MACON — Jackee Sherrod spends a lot of Friday nights cheering on her sons Shunnessy and Jataquist as they play on the Noxubee County High School football team.
Shunnessy Sherrod, a highly recruited running back, has worked hard to get to his senior year. Jataquist Sherrod is a junior defensive back. Jackee knows the opportunities football has opened for them.
“Football encourages (Shunnessy),” Jackee Sherrod said. “I don’t know where he would be without it. Shunnessy had the highest GPA (grade-point average) on the football team last season. I take a lot of pride in that. As a mother, it makes you feel good to know your son is going to school and being taken care of.
“A lot of people know how the team does on Friday nights. They don’t know what goes into it.”
Noxubee County High has had 33 players sign junior or senior college scholarship offers in the past four seasons. That number is second in the Mississippi High School Activities Association to Class 6A power South Panola. The number is impressive considering that more than half — and sometimes as much as three-fourths — of a senior class receives an opportunity to use football to help them pay for part or all of their education.
Noxubee County will begin its sixth season with Tyrone Shorter as head coach Aug. 21 against Starkville in Macon.
“We talk all the time about not getting caught up with the (Southeastern Conference),” Shorter said. “As long as someone is paying your way through school, that is all that matters. If the NFL is meant to happen, it will happen. We make sure the kids have the grades to play junior college, Division I, Division II, or whatever. Getting out is getting out. That is the bottom line. That is what we are driven to do.”
Noxubee County has won two of the past three MHSAA Class 4A state championships. Shorter also was an assistant coach for the school’s first title in 2008. The talent level in the program shows why signing day is a proud day on the campus.
Still, the balloons and refreshments aren’t unveiled without a lot of hard work on the front end.
“Coach Shorter is a people-person,” said Noxubee County assistant principal Holli Jenkins, who previously served as the school’s athletic director. “He gets along with everyone well. He is hands on, starting with the middle school level. He takes a player’s personal well-being on from seventh grade. He is concerned about them being healthy and playing football. He is equally concerned about what happens after football.”
Shorter said his players’ academic success can be traced to a number of factors. First and foremost, Shorter credits an outstanding working relationship between administrators, teachers, coaches, parents, and players.
“In ninth grade, we start keeping track (of the academics),” Shorter said. “We get with the counselor. We make sure these kids take the right core classes. Teachers, principals, counselors work together. Our principals know the kids’ names by face. We work hand in hand with the teachers. We make sure the kids are on track.”
Dr. Pat Scott served as interim principal last year at Noxubee County. She returns this year in a full-time capacity. She found the daily interactions with Shorter to be one of the joys of her job.
“My vision for the school is one where we really work with the student-athletes,” Scott said. “We are going to do a few things differently. This year, we are going to give our ninth-graders exposure to the ACT (an achievement test that measures what a student has learned in school) and make sure they take it. There is nothing wrong with attending a community college. However, there are more options out there. We want our student-athletes to be in a better position to take advantage of those opportunities.”
Shorter put a great deal of time into devising his plan for the classroom before he replaced M.C. Miller as head football coach in 2010. Under his watch, every player has passed statewide testing.
“We keep a grade distribution sheet, and they are submitted to us every two weeks,” Shorter said. “Every two weeks, we get a report on how each player is doing in each of their classes. If they need extra tutoring, it is provided. If a player is having a problem in the classroom, they will go to a tutoring session instead of practice.
“Angela Williams is the school’s counselor. She puts a plan in place. We monitor every step of the process. Education is very important. We take pride in that.”
Eddie Henley is a member of the school’s booster club. He takes photos at games and posts them on a Facebook page that promotes the Tigers. Henley said it is common for Shorter to sit in on a class with his athletes.
“He installs a togetherness like no one else I have ever been around,” Henley said. “He will go to a classroom to monitor a player to indicate we are in this together. The guys go to church together. He instills a value system that will last a lifetime.
“If you are going to play at the next level, you have to keep your grades up. You have to work hard. The program has had success, but the hard work has not stopped. The program goes because coach Shorter and the rest of the coaches make sure every player has what it takes to be successful in football and in life.”
Dylan Bradley will be a junior on the Southern Mississippi football team this fall. He was an All-State lineman on Noxubee County High’s 2012 state championship team.
“There is an expectation level,” Bradley said. “The fans expect you to win championships. Everybody in the community comes out to see you play on a Friday night. Coach Shorter expects you to pass all of your tests. He is just as excited when you make a good grade in a hard class as when you win a big game.
“If you are having trouble in a class, he will sit you down and tell you you might not play that Friday night. When you see that look, you know how serious he is.”
Not only will Shorter coach up his players, but he also will coach up his parents.
“It makes me feel good (to have sons playing football),” Jackee Sherrod said. “I talk to the coaches all the time. I am the kind of parent who is very interactive. The coaches always know every player and where they stand in school. We always have a meeting at the beginning of the year, and coach explains what has to be done to play on the next level.
“A lot of parents do not know. It’s like you play football and you are good, so you will get to play it in college. It doesn’t work that way. Thank goodness the coaches stay on the players. I always speak to my sons about grades coming first. It’s good when they hear that from the coaches, too. What these parents don’t know, the coaches are able to take care of.”
After five seasons as a head coach, Shorter has left an imprint on the program. It is a family. The players who have gone before set a shining example for the ones who follow.
“Our motto is once a Tiger, always a Tiger,” Shorter said. “We open the weight room in the summer and it is amazing how many of our former players come back. They lift weights and work out with our current players. When you see a star player and you are working right beside him, it makes you want to go that much harder. There is now an expectation level for this program.
“Every year, it is a new senior class. It seems like those juniors become a little more vocal when they are seniors. When a player finishes playing in November or December, we aren’t through with them. I am just as hard the rest of the way to make sure they get to that finish line and to make sure they graduate.”
Jackee Sherrod appreciates that commitment. She is looking forward to the team’s signing day party in February. She also is thankful others have paved the way for her sons’ success.
“Football really encourages my sons,” Sherrod said. “Good teachers and good coaches give them that extra boost they need. We were talking about this past weekend. Some former players were back for a camp at the school.
“When you can look up and see so many role models, it means a lot. My boys know (the other players) did it, so that they can do it, too. That is a big motivational influence. You think, ‘They didn’t forget about us’ when they left. Coach Shorter instills that kind of mind-set. He makes you believe you can excel at whatever you are going to do in life.
“As a parent, that makes you feel good.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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