STARKVILLE — The Starkville High School football team got a longer bye week than it expected last season.
The Yellow Jackets headed into their break after a 15-9 road loss to Madison Central on Oct. 16 only to find out four days later their season was on hold. Five positive tests for COVID-19 among players forced a two-week pause, meaning Starkville had to forfeit its next game, an Oct. 30 home contest against Warren Central.
And when the Jackets returned, things weren’t the same. Starkville lost 35-7 at Clinton in its Nov. 6 regular-season finale, missing out on the MHSAA Class 6A playoffs.
“We weren’t really in shape and prepared for that game,” sophomore quarterback Trey Petty admitted.
Now, a year later, the Jackets still have to navigate the virus as they prepare for a 2021 season in which so much remains uncertain.
“Let’s be real: That’s some stuff that we can’t control,” Starkville coach Chris Jones said Aug. 8.
Already, MHSAA teams have had their football seasons affected by the pandemic. Calhoun City went into quarantine, forcing the Wildcats to miss their Week 1 game with Houston; several scheduled Week 1 games in south Mississippi have become two-quarter scrimmages instead.
After the virus’s impact on the Jackets last year, Starkville hopes to avoid a similar fate. But Jones knows they can do only so much. The coach said he and some of his players have been vaccinated against the virus but noted that vaccinated people can still contract and transmit it, though that happens at a significantly lower rate.
“We’re just trying to make sure that we do the best that we can within the confines that we have,” Jones said.
Of course, the pandemic is only part of the challenges the Jackets face in 2021. They’ll have to replace a sizable senior class led by quarterback Luke Altmyer, who set several passing records during his acclaimed high school career. As always, Starkville has plenty of talent, but its inexperience will be a concern.
“There will be a lot of unknowns,” Jones said. “That’s kind of what I’m excited about: to try to figure out who we’re going to be.”
That begins at quarterback, where the competition for the starting job is ongoing. Petty and senior Jaquez Harris are battling to win it. Jones said both quarterbacks are largely similar, though Petty saw things a little differently.
“I feel like he’s a really good pocket passer,” said the sophomore, who noted he was excited to compete against an older player. “Me, I’m more of a dual threat.”
Petty said Altmyer, a four-star recruit now with Ole Miss, taught his young quarterbacks several key things: how to read defenses, spin the ball and use their core strength to get power on throws. For a player like Petty who has only had one year of high school football, that information proved important.
“I feel like I learned a lot from Luke,” Petty said.
Running back Amariyon Howard, linebacker Keyshawn Lawrence, wide receiver Stacy Robinson and tight end Kobe Larkin were just some of the other graduating seniors whom the Jackets will miss. But Jones remained hopeful a new generation of players will take over.
At wide receiver, sophomore Braylon “Stonka” Burnside and senior Javious Gray will lead the way, while sophomore Tyler Nichols and senior Jordan Mitchell will be at running back.
Senior defensive lineman Javalon Gandy leads the defense along with senior safety Da’shawn Lane. Juniors Justin Jenkins, Jaylon York and Eric Thomas Jr. will be important pieces as well.
“We’ve got some pieces,” Jones said.
The Jackets will possess a major weapon on special teams in junior kicker Ethan Pulliam, a soccer star at Starkville and a Mississippi State baseball commit to boot. The three-sport athlete recently made a 65-yard field goal in practice, Jones said.
To the fifth-year Starkville coach, the collection of talent is no surprise.
“We’ll always have some players,” Jones said. “You’ve just got to put them in the right places.”
That won’t be easy on a team that returns just three offensive starters and four starters on defense. But if Jones and the Jackets can make the right decisions, Starkville could be back in the mix in Class 6A.
“At the end of the day, the standard is the standard, so we’re here to win and compete at a high level week in and week out,” Jones said. “The kids who are going to give us the best chance to win on game day, that’s who’s going to play.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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