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Ranking every Knoxville area high school football team from 1-61 entering 2023 season

toyloy brown iii, knoxville news sentinel
·2 min read

The 2023 Tennessee high school football season is set to kick off Thursday.

The Knoxville area has three reigning state champions in Alcoa, Anderson County and West. All three teams enter the year inside the top five PrepXtra’s preseason rankings.

The defending eight-time state champion Tornadoes claim the top spot. After them is a Bearden team that has new star power in transfer running back Jaheim Merriweather, a Purdue commit, and returning starting junior quarterback Drew Parrott, who threw for over 2,000 yards.

Filling out the top five is Gatlinburg-Pittman, which has two seniors in wide receiver Carlos Orr and linebacker Whittman Whaley heading to Illinois and Wake Forest, respectively. The Highlanders also return senior quarterback Brady Hammonds, who broke program records with 2,941 passing yards and 36 touchdowns.

The teams ranked within the top 25 also have a depth of talent and the rest of the list is littered with coin-toss decisions. Here's how we ranked all 61 teams:

1. Alcoa (3A)

2. Bearden (6A)

3. Knoxville West (5A)

4. Anderson County (4A)

5. Gatlinburg-Pittman (3A)

6. Maryville (6A)

7. Clinton (5A)

8. Oak Ridge (5A)

9. Greeneville (4A)

10. Knoxville Catholic (Division II-AAA)

11. Farragut (6A)

12. Powell (5A)

13. Knoxville Webb (Division II-AA)

14. Campbell County (4A)

15. McMinn County (5A)

16. Knoxville Central (5A)

17. Sevier County (5A)

18. South-Doyle (4A)

19. Carter (4A)

20. Fulton (4A)

21. Gibbs (4A)

22. Morristown West (5A)

23. Heritage (5A)

24. Karns (5A)

25. Sweetwater (3A)

26. Loudon (4A)

27. Lenoir City (5A)

28. Jefferson Co (6A)

29. Kingston (3A)

30. Hardin Valley (6A)

31. Austin-East (3A)

32. McMinn Central (3A)

33. Knoxville Halls (5A)

34. Pigeon Forge (3A)

35. Northview Academy (4A)

36. Grace Christian Academy (Division II-AA)

37. Morristown East (6A)

38. Grainger (4A)

39. Christian Academy of Knoxville (Division II-AA)

40. Lakeway Christian (Division II-AA)

41. Seymour (4A)

42. Coalfield (1A)

43. The King’s Academy (Division II-A)

44. Union County (3A)

45. Oliver Springs (1A)

46. William Blount (6A)

47. Oneida (2A)

REGION RANKINGS: Where every Knoxville area high school football team will finish in 2023 region standings

BREAKOUT SEASONS: Here are 8 Knoxville area football players poised for breakout seasons in 2023 TSSAA season

48. Oakdale (1A)

49. Harriman (1A)

50. Cocke County (5A)

51. Wartburg Central (2A)

52. Tellico Plains (2A)

53. Greenback (1A)

54. Rockwood (1A)

55. Claiborne (3A)

56. Cosby (1A)

57. Scott (4A)

58. Sequoyah (4A)

59. Midway (1A)

60. Sunbright (1A)

61. Jellico (1A)

Toyloy Brown III is a Knox News sports reporter. Email tbrown@usatoday.com. Twitter @TJ3rd_.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: TSSAA football: Ranking Knoxville-area high school teams 1-61