshman quarterback and a former four-star dual-threat prospect, put up 178 total yards (100 yards rushing, 78 yards passing) with two touchdowns in the 2018 title win over Thompson.
Parrish was named MVP of that game, and ranked No. 13 in the nation by 247Sports among dual-threat quarterbacks.
Parrish picked up an offer from LSU Tigers after a standout effort at an Tigers camp in June 2018. Parrish said LSU coaches challenged him during camp, telling him he would have to earn an offer from the Tigers.
“I had to compete and get after it,” Parrish said. “I don’t care if (LSU coach Ed) Orgeron was down to half a quarterback and a mule, he let it be known this position was earned and that they needed the right guy for the position.”
Parrish threw for 2,920 yards and added another 1,312 rushing yards over his final two seasons at Central. He has not played for LSU this season and is not expected to play against Clemson. He’s listed behind LSU quarterbacks Joe Burrow, the Heisman-winning senior starter, and redshirt sophomore Brennan Myles on the Tigers’ depth chart.
“I’ll be cheering for both sides,” DuBose told the L-E on Jan 6. “We’ve got players on both sides. ... Central is a winner no matter what. We’re going to have a winner in the game, and we’re going to hurt for the one who loses. Just like in our state championship game, if you’re in the natty playing there, and in college football, you are a winner, it doesn’t matter.
“People and fans can be upset but wow, what an opportunity to get to this game.”
LSU’s Tommie Robinson
A Central High and Troy University graduate, LSU assistant head coach, running backs coach and recruiting coordinator Tommie Robinson is wrapping up his third season with the purple and gold.
In his first two years with the Tigers, Robinson’s running back room has produced back-to-back 1,000-yard rushers in Derrius Guice and Nick Brossette. Guice accumulated 1,251 rushing yards to go with 11 touchdowns in 2017, while Brossette, in his first season as a starter, logged 1,039 yards and 14 touchdowns, in 2018. Junior running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire enters the national championship with 1,304 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns.
The Phenix City, Alabama native played strong safety at Troy and served as an assistant coach at Central from 1988 to 1990. He has since served in 13 coaching positions, including stints at Georgia Tech, Texas and the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals, according to his LSU bio.
Clemson vs. LSU
When: 8 p.m. EST, Monday
Where: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans
Watch: ESPN
Betting line: LSU by 5.5 (as of 11:30 a.m. Jan. 13)
This story was originally published January 13, 2020 at 1:56 PM.
