Commercial and Residential Locksmiths in Milton, GA

With one announcing on Christmas, the other on New Year’s Day, two Wisconsin high school football players say they plan to enroll at two-time state champion Milton for the 2025 season.

It’s not unusual in Georgia for high-profile high school athletes to transfer, especially to destinations such as Milton, which finished No. 2 in six national polls this season. But two players announcing long-distance moves on social media with matching artwork might be a new one.

Milton coach Ben Reaves, working Thursday at the Under Armour All-America Game in DeLand, Florida, said he didn’t know the Wisconsin players.

Bentley Hickman, a 2026 running back who played last season at Homestead High in Mequon, posted his intentions Wednesday on X (formerly known as Twitter). “I am so so thankful for what Homestead High School and the district has done for me,” the post read. “The community, the love and support that I got there was incredible. But I will actually be finishing my last year at Milton High School in Georgia!”

Hickman tagged Milton and football coach Reaves.

New year, New beginnings… I am so so thankful for what Homestead High School and the district has done for me. The community, the love and support that I got there was incredible. But I will actually be finishing my last year at Milton High School in Georgia!@CoachBenReaves… pic.twitter.com/l0wYSoMBHD

— Bentley Hickman ‘26 RB (@bentley_hickman) January 1, 2025

A week earlier, the quarterback of Milwaukee Academy of Science, Brayln Albritton, made a similar X post with the same artwork with Milton’s school logo and a photo of Milton’s field and stadium. Albritton also is a rising senior.

I’m extremely thankful for everything Milwaukee academy of science have done for me but with that being said I will be finishing my highschool career at Milton highschool in GA @CoachBenReaves pic.twitter.com/9WFlR2g89E

— Brayln Albritton ,2026 (@braylnA) December 25, 2024

Albritton’s X profile says he is 6 feet, 4 inches and 215 pounds. He posted that he passed for 2,830 yards and 20 touchdowns last season.

Bentley indicated he is 5-10, 205 pounds and rushed for 944 yards, despite missing three games last season.

Reaves said he would sort things out when he returned from Thursday’s All-Star game.

“I honestly don’t know them or know anything about them,” Reaves said. “Whenever we get back to work I’ll be able to see if they’re enrolled and who they are.”

Milton’s leading passer, Luke Nickel, and rusher, T.J. Lester, were seniors this season. Nickel was The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s all-classification player of the year. Lester rushed for 1,848 yards and signed with West Georgia.

Both Wisconsin players are college prospects, though neither has a profile on recruiting sites On3 or 247Sports, which would mean they aren’t rated as major Division I recruits yet. Nine Milton seniors signed with ACC or SEC programs last month, and all were showing up as three-star recruits or higher on recruiting sites a year ago.

Milton and many other top Georgia programs are accustomed to players moving in. Several of Milton’s starters this past season began their high school careers elsewhere. They included tight end Ethan Barbour, a Georgia signee who played the 2023 season at Alpharetta, and offensive lineman Brayden Jacobs, a Clemson signee who came from Buford. Jacobs arrived just days before Milton’s first game, which was against Jacobs’ former team. Both made first-team all-state with Milton.

To be eligible in Georgia, the Wisconsin players must move into the Milton district with their entire family units.

The most recent high-profile, out-of-state transfer coming to Georgia was Jake Garcia in 2020. A quarterback from California, Garcia moved to Valdosta because California was not playing football during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Georgia High School Association ruled Garcia ineligible after one game because Garcia didn’t move with his entire family. He then transferred to Grayson and won a state title. The GHSA since changed the rule to say that athletes ineligible at one school cannot be immediately eligible at another.

This past season, quarterback Hezekiah Millender came to Clarke Central from Arizona. He surprisingly wound up in Georgia’s signing class after being committed to Boise State for almost four months.

The overwhelming majority of transfers go smoothly.

MILTON, Ga. — More than 60 Georgia cities, representing over a quarter of the state population, have joined Milton in its effort to have the Georgia Supreme Court review and overturn a $35 million wrongful death verdict.

City officials say the ruling, if left to stand, would have severe consequences for every city in the state.

News

At the Jan. 6 City Council meeting, Milton City Attorney Ken Jarrard said the show of support is unprecedented in his three decades practicing law in the state.

The Chang v. City of Milton court case has major implications for local taxpayers. Chang, a senior with a full-ride scholarship to Yale University, died Nov. 18, 2016, after hitting a concrete planter along Batesville Road on his way home during Thanksgiving break.

The family sued for wrongful death, and in June 2023, a Fulton County State Court jury awarded damages of $32.5 million. The court found sufficient evidence of negligence and cited inconsistent testimony on the part of the city.

Milton lost on appeal when the Georgia Court of Appeals upheld the lower court decision in September 2024. The city has since petitioned the Georgia Supreme Court to overturn the ruling.

Milton News

Milton’s defense rested on sovereign immunity, the state’s constitutional doctrine intended to protect municipalities from lawsuits.

The appellate decision, if it stands, will have implications for Georgia residents, especially those living in incorporated cities. Because the planter was on city property in the right-of-way, judges issued an opinion citing Milton’s role in the death of the young man.

The appellate court ordered Milton to pay the victim’s family $32.5 million with post-judgement interest. In Georgia, post-judgement interest accrues at 11 percent. The Chang family’s legal representation, Harris Lowry Manton, confirmed that Milton’s potential bill grows around $10,000 a day, and the figure now stands at around $35 million.

During the Jan. 6 council meeting, City Attorney Jarrard went into detail about the concrete planter off Batesville Road, its location outside of the motoring lanes and several examples of similar fixed objects common throughout Georgia rights-of-way.

News

“Clearly the planter is on the city property, vis-à-vis the shoulder of the road, but it is not within the motoring lanes of travel,” Jarrard said. “The case is important and has taken on a bit of a life of its own from a liability perspective.”

