written by: Gabriel Stovall 
COVINGTON, Ga. — Newton football coach Josh Skelton gets a sly smile and a gleam in his eye when you ask him about Josiah Frazier.
Then he gives the biggest compliment a coach can give a young signal caller.
“With Josiah, the whole playbook is open,” Skelton said. “We don’t put any restraints on him.”
Frazier is Newton’s sophomore star-in-the-making quarterback who’s helped the Rams get off to a 5-0 start.
Now, 5-0 starts in themselves are rarefied air for Newton. Only two other Rams squads have had one — Skelton’s first team in 2023 which won its first seven games of the season — and the 1950 squad.
But this year’s 5-0 start is different because the talent behind center for Newton is different.
So far, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound sophomore has played like someone who’s been in full command of his offense for years.
Frazier’s completed 53 of 80 passes for 895 yards and 17 touchdowns to just 3 interceptions so far this season.
He’s made plays in clutch moments to win close games, like the off-platform roll-out dart he threw to Devin Barber to keep a crucial, late-game drive alive in Newton’s season-opening 34-27 double overtime win at Douglas County. He’d later find Barber again for the game-winning score.
Frazier’s also pushed the killer instinct onto his offense in back-to-back 71-point games against Locust Grove and Warner Robins.
That’s saying a lot, considering Newton boasts a bevy of talent, including top-ranked 2028 running back Kevin Hartsfield who, according to 247sports.com, is a four-star prospect with close to 50 Power 4 and Division I offers.
In the two aforementioned contests combined, Frazier connected on 13-of-15 passes for 377 yards and 9 touchdowns with no turnovers.
Poor competition, you say?
Well, what about a 17-of-23, 246-yard, 3-touchdown performance in a mildly shocking 42-15 rout of Roswell — rated by MaxPreps as the No. 14 team in the state regardless of classification?
It’s the kind of quarterback play and potential Skelton says he’s never seen at Newton in the 15 total years he’s been there as an assistant coach first and now head coach.
“Definitely no slight to the other guys who’ve been here because we’ve had some good ones,” Skelton said. “But Joe’s different. He walks like a quarterback. Talks like a quarterback. Thinks like a quarterback every day of the week. He walks around here every day like he should be the number one guy.
“We’ve had some talented guys here. Had some athletes who played quarterback, but we’ve never had many who took the position seriously like he does.”
ASSEMBLY LINE QUARTERBACK
Skelton’s 15-year tenure at Newton includes 11 seasons as an assistant coach where he served in various roles including on the defensive side of the ball. But he’s perhaps most known for his work in the Newton High weight room.
The rigor of Skelton’s weight room and conditioning program is legendary throughout the annals of Newton football lore. Frazier’s ability to get through it without flinching was one of Skelton’s first clues into the kind of work ethic he had.
“He had to endure a Newton offseason, which anybody who’s been here since I’ve been here can tell you is definitely hard,” Skelton said. “He did it and came every day. Hard day, tears in his eyes. It didn’t matter. He did everything was asked of him. He comes from a good family who’s on the same page with how we like to train a kid, so it allows us to push him as much as we want.”
Frazier’s familiarity with how Skelton trains his athletes didn’t begin in high school, though.
It started when Frazier was — in Skelton’s words — “a chubby 5th grader.”
“I wasn’t a very confident kid back then,” Frazier said. “I was always good, but I wasn’t the strongest or the fastest kid when I first started. But coach Skelton worked with me since the dirt, so he’s built me up to where I am right now.”
There’s proof of it, in fact.
While speaking of Frazier, Skelton pulled out his cell phone and scrolled back to an Instagram video of him spotting Frazier on the bench press just before Frazier started middle school.
Skelton followed some of Frazier’s progress from when he began playing quarterback in 8u ball. He grabbed hold of him early because he realized that was the “cheat code” needed to give the Rams something unprecedented to Newton Rams football at the quarterback position.
“You look not just at our school, but at the county, and you realize we never really had a guy that could be just a true star specifically at quarterback,” Skelton said. “We’ve had stars at just about every other position on the field, but not quarterback.
“So, I asked the question: ‘Why can Cobb County find guys at that position and Gwinnett and DeKalb counties and Newton never can?’ It’s because we’ve been waiting for these guys to walk through the door. We’re waiting for them to be ballin’ out at Clements or Cousins [Middle School], and the reality is, if we want those guys, we gotta create them.
“We’ve got to find him as a fifth or sixth grader and mold him through ninth grade until they’re ready to go.”
