The Lions of East Mississippi Community College begin the 2025 football season today in Perkinston as they take on Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, looking to improve from last year’s 5-4 finish that kept them out of the MACCC playoffs.
Buddy Stephens, who is entering his 18th season as coach of EMCC, owns a 12-5 record over the Bulldogs, including a 4-2 mark in Perkinston. The Lions return 13 players who saw action last year, including running back Gavin Griffin – who rushed for a team-high 554 yards and eight touchdowns while averaging 7.1 yards per carry as a freshman.
Replacing 2023 NJCAA Division I Offensive Player of the Year Ty Keyes under center is Rodge Waldrop, a 6-foot-4 signal caller out of Georgia State. He is joined in the QB room by Eric McGehee from Central Arkansas and 2024 MHSAA Class 5A Mr. Football Trey Irving III from Gautier.
“It’s been great. I think the culture is great out here,” Waldrop said. “Everybody has a winning mentality and anything short of that is not accepted. The culture here is really what stood out to me.”
At wideout is former Ole Miss receiver Noreel White, who had two catches for 34 yards last year for the Rebels. EMCC’s offensive line will be anchored by versatile returning starter Mike Wallace Jr., who is set to fill the void left by two-time All-MACCC center Braxton Goff, now at Tarleton State in Texas. The Lions also brought in 6-foot-7 Kison Shepard, an honorable mention All-Southwest Junior College Football Conference Team selection a year ago at Trinity Valley Community College in Texas.
Returning defenders for the Lions include defensive lineman Darrell Gross, who had one sack and 12 tackles last year as well as defensive backs Devin Clark and Donald Passmore III. Clark, a Georgia native, is returning for his second season with EMCC after leading the Lions with five pass breakups last year. Passmore III chipped in nine tackles (six solo) last season.
The Lions are gearing up in hopes of earning their 10th conference title with aspirations of another national championship, which would be the schools’ sixth.
“I think we have a squad on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball, some really talented players, so if we can just build as a team I think we can do something special,” Waldrop said.
But Stephens isn’t looking that far ahead quite yet. He’s taking it one game at a time and wants his Lions to understand what comes with playing ball in Scooba. For a Stephens-led team, 5-4 is not the standard.
“The biggest thing is to see our guys execute the offense and defense and special teams and (see) them take pride in wearing the helmet,” Stephens said. “We want them to realize that there comes an expectation that comes with the brand on the side of their helmet, and the brand is not going to play for you, and the brand is not going to make tackles and the brand is not going to make catches – it’s you doing that. As long as the players understand that, we’re going to be fine.”
The Lions’s home opener is at 7 p.m. Sept. 4 against Hinds Community College, a team led by former Starkville coach Chris Jones.
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