The Only High School That Has a Bigger Video Board Than Alabama

After seeing the new video display board at Norcross High School for the first time, current Blue Devils star Jarett Cole was at a loss for words.

“Outrageous!” the 3-star safety and current Georgia Tech commitment said.

Cole is one of the lucky few students and teachers at the metro Atlanta school who have seen what is now the largest video board of any prep program in the entire country.

As Todd Holcomb of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution details, the new scoreboard features 1,513 feet of video space, which makes it larger than SEC power Alabama’s board.

According to Kirk Barton, who is the activities director at NHS, the project came about when Blue Devils head coach Keith Maloof and some parents of the athletes started discussing replacing the old scoreboard.

“[The old scoreboard] was about 15 or 16 years old and outdated,” Barton explained. “We found a company called Formetco who really jumped on board and was able to expand on Coach Maloof’s vision for the project. The parents went out and solicited private donations for this. There were no school funds or booster funds used for this project. It was all private donations, and they got it taken care of.”

Jock Gibb, the vice president of sales at Formetco, said Maloof was adamant about building a board that could become a teaching tool for students.

“His deal was he wanted something where the students would be involved with it,” Gibb said. “He wanted them to create all the content and handle the production for the board.”

Gibb also notes that they installed a simple software program that helps the board switch sports at the touch of a button.

The installation process took almost two weeks, and the scoreboard will officially be unveiled on Aug. 19.

“We are having our pep rally for fall sports in the stadium that day,” Barton said. “We will introduce all of the teams, and the football team will be preparing for our opener in the Georgia Dome that weekend. It will be unveiled then, and there will be a ceremony for the board.”

Barton said that a few students and teachers caught glimpses of the video board when it was being tested.

“Some of our teachers who are upstairs were able to see it when it was on,” Barton said. “I had several of them come to my office and tell me it was like watching TV outside of their window."

Credit: Norcross High School

Cole said the new scoreboard has created a sense of excitement for the students.

“People are talking about it on social media,” Cole said. “It’s probably on Instagram and Snapchat a lot. I know people are taking pictures of it for that.”

Since the board will be welcomed in during the upcoming football season, Cole said it’s given the Blue Devils more reason to anticipate the home opener against Milton on Sept. 4

“I feel like it’s going to give us a little bit more motivation because we have the biggest high school scoreboard in the nation,” Cole said. “It’s crazy right now. It’s going to be awesome when we do the grand opening. Hopefully, we produce on the field and keep it working a lot this season.”

Sanjay Kirpalani is a National Recruiting Analyst for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained firsthand and all recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.