By Robert Wilson
Landon Varnes played in a lot of big moments as Brandon High’s starting quarterback, including two state championship games and many pressured-packed region and playoff games.
So it came as no surprise that Varnes stepped into the heat in his first game at the next level – a highly anticipated season opener at No. 2 and 2023 national junior college runner-up East Mississippi Community College – and had an outstanding performance and led Mississippi Gulf Coast CC to a 34-28 win.
Varnes completed 21 of 32 passes for 233 yards and five touchdowns without an interception and scored on a 1-yard run for the winning TD with 2 minues, 57 seconds to play in the fourth quarter.
He was named the National Offensive Player of the Week by the National Junior College Athletic Association and Noicey Sports, and the Mississippi Association of Coaches Community College’s Offensive Player of the Week.
Mississippi Gulf Coast trailed 28-21 in the fourth quarter, but Varnes led the Bulldogs on a 72-yard, 11-play scoring drive, and completed a 10-yard TD pass to former Brandon High teammate Lester Miller with 5:50 to play for a 28-28 tie.
Then East Mississippi had a high snap on a punt and Gulf Coast recovered on the East Mississippi 14. Four plays later, Varnes scored on his 1-yard run, for a 34-28 lead.
Varnes also completed TD passes to Tyler Henderson (10 yards in the first quarter), JP Coulter (10 yards in the second quarter) and Mason Beverly (9 yards in the third quarter).
Varnes, though, didn’t get off to a great start, but he shook it off to have a great game and led his team to victory.
“On the fourth play of the game, Landon dropped back to pass, and East ran a blitz we had not seen before on film and he took a hit on the chin,” said Gulf Coast CC coach Jack Wright, who has won two national championships in his seventh year as head coach at the school and has had seven All-Americans and sent 117 players on four-year schools, including 18 last season. “It was one of the hardest licks you would ever want to see. He got smoked. But this is what type of kid Landon is. He bounced back and led us on the next drive for a touchdown. His ability to recover from that was tremendous. Here is a kid who was playing high school last year. The weight of the moment didn’t bother him. I’ve had great players who it would take two or three games to get adjusted to this level, especially a big game like this. It really wasn’t fair to be thrown into this environment for his first game. He did incredibly well, considering everything.”
“I got a welcoming to college football moment on the first drive we went out,” Varnes said. “I really don’t think it did anything but calm me down because I knew how it felt. Going into the game, I really wasn’t nervous, very anxious to play, but I knew with the offensive line and the receivers I have that they would make plays and take the pressure off me so there really was never a need to be nervous. Coming back in the fourth quarter with your guys is just so surreal after all the hard work from the offseason and the summer. It was very rewarding, but as a unit we know we should have finished that game sooner. So all we can do from here is climb and keep getting better. I do believe playing in big games (with Brandon) prepared me for this, just the environment, the crowd, and the hype behind it. Obviously, at this level, guys move a little bit faster and hit a little harder, but 100 percent I say those moments prepared me to go into a hostile atmosphere in Week One and get the job done. Coach Wright did a great job all night with protection and play designs, putting us in a position to do what we were able to do.”
Not only did Varnes led his team to victory over No. 2 East Mississippi CC, but he also outdueled last year’s National Junior College Offensive Player of the Year, former Taylorsville High and Southern Miss quarterback Ty Keyes. Keyes completed 23 of 38 passes for 230 yards and two TDs.
If Varnes can keep this pace for this season and for his career at Gulf Coast, he could become one of the greats at a school that has produced many star quarterbacks, including two from the Metro Jackson area, Chance Lovertich of Jackson Prep and Philip Short of Madison-Ridgeland Academy.
Wright first noticed Varnes as a freshman in spring practice at Brandon.
“We are always looking at players at Brandon because they have a great program and produce college players every year,” Wright said. “I have a great relationship with the coaches there and known former Brandon greats like (now Oakland Raiders starting quarterback) Gardner Minshew (who played for Wright at Northwest Mississippi CC) and his dad Flint and many others. Brandon is one of the first places I check out every spring. I always find guys who slip through the cracks. I noticed Landon had a special arm back then. He could spin it. I was the first one to offer him two and a half years ago. It was relationship-based recruiting with Landon. I felt like I’ve been coaching him for two years when he showed up this summer. He has fulfilled our expectations. He’s the real deal.”
Varnes completed 61.2 percent of his passes for 8,458 yards and 70 TD and had 33-7 record in his three seasons at Brandon, leading the Bulldogs to two MHSAA Class 6A state runner-up finishes and one Class 7A state semifinal finish. His best season was as a junior when he completed 65.9 percent for 3,368 yards and 26 TDs and led Brandon to a 12-2 record and state runner-up finish. Varnes was named second-team quarterback on the PriorityOne Bank/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson team as a senior.
“Landon was obviously one of my favorite kids I’ve ever coached,” Brandon coach Sam Williams said. “He is the ultimate competitor. You could never tell him what he wasn’t because he always believed in himself and his ability to lead and get the job done. We went through a ton together; he grew a ton as a player and as a kid. I was most proud of how he grew off the field in his time at Brandon. Landon always had the fire to be great, and he started to do that in every area of his life as he grew and matured through high school. There is no surprise that he is having the success on the next level because of all the preparation and work he put into his craft was always going to pay off down the line.”
Mississippi Gulf Coast, which moved up to No. 10 to No. 6 in the national rankings after the win, plays at unranked Mississippi Delta, 0-1, Thursday at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed at https://www.youtube.com/@MDCCTrojans, with the Gulf Coast radio broadcast streaming at https://mgcccbulldogs.com/watch. It will be broadcast on SuperTalk 103.1 FM.
Varnes is the son of Boycee and Heather Varnes and Ashley Alman. Boycee played football and baseball and won two state championships was the MVP of the MAIS All-Star Baseball Game at Simpson Academy. He also is a graduate of Copiah-Lincoln Community College and Belhaven University. Boycee played baseball at Co-Lin. Landon has three older sisters -Presley, 27, who lives in Athens, Ala., Michaela, 21, student at Mississippi State, and Skylar, 22, who lives in Nashville. All three graduated from Brandon High. Skylar played softball at Brandon and Hinds CC and Presley played soccer at Brandon at East Central CC.
