Last Wednesday, Starkville High School football coach Jamie Mitchell looked like a tired man.
Mitchell looked like a happy man, too. On this day, the happiness was outweighing the fatigue, but just barely.
Starkville High School had 12 players sign junior and senior college scholarship offers that day at the school’s brand new field house.
The building the signing took place at was not there when Mitchell was hired prior to the 2010 season. The artificial playing surface these 12 men played on this season also wasn’t there. It was installed prior to this season.
“It’s all about the experience,” Mitchell said. “We want our players to have the very best, in every aspect. It is a challenge for a school district to have the right balance between academics and athletics. We have that here. Everyone is in it together.”
Good season
Starkville won 13 games and did not lose until the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A North State championship game where it lost at home to eventual state champion South Panola. In 2012, Mitchell carried Starkville to the Class 5A state championship.
Still all of the big wins and championships do not measure up to what happened last Wednesday. Mitchell called it the proudest moment of his coaching career as it was easily the largest group of signees he has ever had.
“We figured it up and that is about $700,000 worth of free education that these kids will be getting,” Mitchell said. “We have ACT scores of 24, 26, 27 and several more like it. I am more proud of those scores than I am any of their 40 (yard dash) times.”
Finding a home
A star player on a good team in the state’s highest classification will almost always find a place to play. The Starkville contingent included four Division I signees – Brady Davis to the University of Memphis; Derion Ford to the University of Louisiana, Monroe; Tyler Rogers to Jackson State University and Raphael Leonard to Florida Atlantic University.
After that is when a coach really earns his salary. Mitchell had eight additional players sign junior college offers.
The Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges rescinded recruiting districts prior to the 2011 season. Now high school players in the state of Mississippi can attend any of the 14 football-playing junior colleges. Mitchell said that change has more than tripled the work load of high school coaches.
“We had about 17 days in a row where we had at least one coach come through the office,” Mitchell said. “More often than not, it was four or five coaches. We had to get this kid up with that coach. Then we have to send video here and there. It felt like a never-ending process. This is what we wanted when we came here. The goal was to build the program and get us to this point.”
The field house includes a team meeting room which has been used each February for a national singing day party. By the time you factored in friends, family and loved ones, it is readily apparent that 12 signees stretches that room to its limit.
Really good in 2015
The scary part is that Starkville has a chance to be even better next season. The most glaring question is who will replace Davis at quarterback. Starkville has talent back at the receiver position, backfield and on the line. Defensively, the Yellow Jackets will be loaded.
A.J. Brown, Kobe Jones, Parker Lemm and Lorenzo Dantzler, headliners of this past season’s junior class, will soon be turning their recruitment process up a notch.
“A.J. has an NFL tool set, the sky is the limit for him,” said Mitchell, of the team’s top returning receiver. “He already has offers from Florida, Auburn, Alabama, Mississippi State and Ole Miss. It is just starting. He will be the hottest recruit that we have ever had here. It becomes obvious when a school is after you and Alabama is really after him hard.”
“Dantzler will be another hot recruit. He has one md-major Division I offer but he is fixing to really take off. Parker Lemm is a 6-foot-5, 250-pound tight end. He has unlimited potential and will really be more in the spotlight next year. Kobe Jones already has offers from Mississippi State and Ole Miss, so it’s good when you have two Southeastern Conference schools in your back pocket 15 months before you graduate.
“I feel like we will have more Division I signees next year.”
Realignment has separated Starkville and Columbus for the upcoming season. The Yellow Jackets will remain in Class 6A, Region 2 play. On paper, Clinton appears the odds-on favorite to win the region and perhaps the state championship.
However, Starkville will only need to answer a couple of questions to be right back in the mix. Either way, Mitchell said he is committed to the Starkville program long-term and wants to make last Wednesday’s activity the norm rather than the exception.
“We are going to continue to pump out great players here,” Mitchell said. “It is a 12 month a year job. Obviously, we want to win games. But we are going to stay on them academically as well. The answer has never been no here. It has always been ‘let’s find a way’.”
And maybe just maybe, Mitchell can take a nap or two before the 2016 signing day.
Scott Walters is a sportswriter with The Dispatch. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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