All the football talent in the world won't translate into a college scholarship unless there's book smarts to accompany it. Increasingly, Augusta-area athletes are making the grade and meeting NCAA entrance requirements.

``We had some athletes here in the past that could have played major-college football, but what stopped a bunch of kids was academics,'' says Aiken coach Carey Johnson. ``The academic level is getting better. Kids are realizing early on that they're not going to get a chance if they don't have the grades. They're concentrating much better on what's important.''

Coaches, parents and counselors deserve credit for stressing the issue from junior high onward. Practices, by and large, are ending earlier - often by 7 p.m. - so players will have time to study when they get home.

What's more, coaches will often identify top freshmen prospects and provide extra tutoring and guidance to keep the college dream alive.

``A lot of our coaches understand what it takes to get a kid into Division I-A,'' says Lown. ``If you don't identify a kid in the eighth grade and start channeling him into the proper classes, it's over with.''

Silver Bluff has sent players to Vanderbilt, Northwestern and Navy in the '90s. Not bad for a tiny Class AA school in Petticoat Junction, S.C.

``For so long you had so many guys that didn't qualify,'' Chavous says. ``Finally, you started getting an influx of guys who began to actually take the academics as seriously as they should. When you see more and more guys go to schools like Vanderbilt and Northwestern and Rice, that gets the young guys in the area more involved in academics.''

This area has long been blessed with football talent. (See all-time all-area team.) From Pat Dye to Emerson Boozer to Chip Banks to Herschel Walker to the Perry brothers to Garrison Hearst to Takeo Spikes and onward, Greater Augusta-Aiken has produced its share of great ones.

But what's different these days is the depth of talent.

Coaches credit a number of factors for this. Improved weight-training programs make a difference. Several schools participate in offseason weight-lifting competitions, which enable prospects to make year-round improvement.

The advent of summer passing leagues helps, too. And the feeder systems, at junior high and below, have gotten stronger. That boosts the numbers on varsity rosters and thereby increases scholarship possibilities.

Trailblazers.

Every journey must begin with a single step. For the current trend in Augusta-Aiken area football, that step may have been Mathew Campbell's decision to sign with South Carolina in 1990.

The standout tight end became the first player from North Augusta to sign a Division I-A scholarship since Pat Collins in 1975. Today, the Yellow Jackets have five alumni among the nation's top 113 college programs.

Similar trails were blazed at other high schools. Troy Tolbert got the ball rolling at Josey. Chavous and D'Wayne Bates energized the Silver Bluff community. Robert Edwards did the same at Washington County.

``It's kind of a contagious thing,'' Lown says. ``What has happened is so many good players have come out of this area that other kids start to pay attention. More kids recognize what it takes academically and athletically to get there.''

Lance Thompson, Georgia Tech's recruiting coordinator, has noticed the same trend.

``That's the great thing about your community,'' Thompson says. ``Now they see that all these kids are off playing Division I-A football, and kids are saying, `Hey, I can do that, too. Hey, I want to be like them.'

``It's the old Be-Like-Mike philosophy.''

And once the momentum takes hold, there's no telling where the boomlet ends.

``Success breeds success,'' Thompson says. ``Some small towns, if they don't see anybody do better, they don't aspire. But if they see the older kids go on to play college football, they aspire to join them. They try to see what they can do.''

In the old days, high school coaches were reluctant to get too involved in the recruiting process. And frankly, they really didn't need to.

Under previous NCAA rules, college recruiters could evaluate young talent so extensively that the athletic wheat was easily sorted from the chaff.

Things are different today. NCAA rules severely limit the number of times college recruiters are allowed to assess a prospect's talents. That puts a premium on two more recent phenomena - highlight tapes and oral recommendations.

At North Augusta, head coach Joe Long sends his prospects over to Wal-Mart and has them buy a 12-pack of blank videotapes for less than $20. He then helps those players dub their proudest moments from tall stacks of game tapes, gives them dozens of addresses for college football offices and sends them to the post office.

At Washington County, coach Rick Tomberlin and his staff compile recruiting packets for each of the program's college prospects. Included in each packet is a highlight film, transcript, recent report card, statistics, photo and other pertinent data about the player.

``We want our kids to stand out,'' Tomberlin says. ``College coaches recruit so many kids, we want to give them more than just a name on a piece of paper. We're not exactly on the beaten path down here in Sandersville. We're not close to a major airport. We have to try to lure them in and make it worth their while.''

By Tomberlin's count, 37 Division I-A schools stopped by in May. On one particularly heady day, recruiters from Notre Dame and Michigan sat in Tomberlin's office - together - and a coach from Alabama came by in the afternoon.

``We always had good athletes at Washington County when I was growing up, but there was nobody that knew what to do with them or how to get their names out there,'' says Spikes, now a star linebacker at Auburn. ``Coach Tomberlin is the main reason a lot of guys at our school are getting the opportunity to go to college. He's always coming through for us. He's gone overboard for us, working with us and making sure people know about us.''

Tomberlin is part of a new breed of high school coaches. Younger, more energetic, more willing to work 80-hour weeks. Without them, this boom might not be happening.

