Gray Collegiate schedules football series with power IMG Academy. Here’s what we know
Gray Collegiate football will get a stern test next week before heading into the playoffs.
The War Eagles, the No. 1 ranked team in South Carolina’s Class 2A, has added a game against national powerhouse IMG Academy (Fla.) on Oct. 19.
The deal was finalized this week and will be part of a home-and-home series between the War Eagles and Ascenders. Gray will go to Florida this year, while IMG Academy will come to West Columbia on Sept. 26 or 27 next season.
“This gives our kids notoriety, gives our kids exposure. It gives our program exposure,” Gray Collegiate coach Adam Holmes told The State on Thursday. “... I think this is going to be big for the state of South Carolina. IMG has never been here. No one in South Carolina has ever played them. We are just excited about the test and the journey to go down to Bradenton and play one of the best teams in the country.”
Gray Collegiate will be the first S.C. high school football team to play IMG Academy, which is located in Bradenton, Florida. Dutch Fork was supposed to play the Ascenders in 2020 at the Cam Newton Classic, but it was canceled because of the COVID pandemic.
IMG Academy’s national team is 5-0 on the season and is ranked No. 4 in this week’s MaxPreps Top 25. IMG is a private boarding school that’s known for the emphasis it places on athletics and on getting their athletes onto college rosters. Their national team plays other squads from such states as Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Connecticut.
This year’s IMG Academy roster features some of the top-ranked players in the country. Five-star cornerback Ellis Robinson is No. 3 in the 247Sports Composite and committed to Georgia. Defensive lineman David Stone, ranked No. 6 in the 247Sports Composite, is committed to Oklahoma.
Former Chapin standout Jayden Bradford is IMG’s quarterback and committed to Liberty. The Ascenders have 10 players committed to play at Power-5 schools for the Class of 2024 and several other top prospects in Class of 2025.
The War Eagles (9-2) have been adding games to its schedule after the other teams in Region 4-2A forfeited games against them. Gray has been able to find replacements for four of the games, losing at St. John’s (DC) and Clearwater Academy (Fla.) on the road while defeating Portal (Ga.) at home.
“Excited for our kids that we have been able to take the adversity we have faced over this year with not having six region games and to go out and find four top-tiered teams,” Holmes said. “For what we have been through at this point, and to still have games like this, has been huge for us.”
IMG will pay Gray to play the game and let them stay overnight at their campus facility. Holmes declined to say how much money the school was getting from IMG, only describing the amount as “significant.”
After playing IMG, Gray will be off for the final week of the regular season and open up the playoffs at home on Nov. 3. The War Eagles have home field advantage in the 2A Upper State playoffs as long as they keep winning.
Region football opponents Fairfield Central, Keenan, Eau Claire, Columbia, Mid-Carolina and Newberry all forfeited this season’s games against Gray, a public charter school that’s faced criticism because of concerns over fair play and how the school build its athletic rosters.
Those traditional public schools view their decisions to forfeit as taking a stand on what they say creates a competitive imbalance that needs to be addressed and remedied.
This story was originally published October 12, 2023 at 12:00 PM.
