By Robert Wilson
Jackson Prep coach Doug Goodwin has coached many outstanding quarterbacks during his 32-year high school coaching career, including several in Alabama like Neal Lindsey at Lineville, and Goodwin’s two sons, Dusty and Devin, at Demopolis, and in Mississippi, Paxton Thompson and Billy Puckett at Prep.
He’s got another one in senior quarterback Luke Essary and he had one of the best games of his high school career Friday night.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Essary completed 13 of 15 passes, an 86.7 percent completion percentage, for 343 yards and five touchdowns – all in the first half – and led Prep to a 42-12 victory over Tri-County Academy at Tri-County in Florida.
For his outstanding performance, Essary has been named the Taste Restaurant/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Football Player of the Week.
Essary completed TD passes of 19 yards to Asher Reynolds and 76 yards to Jay Bennett in the first quarter, and 86 yards to Reynolds, 30 yards to Reynolds, and 10 yards to Hayes Grenfell in the second quarter against Tri-County.
The five TD passes in a game was one short of the school record of six set by Paxton Thompson in 2021. Essary threw for five TD passes last year against Lamar School.
His total of 343 yards was five short of his career high of 348 against Lamar last season as a junior.
Essary has completed 70.3 percent of his passes for 655 yards and 10 TDs and no interceptions for 4-0 Prep, ranked No. 2 in MAIS Class 4A and No. 10 in Mississippi this season.
“Luke had a great game Friday night,” saId Goodwin, who won 234 games in 27 seasons and was named to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame before moving to Mississippi where he has won 45 games in five seasons at Prep. “He threw some really good balls right on the money. Luke had good runs for first downs as well. He has played really well for us. He has a good understanding of our offense and what we want to accomplish on each play. Luke has worked extremely hard to get to this position. He has good size, a big time arm and he runs the ball when we ask him to. Luke has good pocket presence and will stand in there and deliver. He’s a good leader.”
Essary completed 62 percent of his passes for 2,201 yards and 18 TDs with only three interceptions and helped Prep to a 7-5 record last season as a junior. He played behind Billy Puckett, now the backup to Kamario Taylor at Mississippi State, two years ago as a sophomore.
Essary was a starter at shortstop at Prep last season as a junior and had a .333 batting average with 29 runs scored, 29 runs batted in, 5 doubles, 1 triple and 2 home runs.
Essary is the son of Stacie Essary and Kevin Essary. Stacie played tennis at Ripley, Tenn., High and graduated from the University of Memphis. Kevin was rated the No. 1 boys singles tennis player in Mississippi, played strong safety on a state championship football team and ran track while going to Jackson Academy. He played tennis at Jacksonville, Ala., State. Essary’s sister, Josie, played volleyball, was on the Pacer dance team and won a state doubles title in in tennis and helped the girls team win a state championship for the first time in 10 years in 2024 at Jackson Prep. She is a junior at the University of Arkansas.
Prep plays host to Madison-Ridgeland Academy, 3-1, in a MAIS Class 4A, District 2 game Friday night at Prep in Flowood.
Robert Wilson selects a football player of the week each week from teams from Hinds, Madison and Rankin counties. To contact Robert, text him at 601.506.2276.