As for why so many cities around the state supported Milton’s appeal, Jarrard boiled it down.

“If it is in fact the law … then every city in the state of Georgia needs to rethink its uses of right of way,” Jarrard said. “And that message has gotten out, and that’s really the point of this presentation today.”

Statewide support

While many cities signed onto a joint amicus brief, the Georgia Municipal Association, Georgia Power and the International Municipal Lawyers Association submitted their own. An amicus brief, or letter of support, allows organizations that are not a party to a legal case to provide information or arguments the court may want to consider.

The Georgia Municipal Association’s letter presented examples of fixed objects, just like the Batesville Road planter, which could harm or kill a motorist if they left the motoring lanes of travel.

“What is the commonality here? Fixed objects in the shoulder of the road, not in the motoring lanes of travel,” Jarrard said. “One of the unique factual developments in the Chang case was that the fixed object in the right-of-way on Batesville had not been the subject of any prior complaints or accidents and had been at that location for decades.”

Examples from the GMA include utility poles, mailboxes, fountains, subdivision markers and tombstones, which Jarrard said is nothing unusual. Jarrard asked the council to imagine driving down any roadway in the city.

“Not the motoring lanes of travel, not the pavement that your car travels upon, but that area just outside,” he said. “You would see a series, one after the other, of these fixed objects on the shoulder. And that is why the GMA, when it put together its brief to the Supreme Court, wanted the court to see what objects along the right-of-way looks like.”

The state’s largest city, Atlanta, and North Fulton County sister city Johns Creek also submitted their own support letters in mid-December.

Jarrard said he tasked Milton Mayor Peyton Jamison with leading the charge to spread the word about what the court’s ruling could mean statewide.

He also said a multi-city brief, signed by 58 municipalities, is an “extraordinary groundswell of support.”

Milton residents speak up

At an Oct. 7 City Council meeting, several Milton residents asked the city to stop fighting the lawsuit and pay the restitution. Others criticized the Georgia Interlocal Risk Management Agency, or GIRMA, which the city says has sole authority on the settlement claims.

“Let me be clear that neither city officials nor our legal counsel played any part in defending the city during this case,” Jamison wrote in a statement. “It was taken out of our hands.”

The role of the city’s insurer is significant in the case because GIRMA attorneys rejected seven settlement offers, ranging from $1.75 to $10 million, just before the trial.

On top of rejecting settlement offers before trial, the city’s insurance policy through GIRMA covers only $2 million of the potential financial exposure. It means the city and its taxpayers are on the hook for at least $33 million.

Adam Hollingsworth, president of the local committee Milton Families First, said GIRMA attorneys failed to protect Milton taxpayers and called their legal counsel “underqualified.”

In early December, Milton announced that GIRMA secured former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Melton and his law firm Troutman Pepper to lead a drive to have the case reviewed by the state’s highest court.

City Attorney Jarrard said it’s “the best team we can assemble to argue to the Georgia Supreme Court that they take a look at the Court of Appeals decision.”

Milton officials seemed optimistic at the Jan. 6 meeting, citing historical precedent and support representing more than 2.5 million Georgians.

“The City of Milton has a stewardship obligation to ensure that it is not financially responsible for anything that the law does not demand we be finically responsible for,” Jarrard said. “There is nothing wrong, and in fact we have a duty to undertake those functions, and that’s what we’ve done.”

A response to Milton’s petition to the Georgia Supreme is due Jan. 16.

Bentley Hickman announced on New Year's Day that he will be leaving Homestead for Georgia's top football program; Becomes second Wisconsin player in the last week to announce intentions to attend Milton

Bentley Hickman/X

First it was one of the state of Wisconsin's top signal callers leaving for Georgia.

Now add one of the state's top running backs as well. Homestead running back Bentley Hickman made it be known on New Year's Day that he plans to head over to one of the Southeast's top high school football programs.

The 2026 running back announced on X that he will be leaving Homestead and heading for Georgia Class 5A state champion Milton.

Down below is the post by the running back that he put up on Wednesday afternoon.

New year, New beginnings… I am so so thankful for what Homestead High School and the district has done for me. The community, the love and support that I got there was incredible. But I will actually be finishing my last year at Milton High School in Georgia!

Hickman is one of Wisconsin's top 2026 running backs and is coming off a strong 2024 campaign for Homestead. This past fall season, Hickman totaled 1,055 all-purpose yards and accounted for 11 touchdowns.

The 5-foot-10, 205-pound back follows in the footsteps of another Wisconsin product that plans to leave for Northwest Georgia, as 2026 quarterback Brayln Albritton announced back on Christmas that he will be leaving Milwaukee Academy of Science for Milton.

2026 Wisconsin Quarterback Announces Transfer To Georgia 5A Champion Milton

With Albritton coming in to compete for the job, the quarterback has been impressive during his time at Milwaukee Academy of Science. Albritton this past 2024 season ended up throwing for 2,830 yards and 29 touchdowns.

As a freshman in 2022 with MAOS, Albritton threw for 2,447 yards and 27 touchdowns.

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-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @highschoolonsi

Published Jan 2, 2025

ANDY VILLAMARZO

Andy Villamarzo has been a sports writer in the Tampa Bay (FL) Area since 2007, writing for publications such as Tampa Bay Times, The Tampa Tribune, The Suncoast News, Tampa Beacon, Hernando Sun to name a few. Andy resides out of the Tarpon Springs, FL area and started as a writer with SB Live Sports in the summer of 2022 covering the Tampa Bay Area. He has quickly become one of Florida's foremost authorities on high school sports, appearing frequently on podcasts, radio programs and digital broadcasts as an expert on team rankings, recruiting and much more.