Veteran sportswriter and high school football expert Robert Wilson is doing the Priority One Bank/Mississippi Scoreboard predictions column each week during the high school football season on teams from Hinds, Madison, and Rankin County. Wilson had a 25-5 record (83.3 percent) last week and has a 39-8 record (83.0 percent) this season.
Madison Central (1-0) at Brandon (1-0), Friday, 7 p.m. (mcbigblue.com and 97.3 FM, and brandonbulldogathletics.com and 106.3 FM)
These two MHSAA Class 7A teams met for the 6A state championship in 2021, with Madison Central winning 24-17.
Madison Central’s win was the first state title since Coach Mike Justice led a talented group, many who went onto play in the NFL, in 1999. The Jaguars had been to the semifinals nine times since then before the 2021 state championship season.
Madison Central hasn’t made it back to the big stage since, finishing 8-4 and reaching the second round of the state playoffs in 2022 and 8-5 and reaching the semifinals last season.
Meanwhile, Brandon returned back to the state title game in 2022 and lost to Starkville 49-32. The Bulldogs finished 12-2 – including a 28-7 win over Madison Central – but failed to win the state title, something Brandon has never done in its school history. Brandon has been to the state title three times, 2021 and 2022, and in 2012 when it lost to South Panola 31-23.
Brandon had another great season last year and finished 11-3 but lost to Oak Grove 49-45 in the semifinals, including a 40-26 loss to Madison Central.
Brandon has 11 returning starters (six on defense and five on offense), including senior linebacker Khalil Norwood, a member of the Performance Therapy/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Preseason Elite 11 Team. Norwood – the nephew of former Brandon High School All-American, Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year, Mississippi State and NFL running back Jerious Norwood – had 157 tackles last season, with 14 tackles for loss and 9 sacks and 1 interception for a 53-yard TD.
Other top players for Brandon are sophomore running back Tyson Robinson, senior wide receiver and East Central Community College baseball commitment Jay McQueen, senior slot receiver Quincy Phillips, Jr., sophomore quarterback Sladen Slack, junior offensive-defensive lineman Ayden Newell, junior defensive back Preston Ashley, junior linebacker and Georgia transfer Ashton Moore, and junior defensive back Lahare Bolls.
The talented Robinson burst onto the high school scene last year and gained 610 rushing yards and had seven touchdowns, second on the team to All-Metro performer Nate Blount, now a freshman at Jackson State. Considered one of the best running backs in the country in the Class of 2027, Robinson has already Division I offers from Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Ohio State, Washington, Oregon, Florida State, Central Florida and Baylor.
McQueen caught 36 passes for 637 yards and 11 TDs last season, with his biggest game against Pearl when he caught five TD passes, one short of the Mississippi record. Phillips caught a school record 80 passes for 774 yards and six TDs.
Slack took over for Landon Varnes, now a freshman at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (named the National Junior College Offensive Player of the Week in his debut), and completed 18 of 28 passes for 233 yards and three TDs in Brandon’s 60-34 victory over Picayune.
Ashley is rated No. 5 and Newell No. 14 in Mississippi in the Class of 2026 by 247 Sports.
Ashley has Division I offers from Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Jackson State, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Missouri, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Nebraska, Louisville, and Florida A&M.
Newell has Division I offers from Ole Miss, MSU, Missouri and Memphis.
Madison Central returns 12 starters (seven on offense and five on defense).
The Jaguars’ top players are senior tight end Micah Jones, senior running back Glenn Singleton, senior wide receivers Zay Hart and Ryan Delaney, senior linebackers Titus Amos, Myles Miller and Avery Jackson and senior defensive backs Marquis Williams and Calvion Johnson.
Jones – who has verbally committed to Florida – is rated the No. 17 player in Mississippi and the No. 40 tight end in the country by 247 Sports Composite. He caught 12 passes for 126 yards and 1 TD last season as a junior.
He is a member of the Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Elite 11 Team.
In addition to Florida, he has Division I offers from Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Alabama, Arkansas, LSU, Missouri, West Virginia, Colorado, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Memphis, Tulane, and Charlotte.
Madison Central opened the season with a 27-20 victory over Ocean Springs last week at Ocean Springs. Singleton was the offensive star with 174 rushing yards and four TDs.
Madison Central coach Toby Collums – who was named the Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Football Coach of the Year in 2020 at Northwest Rankin before he left for Madison Central – and Brandon coach Sam Williams – the Metro Jackson Coach of the Year in 2021 – are good friends. Williams was an assistant coach under Collums for two seasons at Northwest Rankin.
Brandon 42, Madison Central 24.
