By Robert Wilson
Quincy Phillips – one of the top rising sophomore football players in Mississippi – has transferred from three-time MAIS state champion Madison-Ridgeland Academy to MHSAA Class 6A state runner-up Brandon, considered one of the favorites to win 6A this year.
The 5-foot-8, 175-pound Phillips, a rising sophomore running back-wide receiver, gained 94 yards, and scored three touchdowns in MRA’s 42-7 victory over Hartfield Academy in the 6A state title game last season. Phillips – who transferred from Greenville Weston High after his eighth-grade year – led MRA in rushing with 530 yards on 80 carries, an average of 6.6 yards per carry, and scored 12 TDs and shared time with four other running backs. He also caught 19 passes for 214 yards and two TDs this past season as a freshman.
“Quincy is a great addition,” Brandon coach Sam Williams said. “He is a dynamic runner and receiver that can change the game whenever he gets the ball in his hands.”
Williams was named the Priority One Bank/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Football Coach of the Year after leading Brandon to an 11-3 record and its 6A state runner-up finish in his first season at the Rankin County school. Williams, who came from Ridgeland High, was able to turn around Brandon from a 5-6 team in 2020 to take the Bulldogs to the state championship game for only the second time in school history.
Williams has plenty of talent returning at running back. In addition to Phillips, All Metro first team selection Nate Blount, a rising junior, and rising senior Jarvis Durr are back. Blount gained 1,442 yards on 246 carries, a 5.9-yard average, and scored 17 TDs despite missing the last three games with a collarbone injury. Durr gained 136 yards on 37 carries in the 24-17 loss to Madison Central in the 6A state title game and finished with 1,120 yards and 16 TDs last season.
“Nate is one of the most talented backs in the state,” Williams said. “He was the Region Player of the Year as a sophomore. Nate is the thunder of our backfield. He has great vision, strength, and a burst for a 230-pound back. Jarvis is the lightning of the backfield. He has a great combination of speed, agility, and power. Jarvis is a complete back who is a home run threat.”
Brandon also returns three more All Metro players on offense, rising senior offensive lineman and Southern Miss commitment Luke Rogers, brother of Brandon High alumnus and Mississippi State starting quarterback Will Rogers, rising senior offensive lineman Austin Gregg and rising senior tight end DeCoreyea Buchanan. In addition, Brandon returns rising junior Landon Varnes, who passed for 2,547 yards and 19 TDs last season.
Brandon opens the season Aug. 26 against Class 6A Oxford at home.
