By Robert Wilson
Lance Pogue took over South Panola in 2007 and continued the winning tradition there by winning a national football championship in his first year, and then won four more state titles in 10 seasons in Batesville.
He wants to do the same thing at Brandon, a program which has been in the state championship game three of the last four years but hasn’t won that elusive first state title in school history.
The Pogue era begins this year, and the veteran coach has plenty to work with as he attempts to get his Bulldogs not only to the state championship game, but to the top of the mountain as state champs.
Pogue – a Eupora High, Holmes Community College and Delta State alumnus – knows the feeling of winning a state championship, winning more of them 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.
He hopes to lead Brandon to a much longer playoff run this season.
“We have around 11 or 12 starters returning,” Pogue said. “We had a good spring and summer workouts went well. We’ve got a way to go, but overall, we are at a good starting point. Brandon has been close; we’ve got to find a way to be more physical on both sides of the ball. You have to be able to run the football and on the flip side, stop the run. And that requires being physical and be tough mentally. We are telling the guys to keep coming back, keep pushing and things will turn your way. Our goal is to win the 7A state championship and if we get there, we’ve got to play all 48 minutes. There are so many good teams in 7A. You could be 7-4 and make a good run in the playoffs and win the state championship. It is so much more competitive than it was when I was at South Panola. The margin for error is slim. You’ve got to have some breaks to go all the way and stay away from injuries. They can take a toll on you. Depth is important. Tupelo is the headliner right now. They have a lot of SEC guys and a great running back. They are a load. We’ve got a good group, too, and I want to put them in a position to win it.”
Brandon has some headliners, too.
Junior running back Tyson Robinson – rated the No. 2 player in Mississippi, No. 4 running back and No. 42 player in the country in the Class of 2027 by 247 Sports – is one of the them. Robinson – who 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 – 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 – is another one. 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.
And then there is junior quarterback Sladen Slack, who threw for 2,586 yards and 24 TDs last season as a sophomore, and junior defensive back Tre McQueen, who had 68 tackles, 3 interceptions, 76 pass breakups and 1 fumble recovery as a sophomore.
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. He also has Division I offers from Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Missouri, Tennessee, and Memphis.
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.
“Preston is going to be our Travis Hunter (the Colorado wide receiver-defensive back-return specialist who won the Heisman Trophy and was the No. 2 overall draft pick in this year’s NFL Draft),” Pogue said. “We are going to use him in a variety of ways this season. He has tremendous potential and is a quality senior leader. Not only is a tremendous safety, but we want to put the ball in his hands on offense. Tyson is a dynamic athlete with great explosiveness and tremendous speed. He has home run ability every time he touches the football. Tre missed most of spring practice with baseball, but I saw on tape he was really good as a sophomore and brings to the table a lot of ability and will be a major factor for us this season. Ayden is a tough, physical kid who will provide us with good leadership.
Like Pogue did at South Panola, he will put his best athletes on both sides of the ball in key situations during a game.
“I had many players when I was at South Panola that I would use on both sides of the ball,” Pogue said. “We used (high school All-American) safety Antonio Conner at running back for example. We did this with a lot of guys. When there is money on the line, you put certain in the game. They might not get a ton of reps at that position, but they can make big plays in key situations.”
Brandon lost state championship games to South Panola in 2012, Madison Central in 2021, Starkville in 2022 and Tupelo last season.
“We are going to win the state championship and we will show it on the field,” Ashley said. “It is going to take effort and dedication, but we have that, and we are ready to work, and we are ready to give our coach another title under his belt.”
“It’s going to take behind okay with doing the same thing over and over, building your team on a strong foundation is key,” Slack said. “A mindset I stand by is to be one percent better after you take the cleats off every day. Coach Pogue has talked about winning a championship, but if you can’t win the three games leading to it you’re in trouble. I’m more worried about winning the next game. If you can win the next game, you won’t have to worry about a championship because you’ll be there. Day by day.”
“To win a state championship it’s going to take a lot of leadership and discipline from our older guys on the team to show our younger guys how it’s done so when it’s their time they’ll be ready to go,” McQueen said. “Our mindset is just focusing on one game at a time and making sure everyone mental mindset is ready for our schedule. Coach Pogue doesn’t really talk about his championships. He doesn’t like to talk about himself as he says, but he says, ‘football is football, it’s not rocket science.’ Also he says a lot, ‘I’m going to let a football player be a football player.’ He’s letting a couple of guys play both sides of the ball and just wants athletes to go out there and make something happen.”
Brandon’s first step toward its first state championship is against MHSAAA defending Class 7A state champion Tupelo Aug. 28 at Brandon in a rematch of last year’s state title game.
Tupelo running back and Mississippi State commitment Jaeden “JJ” Hill – who is back this year for his senior season – gained 224 yards on 34 carries and scored two TDs and caught a 37-yard TD pass to lead Tupelo to its first state title since 1992 in last year’s 28-16 championship win over Brandon.
Hill – the Mississippi Association of Coaches MHSAA Class 7A Mr. Football – finished the season with 2,262 yards (9.3 yards per carry) and 34 TDs.
Hill is rated as the No. 24 player in Mississippi in the Class of 2026 by 247 Sports, but he 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 Robinson to only 55 yards on 13 carries and one TD in last year’s state title game.
Tupelo took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, but Brandon battled back and had a chance to take the lead with 3 minutes to play in the fourth quarter but was stopped on fourth down at the Brandon 40.