``When I was coming up, I don't think coaches promoted kids like they should have,'' says Long, who has coached at North Augusta, his alma mater, since 1979. ``Over the years, I've taken it upon myself to work at trying to get our kids scholarships. You've got to build relationships with recruiters. There's nothing better than when you see those kids signing those scholarships.''

Innovation is great, but college football coaches like to stick with what works.

If a high school wins a state championship, they figure there must be a reason. If a school produces a top-level football player in a given year, it's that much more likely to do so again.

``They talk,'' Long says of college recruiters. ``They're all in that little fraternity. They see each other on the road all the time. They're all trying to get the same people, year in and year out.''

Once a particular high school is added to a recruiter's route, it's likely to stay there.

``Last year was a zoo around here,'' says Aiken's Johnson. ``We had at least 50 or 60 different schools visit. We've seen them all the way from Air Force and Notre Dame to LSU and Michigan, Virginia and Florida State. Baylor was here. They just come from all parts of the country.''

And they're still coming.

``Once the doors are open,'' Johnson says, ``they pretty much keep in contact with you.''

Georgia Tech's Thompson has noticed the increased competition for area players. He also understands the reason.

``When you talk about football in Georgia, it always used to be Valdosta,'' Thompson says. ``Later, it became Valdosta and Southwest DeKalb. Now, you watch ESPN and you see Takeo Spikes and Chris Edwards and Deon Grant and you say, `Hmmm. Augusta, Augusta, Augusta.'''

WHERE DOES it go from here? Will the trend continue to build, will area players keep signing with Division I-A schools until someday, perhaps a decade down the road, 48 seems like a comparatively small number? Or will it fall off?

Or will the boom go bust? Will this glory period of the mid-'90s prove to be nothing more than a cyclical spike in the talent curve? Will college recruiters go back to the security of the Valdostas and the Southwest DeKalbs, venturing into the Greater Augusta-Aiken area only when a blue-chip prospect beckons?

Chavous casts his vote for the former scenario. He sees what his contemporaries are doing and he just knows opportunities and accomplishments for area football products will become even greater.

``I think it will continue,'' Chavous says. ``What's happening has been great for our area, and it should help younger guys get more involved in football. It should help prevent them from doing as many deviant things when they see the success some guys have had through sports.

``We've been able to go ahead and continue our careers, not only at good schools athletically but also at good schools academically. That should provide a lot of hope for a lot of young guys. That's the main message - hope.''

In the classroom. On the football field. And in the shopping malls.

Comparison

The Augusta-Aiken Metropolitan Statistical Area boasts 471,000 residents and 48 products playing Division I-A football. Here's how some other areas of similar size rank on the college football scene:

Area -- Pop. -- No.

Steady stream

Augusta-Aiken area has seen the number of high school football players sign Division I-A scholarships on National Signing Day steadily increase in the 1990s:

Top notch

A list by high school of the Augusta-Aiken area products that will play Division I-A college football this fall:
Washington County (6): Takeo Spikes (Auburn), Robert Edwards (Georgia), Chris Edwards (Georgia Tech), Jeremy Brett (Florida State), Demetro Stephens (Florida State), Chris Horne (Alabama)
North Augusta (5): Fred Vinson (Vanderbilt), T.J. Watkins (Clemson), Calvin Owens (South Carolina), Steve Mixon (South Carolina), Johnny Metoyer (Vanderbilt)
Lakeside (5): David Rivers (Virginia), Todd Stanford (Texas Christian), Mark Spinner (Rice), Andy Kardian (Georgia), Ryan Sprague (Florida State)
Josey (4): Deon Grant (Tennessee), Troy Tolbert (Georgia Tech), John Fielding (Alabama), Shaun Williams (Alabama)
Silver Bluff (4): D'Wayne Bates (Northwestern), Corey Chavous (Vanderbilt), Quentin Neals (N.C. State), John Chavous (Navy)
Aiken (4): Rashad Reynolds (Rice), Jamal Reynolds (Florida State), Neely Page (Clemson), Mike Abrams (Virginia)
Burke County (2): Mercedes Hamilton (Tennessee), Buck Buxton (Tennessee)
Evans (2): Seth Kirkland (Georgia), Levar Johnson (Duke)
Richmond Academy (2): Travers Paine (Georgia), Cordes Owen (Georgia Tech)
Strom Thurmond (2): Ryght Jordan (South Carolina), Jason Cox (South Carolina)

Washington-Wilkes (2): Nick Calloway (Georgia), Ed Wilder (Georgia Tech)
Allendale-Fairfax (1): Raymond Priester (Clemson)
Barnwell (1): Henry Taylor (South Carolina)
Butler (1): Chris Brown (Georgia Tech)
Emanuel County Institute (1): Titus Nelson (Georgia Tech)
Glenn Hills (1): Gary Ellison (Hawaii)
Greene-Talliaferro (1): Brandon Miller (Georgia)
Screven County (1): Anthony Lonon (Georgia)
Swainsboro (1): Shannon Wadley (South Carolina)
Thomson (1): Alphonso Collins (East Carolina)
Westside (1): John Barksdale (N.C. State)