By Robert Wilson
Mason Williams – one of the top boys basketball players in Mississippi in the Class of 2026 and son of former NBA Champion and All-Star and current Jackson State men’s basketball head coach Mo Williams – is transferring from Germantown High to Tennessee Collegiate Academy, Mo Williams confirmed to Mississippi Scoreboard Thursday night.
Tennessee Collegiate Academy, in Millington, a suburb of Memphis, is the newest member of the Nike EYBL Scholastic League, according to the academy’s lnstagram page, where elite athletes, academics and leadership rise together.
The EYBL Scholastic League is a collection of nationally accredited, four-year high schools committed to high level, national basketball competition. There are schools in the league from Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, South Carolina, Virginia, Utah, and Ontario, Canada, according to the Nike EYBL Scholastic website.
This will be the fourth school Williams will have played for in the past four seasons.
The 6-foot-3 Williams, along with his older brother Mike Williams, transferred from Texas to Jackson Academy two years ago. Then the Williams brothers both transferred from JA to Germantown last year.
Mason Williams averaged 13.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.2 steals and helped Germantown to a 29-5 record and the MHSAA Class 7A state championship, the first winning season and first state title in school history.
He was named to the first team of the Tatum and Wade/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson team. Mike Williams, who signed with Jackson State, was the Metro Jackson Player of the Year for the second straight season.
As a sophomore two years ago, Mason Williams helped JA to a 36-1 record – the best record in school history – and the MAIS Overall Tournament championship. He averaged 9.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.6 steals.
Mason Williams averaged 16 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds for Team Sipp United AAU team this summer, coached by former Jackson State coach Wayne Brent.
The Academy’s Instagram page announced that Williams, along with top players from Ohio, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Texas were joining the Spartan family this week.
These academies give a player like Williams, who is looking for a scholarship from a Power 4 school, an opportunity to practice and play against some of the best players in the country during the season in order to prove their talent to the college coaches and compete against the growing popularity of the transfer portal, where college players can transfer from one school to another without sitting out a year like in the past.
Mo Williams – who will be inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame this weekend – averaged 13.2 points and 4.3 assists during his NBA career, was an NBA All-Star in 2009, won an NBA title with the Cleveland Cavs in 2016 and announced his retirement.
He scored 2,433 points at Murrah High and was named the Mississippi Player of the Year as a senior in 2001. Williams averaged 25.7 points, 8.6 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 steals and shot 59 percent from the field, 51 percent from the 3-point range and 90 percent from the free throw line.
He was the Sporting News National Freshman of the Year at Alabama and left the Crimson Tide after two seasons to enter the NBA draft. The 6-foot-2 point guard was a second-round pick by the Utah Jazz and played for seven NBA teams.
After his retirement, Williams was an assistant for two seasons at Cal State Northridge under Mark Gottfried, who coached Williams at Alabama. Williams was head coach at Alabama State for two seasons and replaced Wayne Brent as Jackson State’s head coach three years ago.
