One of Savannah’s most prestigious football programs has one of the area’s marquee players slated to suit up as its starting quarterback for a second straight season this fall, and a team accustomed to the spotlight will have plenty of eyeballs on it all year thanks to the signal-caller.
Holden Geriner, a rising junior coming off his first starting campaign as the 
Cadet QB in 2019, is likely the highest ranked quarterback recruit to play in Savannah in recent memory. A pro-style prospect in the class of 2022 with scholarship offers already from Georgia, LSU, Auburn, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Florida State, Michigan, West Virginia and others, Geriner is as highly-touted as they come.
Still, the 6-foot-3, 190-pounder insists improvement from himself is needed entering Year 2 as the Benedictine QB. So, he has been using this off-season to keep getting better (and keep getting college offers). One of the things Geriner has chosen to do since the summer began has required him to travel regularly, a couple hours south down Interstate-95, to Jacksonville, Fla.
There, he trains with a quarterback coach aiming to improve mechanical aspects of his play.
“(Going) down to Jacksonville with my quarterback trainer (Denny Thompson) has allowed me to really get better physically as a quarterback,” said Geriner from Savannah during a July phone call with PSR. “I’ve already grown a lot physically just as a quarterback.
“The (COVID-19 abnormalities this off-season) have hurt some things we can do as a team or on our own, but it’s actually helped some too with more time to correct some things.”
While facing stiff competition in the early going during non-region contests, Geriner says he learned quickly in 2019 that things move a little faster at the varsity level in south Georgia. The speed of the game, he says, can only be grasped with experience and attention to detail during the off-season and practice reps.
“Definitely the speed of everything caught me kind off guard especially in the first couple games,” he said. “And yeah, it’s just getting to where the speed of the game -- you have to be able to slow it all down in your head and make the correct choices with the ball.
“That’s something I’m going to be better at this year, the mental aspect.”
Geriner threw for 1,405 yards and 14 touchdowns (12 interceptions) as a sophomore for the Cadets last year. He completed 109 passes on 234 attempts (47-percent) to lead a young squad coached by Danny Britt into the second round of the GHSA Class 3A playoffs and an 8-4 overall record as a state No. 2 seed behind Region 3-3A winner Jenkins.
This season, Geriner returns to lead what should be an explosive offense more heavily reliant on the right arm of Geriner and electric playmaking abilities of receiver Trent Broadnax (Duke commit), running back Leshon Brooks (700 rushing yards, eight TDs in 2019) and others on a loaded offensive depth chart for Britt and Offensive Coordinator Trevor Coleman.
“We have a lot of different guys (on offense) who can do a lot of different things with the ball in open space,” said Geriner. “I don’t think 2019 was the season we were hoping for as a team. It didn’t go how we wanted it to, but I think, in 2020, everyone’s goal is to win a state championship.”
He hasn’t set any timelines for making his decision on a college choice, or even for narrowing his lengthy list of offers down to serious landing spots, but Geriner believes his play on the field will continue to be his top priority. In the meantime, he wants to simply continue enjoying the recruiting process as it happens.
“I’m just going to take my time, taking it all in right now and letting it play out however long it needs to,” said Geriner when asked to update the status of his recruitment being closely followed by college fans from schools across the country. “I’m still looking at all of my options as they come in.
“We’ll see how it goes. That’s pretty much the only update for right now.”
Follow Geriner on Twitter @HoldenGeriner.
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