UPDATE, Tuesday July 11, 12:52 p.m. : We're changing our deadline for nominations to 5 p.m. TODAY to be able to better meet our deadline schedules, so if you haven't already nominated a football player for our Cover Athlete Contest, do so NOW before the Twitter vote begins this evening! See details below!

We are less than six weeks away from the 2017 football season, which means we’re even closer than that to putting out our 2017 Football Preview magazine!

This year, we’re endeavoring to make this preview the absolute most comprehensive football preview you, our readers, have ever seen. That means we’re covering all the bases, from local middle and high schools to taking an in-depth look at Newton County athletes who are adorning college and NFL rosters. We’re throwing in UGA and Georgia Tech football previews as well.

But we’re also giving you, our valued readers, a chance to contribute. We have launched a contest designed to allow you to determine who our preview’s cover athlete will be.

Here’s how it works: From now until Tuesday July 11, you can nominate who you think should adorn our preview’s cover, either by accessing www.covnews.com/footballpreview to cast your nomination, or by emailing gstovall@covnews.com. The top eight nominations will then go to a Twitter vote-off on our Twitter page: @CovNewsSports where we’ll vote it down to two finalists. The winner of the finalists poll will be chosen as our cover athlete, will receive a professional photo shoot and be the subject of our Football Preview magazine’s cover story. Our preview will come out on Sunday August 13, right before the high school football season begins.

So don’t wait. Go and toss in your nomination now for our cover athlete, and be on the watch for our Twitter polls next week to help us determine the winner. If you have any questions, feel free to email gstovall@covnews.com, or call (678) 939-8808.