Pulaski Academy, Ark. (1-0) at Madison-Ridgeland Academy (3-0), Friday, 7 p.m. (mrapatriots.live and 105.9 FM)
MRA coach Herbert Davis – a Brookhaven Academy, Co-Lin CC, and Mississippi College (bachelor’s degree) and Delta State (master’s degree) graduate – has won 240 games and six state championships (three at MRA, two at Brookhaven Academy and one at Pillow Academy) in his 28th season as a head coach. He is the only football coach in Mississippi history to take five schools (MRA, Brookhaven Academy, Pillow Academy, Heritage Academy and Winston Academy) to state championship games.
Davis has won 106 games in 11 seasons at MRA.
MRA returns 12 starters (six on offense and six on defense) from last year’s team, which finished with an 8-4 record and reached the MAIS Class 6A semifinals.
Junior wide receivers Case Thomas, Will Bizot, Jack Poole and senior wide receiver Jack Polles along with 6-foot-2, 280-pound sophomore offensive lineman Caleb Unger and senior offensive lineman Sebastian Griffin are the returning starters on offense.
Thomas – a member of the Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Elite 11 Team – caught 59 passes for 1,296 yards – second-best in Mississippi, according to MaxPreps – and 17 touchdowns last season as a sophomore. Unger has Division I offers from Southern Miss, Jackson State, Mississippi Valley, Baylor, Memphis, Tulane, Central Arkansas, and Arkansas State.
Junior defensive lineman Cade Gentry, senior defensive lineman Winn Crews, senior defensive back Matthew Perkins, junior defensive back Beckett Strong, junior defensive back Jack Ridgway and senior defensive back Jake McMillan are the returning starters on defense.
In addition, MRA has several transfers who have played well – senior defensive back and Arkansas State commitment DJ Watkins from Madison Central (a member of the Preseason Metro Jackson Elite 11 Team), senior defensive back AJ Parker from Jackson Academy, 6-3, 300-pound senior offensive lineman Kailand Stewart from Yazoo County, 6-3, 305-pound sophomore offensive lineman Clay Lawson from Richland, and junior running back-kicker Jason Jenkins from Hartfield Academy.
MRA junior Samuel Stockett has been impressive in his first three games as a starter. Stockett was White’s backup for the last two seasons. He has completed 68 percent of his passes for 674 yards and eight TDs with only one interception in his first two games. White, now a freshman at Southern Miss, set a Mississippi career passing record with 15,529 yards in his five-year high school career. He also threw for 177 career TDs, second all-time in Mississippi history. White passed for 3,557 yards and 42 touchdowns last year as a senior.
Pulaski, located in Little Rock, is one of the top teams in Arkansas every year. It has won the Arkansas public school Class 7A state championship eight of the past 10 seasons and has won 10 or more games for the past 14 seasons.
MRA won three straight MAIS Class 6A state titles from 2019-2021 and appeared in five consecutive state title games from 2018-2022.
These teams have played each other for the past three seasons, with Pulaski winning all three by scores of 63-39 in 2021, 48-40 in 2022 and 45-43 last season.
MRA – which has scored 155 points in its first three victories – will get its first win Friday night in the series.
MRA 42, Pulaski 35.
In other games (winners in bold):
Provine (0-1) at Lanier (1-0), Thursday, Hughes Field
Clinton (1-0) at Northwest Rankin (0-1)
Clinton Christian (1-2) at Riverfield, La. (1-1)
Copiah Academy (1-1) at Raymond (0-1)
Germantown (1-0) at Canton (1-0)
Hartfield Academy (3-0) at Cathedral (2-1)
Hillcrest Christian (0-2) at Tensas, La. (0-3)
Jackson Academy (3-0) at Silliman, La. (2-0)
Jackson Prep (2-0) at Pillow (2-1)
Madison St. Joseph (1-0) at Central Hinds Academy (1-1)
McLaurin (1-0) at Puckett (1-0)
Murrah (1-0) at Callaway (0-1), Hughes Field
Northeast Lauderdale (1-0) at Tri-County Academy (2-0)
Park Place Christian (1-1) at Prentiss Christian (0-2)
Pearl (1-0) at Warren Central (0-1)
Port Gibson (0-1) at Jim Hill (0-1), North Jackson Field
Pure Academy, Tenn. (0-2) at Terry (1-0)
Richton (0-1) at Pisgah (1-0)
Ridgeland (1-0) at Florence (1-0)
St. Aloysius (0-2) at East Rankin Academy (0-3)
St. Andrew’s (1-0) at Enterprise-Lincoln (1-0)
Southeast Lauderdale (0-1) at Richland (0-1)
Stringer (0-1) at Pelahatchie (0-1)
Vicksburg (0-1) at Forest Hill (0-1)
West Memphis, Ark. (0-3) at Canton Academy (2-1)
Wilkinson County Christian (1-1) at Discovery Christian (1-1)
Yazoo County (1-0) at Velma Jackson (0-1)
