Zeier, Mason on ballot for inaugural Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame class

The first group of nominees for the inaugural class of the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame was released Thursday, and it includes two former Cobb County and Georgia quarterbacks.

Marietta High School alum Eric Zeier will be on the ballot of the players from the 1990s, while Lassiter’s Hutson Mason will be represented in the first decade of the 2000s.

In all, 32 of the first 100 players on the inaugural ballot were released during the broadcast of the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame Jamboree at North Gwinnett. Players from seven different time periods were included — pre-1950s, 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and 2000s, as well as players from the segregated Black schools that made up the Georgia Interscholastic Association (1948-69).

There are expected to be at least two inductees from each decade in the inaugural class.

Zeier played at Marietta for two seasons. He was an all-state honorable mention in 1989 before becoming the all-classification Player of the Year and a Parade All-American in 1990.

Zeier went on to Georgia, where he finished his college career in 1994 as a first-team All-American and the Southeastern Conference’s all-time leading passer with 11,153 yards and 67 touchdowns.

A third-round pick of the Cleveland Browns in 1995, Zeier spent six years in the NFL with the Browns, Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He finished his professional career with 3,520 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Mason helped usher in the trend of up-tempo offenses into Cobb County.

In 2008, his first year as a starter at Lassiter, Mason threw for 3,705 yards — missing the state passing record by 5 yards — and was named the Class AAAAA Offensive Player of the Year. The following year, he obliterated the state mark, throwing for 4,650 yards, 54 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Mason was named the 2009 all-classification Player of the Year, a Parade All-American and the Georgia Gatorade Player of the Year.

At Georgia, Mason was 11-4 as a starter. He also set the Bulldogs’ single-season mark for pass completion percentage at 67.9%.

In addition to their playing careers in Cobb County and at Georgia, Zeier and Mason share a current common link in broadcasting — Zeier as the color commentator for Georgia’s radio network, and Mason working as a host for 680 the Fan and as a color commentator for ESPN.

Other players nominated Thursday include George Maloof (Marist), Bill Curry (College Park) and Pat Dye (Richmond Academy) from the early years, Emerson Boozer (Laney) and Otis Sistrunk (Spencer) from the GIA, Herschel Walker (Johnson County) and George Rogers (Duluth) from the 1970s, Garrison Hearst (Lincoln County), Charlie Ward (Central-Thomasville) and Pat Swilling (Stephens County) from the ’80s, Takeo Spikes (Washington County), Jeff Saturday (Shamrock) and Hines Ward (Forest Park) from the ’90s and Eric Berry (Creekside) and Rennie Curran (Brookwood) in the 2000s.

Nine nominees who have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame will get automatic induction into the high school hall — Calvin Johnson (Sandy Creek), Champ Bailey (Charlton County), Ray Guy (Thomson), Fran Tarkenton (Athens), Mel Blount (Lyons Industrial), Shannon Sharpe (Glennville), Richard Dent (Murphy-Atlanta), Rayfield Wright (Fairmont-Griffin) and Jim Parker (Ballard-Hudson).

The inaugural class will be inducted Oct. 22 at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.