Mercer, Reinhardt Set To Launch Football Programs

ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia’s state college football landscape is rapidly changing.

Mercer is back in the football business for the first time since 1941. Reinhardt University has a new program that starts this season. Kennesaw State will play its first season in 2014.

Georgia State, Point (formerly Atlanta Christian College), LaGrange and Shorter also added programs in the last decade. That gives the state 17 college teams.

The coaches of the new teams say the real winners are high school players who no longer have to leave the state to play on the college level if they’re not offered scholarships by Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern or other state schools with longer traditions.

Mercer coach Bobby Lamb says Georgia needed the new programs to catch up with other states.