Frazier spent his sixth grade year at Cousins Middle School in Covington, then went to Bay Creek Middle — a Grayson High School feeder — in Gwinnett County. By the time he arrived at Newton as a high school freshman, he was already showing signs of what he could become.
“His arm talent and physical ability alone was probably better than Deron [Benson] when he walked through the door,” Skelton said, comparing Frazier to Newton’s 2025 senior starter at quarterback.
“Physically he was better, but he still had to learn Deron’s attitude and how Deron approached the game. Deron has probably won the most games here as quarterback than anyone else. He was really one of the first guys since I’ve been here to take that position seriously. Deron has beaten Grayson. Deron knew how to win, so, I think Joe learned from Deron and looked up to him.”
No argument from Frazier.
“Deron Benson, man, he was amazing,” Frazier said. “He was a great mentor. a lot of mistakes he made when he was younger, he taught me how to learn from those. So, having him by my side as a freshman when he was a senior, I definitely looked up to him. He helped me out a lot.”
RESULTS BEGINNING TO SPEAK
It hasn’t taken long for college coaches to get the memo on Frazier’s upside. In fact, the way the sophomore QB got his first Power 4 offer was shrouded in irony.
“I was on the game playing NCAA Football. I was playing with Texas A&M,” Frazier said. “[Quarterback] Marcel Reid.”
While simulating the video game likeness of the quarterback he says he patterns his game after, a notification popped up on his phone.
“Coach Skelt texted me and said, ‘Send me a football picture of yourself ASAP.’ I sent the pic and asked what was going on. He didn’t respond for, like, 20 minutes, so I went back to the game.”
The next notification on Frazier’s phone came from the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). It was from Skelton’s account.
“2029 QB Josiah Frazier @josiahQbnice offered by #BostonCollege,” the post said.
Suddenly, video game Marcel Reid and Texas A&M had to wait.
“I dropped the game and started going crazy, and as I’m going to my dad, he saw it before me,” Frazier said. “My dad doesn’t really show too much emotion, but he was proud of me. I told the rest of my household. They were all proud of me, and I got my praise.”
Ironically, the offer came back in July before Frazier ever played a down of his sophomore season.
No time for hubris, though. Since Boston College’s overture, it’s been nothing but game highlights — including the Douglas County game-winner dart to Devin Barber, who’s also received a Boston College offer — and more hard work.
And more college attention.
“He’s been to visits at Georgia, he was at the Auburn-Florida game,” Skelton said. He’s going to get that attention if he continues to play like he’s playing. I don’t think there’s another ’29 kid at that position in the state of Georgia, in his class, that’s playing above him right now.”
Beyond the God-given talent and skill is a sponge of an athlete who works like a dog.
“You know how some guys, after a game on Friday night, they put the football down until Monday practice,” Skelton said. “That’s not Josiah. He’s out here on Saturday morning after a game throwing. Out here with his guys. Sunday film study. He’s working seven days a week.”
Frazier says the Boston College offer pushed him even more.
“After that, I knew I couldn’t get my head too high,” he said. “You know, people are going to say what they say online, and that’s great, and I appreciate that. But I can’t drink the poison. I got the offer, that’s great too. But the goal is not just one offer. We want to go to the top. We want the ceiling. I want to be the best quarterback in the country. I want everyone to know that. My work ethic is plus one thousand, and I’m still trying to get there.”
The results for Skelton? A kid at quarterback who’s an extension of his coaching staff on the field which is a big reason why just about any Georgia high school football prognosticator you can find has Newton ranked in the state’s top five regardless of classification.
And if you see Newton doing things on offense you’re not accustomed to seeing the Rams do, well, now you know why.
“Now, we’re in a position where we’ve got a quarterback who — this guy has incredible arm talent. His brain and IQ is second to none,” Skelton said. “This has been my vision since I got the head job — to have a guy like this. We’re at the point where we can call two or three plays or play variations on the sideline and give him the freedom to choose between them when he gets out on the field. It opens up our creativity. There’s no limit to what we can do.
“If we can conceptualize it, we can execute it with him.”
And the things that Newton’s coaching brain trust is cooking up on the sidelines and in practice are the kind of stuff Skelton says can help Newton make a run at a state championship.
“We’ve always had good players at Newton,” he said. “We’ve always had a good defense. Good running backs, DBs, and receivers. But who we needed to be to win a championship, that quarterback position is vital. Teams aren’t getting to Atlanta — to Mercedes-Benz — without difference makers at that position. This kid, with the match of the guys around him, it’s the perfect blend.
“It gives us everything we need to do what we haven’t yet done here.”
