May 2, 2025: Kiwanis President Mark Herring and Carrollton Coach Joey King.
Click "read more" to read Tucker Cole's article in the Times-Georgian:
As former Carrollton High quarterback Julian Lewis grows into his new role at the University of Colorado, the Trojans are figuring out who will be his successor, and head coach Joey King addressed this and other topics at the Carrollton Kiwanis Club meeting on Friday.
There are currently three quarterbacks vying for the starting job — including two local kids and one transfer from North Carolina.
Dylan Bishop is the local veteran — a rising senior who has served as a backup quarterback for the past three years.
“He started playing football as an eighth grader,” King said of Bishop. “He’s the starting shortstop on the baseball team and is a great kid — super hard worker, very athletic.”
C.J. Cypher is a local rising freshman who has stood out during his time playing for Carrollton Middle School.
“He’s going to be a really, really talented football player,” King said of Cypher. “A name to know — whether he wins the battle this year or not, he’s going to be a really good player for us down the road.”
Mason Holtzclaw is a three-star rising senior transfer coming from Christ School in Arden, N.C. who set himself apart from multiple quarterbacks seeking to transfer to Carrollton over the offseason.
“I had five quarterbacks on a national level — I’m talking about one from Minnesota, one from Miami, one from out west, two from somewhere else — they all emailed me and said, ‘Coach, we want to come and play for you and Carrollton,’ ” King said.
But with one phrase, the field narrowed down.
“I told every one of them the same thing. I said, ‘I’ve got a rising senior and a rising freshman that we feel really good about,’ and immediately they responded, ‘Coach, thanks for your transparency, we’re going somewhere else,’ ” King said.
Holtzclaw and his family answered a bit differently.
“Because of the area and the opportunities his family had, they were really considering us, and (Holtzclaw) said, ‘Coach, we know you’re the best in the business when it comes to quarterback play, and we know the history and the tradition at Carrollton. We want to come in and compete for a job,’ ” King said. “That doesn’t happen.”
King compared the high school situation to the college transfer portal and how many times when athletes find themselves in adversity or a position battle, they flee.
“They don’t want to compete,” King said. “They don’t want to fight. They don’t want to work for something. So, for that kid to say that and come into this situation with two other really, really good quarterbacks — to me that says a lot about who he is as a young man.”
King and the Trojans completed their third day of spring practice on Friday, and the evaluation process has already begun.
“They’re battling it out,” King said. “We’ll grade every single thing that they do, every rep they take. We go through it all with a fine-tooth comb, and at the end of the day, the best one’s going to play. That’s my job: to play the best ones.”
Carrollton’s final day of spring ball will be Thursday, May 15.
The regular season starts with a scrimmage at home on August 8.
- Tucker Cole, Sports Editor for Times-Georgian Newspaper