By Robert Wilson
It is very rare that two teams which met for a state championship meet one another to open up the next season, but that’s what is happening Friday night at Brandon where an overflow crowd is expected.
Brandon, which lost to Tupelo 28-16 in the MHSAA Class 7A state title game last season, gets another shot at its North Mississippi opponent Friday to open the season.
Both teams are favorites to make it back to the state championship game again this season.
Tupelo puts its 14-game winning streak on the line when it makes the three-hour drive to Central Mississippi.
The Golden Wave will bring plenty of athletes with them.
There’s senior running back Jaeden “JJ” Hill, a Mississippi State commitment and 2024 Mississippi Association of Coaches MHSAA Class 7A Player of the Year who finished last season with 2,262 yards (9.3 yards per carry) and 34 touchdowns. Brandon fans will definitely remember No. 0 (Hill’s number) in the state title game as the 6-foot, 220-pound Hill churned out 224 yards on 34 carries and scored two TDs and caught a 37-yard screen pass for a score at Southern Miss’ M.M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg.
Brandon’s defense had a tough time slowing down Hill, who had 46 yards on six carries on Tupelo’s first drive and had 95 yards (58 rushing and 37 receiving) at the end of the first quarter and help Tupelo to a 14-0 lead. He clinched the game with a 32-yard burst up the middle on third and 2 with 55 seconds to play.
He is rated the No. 24 player in Mississippi and the No. 49 running back in the Class of 2026 by 247Sports. In addition to MSU, Hill has 16 Division I offers, including seven from the SEC.
But Hill isn’t the highest rated player on Tupelo’s roster.
Tupelo’s 6-6, 245-pound senior defensive lineman and Florida commitment JaReylan McCoy is rated No. 13 and senior cornerback and Ole Miss commitment Iverson McCoy is rated No. 20 this season. Tupelo also has senior cornerback and Ole Miss commitment Braylen Williams (rated No. 37) and junior linebacker Devontray Brewer (rated No. 12 in the Class of 2027) coming back this season.
Tupelo’s defense slowed down Brandon’s high-powered offense, which came in averaging 41 points per game, and held Brandon’s star running back Tyson Robinson to only 55 yards on 13 carries and one TD in last year’s state title game. Brandon had only 12 first downs and 221 total yards. Robinson – one of four Brandon players on the Performance Therapy/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Preseason Elite 11 Team this season – wants a different outcome Friday night.
Robinson is rated No. 4 running back and No. 42 player in the country in the Class of 2027 by 247 Sports – has 19 Division I offers, 10 from the SEC – gained 1,295 rushing yards and had 24 touchdowns and caught 42 passes for 668 yards for 10 TDs last season as a sophomore.
Senior safety and Colorado commitment Preston Ashley – another member of the Elite 11 – is rated as the No. 10 ranked player in Mississippi and No. 20 ranked safety in the country in the Class of 2026 by 247 Sports. Ashley – an Under All-American who has 23 Division I offers, including 10 from the SEC – had 68 tackles, 5 pass breakups, 1 interception and 1 fumble recovery last season as a junior.
Junior quarterback Sladen Slack, who threw for 2,586 yards and 24 TDs last season as a sophomore, is a third Elite 11 player.
Senior offensive lineman and Jackson State commitment Adyen Newell – a 6-foot-4, 310-pounder who is rated as the No. 38 player in Mississippi and the No. 83 inside offensive lineman in the country in the Class of 2026 by 247 Sports – anchors the offensive front and is the fourth Brandon Elite 11 player. He also has Division I offers from Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Missouri, Tennessee, and Memphis.
Junior defensive back Tre McQueen, who had 68 tackles, 3 interceptions, 76 pass breakups and 1 fumble recovery as a sophomore, is another Brandon player Tupelo must contend with.
Keep an eye out on 6-3 senior wide receiver Elijah Morey, the 2024 Class 7A state high jump champion, and 6-foot, 230-pound senior defensive lineman Reese Quinn.
First-year Brandon coach Lance Pogue – a Eupora High, Holmes Community College and Delta State alumnus – has a major advantage in head coaching experience in this game.
He has won more state titles than any other public school coach in Mississippi history at the highest classification. His 10-year run (2007-2016) at South Panola was amazing, a 126-17 record, an 88.1 percent winning percentage, and the five state titles and one national championship.
Pogue has a career record of 246-71, a 78 percent winning percentage (one of the best in Mississippi history for coaches with 200 plus wins), with stops at Eupora High, Winona High, South Panola, Jackson Academy, Heritage Academy and Columbia High.
The 55-year-old Pogue replaced Sam Williams, who won 45 games and had three state runner-up finishes in four seasons, before leaving to be the head coach at UMS Wright Prep, a private school in Mobile.
Pogue comes to Brandon after one year at Columbia High where he led the Wildcats to an 8-4 record and lost to eventual MHSAA Class 4A state champion Poplarville 21-20 in the first round of the state playoffs.
Tupelo coach Ty Hardin – who played at Houston High, Itawamba Community College and MSU – has an 83-26 overall record, 45-12 in five years at Tupelo and 38-14 in four years at Houston.
Tupelo 28, Brandon 21.
The rest of the Germany Law Firm/Metro Jackson High School Football picks will be published Friday.
