STARKVILLE — Hustle, attitude, work, and grit.
Those four qualities very easily could apply to the Starkville High School football team this season.
Whether you’re talking about Starkville’s passing or rushing games, its defense, or its double-barreled kicking attack, the Yellow Jackets have an assortment of weapons and talents that have helped elevate the program to the No. 1 spot in the state’s rankings.
But if you put those four things together you come up with a moniker — “Hawgs” — the Yellow Jackets’ offensive linemen use to describe the traits they value most. Those characteristics have helped offensive linemen Tyler Barnes, Kobe Jones, Jacory McCarter, Quez Roberts, and A.J. Smith and tight ends Parker Lemm and Chris Rogers make up the “backbone” of the team, or be the “rock” the Yellow Jackets have relied on in their push to a Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A state title.
Starkville used another strong effort from that group up front Friday night in a 30-0 victory against Tupelo in the first round of the Class 6A North State playoffs. The victory pushes Starkville (12-0) into the second round where it will play host to Southaven, a 17-7 winner against Warren Central, at 7 p.m. Friday in Starkville.
The cold weather didn’t bother the “Hawgs” or quarterback Brady Davis, who was 15 of 27 for 259 yards. Davis threw touchdown passes of 18 and 19 yards to A.J. Brown to help the Yellow Jackets build a 24-0 halftime lead. The defense didn’t allow a first down in the first quarter and surrendered only one in the first half in a dominating effort that was coming on the heels of a 56-46 victory against Clinton in the regular-season finale. The 46 points were more than Starkville had allowed in its previous eight games. The Yellow Jackets had four shutouts in that stretch.
“(The offensive line has) been the rock for this offense,” Davis said. “Whether it is the run game or the passing game, they are giving me all of the time I need to get it to my playmakers and they are opening big holes for our backs. They have been the rock of this offense. They don’t get enough credit.”
Starkville coach Jamie Mitchell agreed. While Davis, who has committed to play at Memphis, Brown, Raphael Leonard, Jacquez Horsley, and Matt Fuller on offense and Lorenzo Dantzler and Derion Ford on defense have earned their well-deserved share of attention, the offensive line has stayed the course and showcased its versatility. The offense has capitalized by assaulting opponents in myriad ways through the air and on the ground.
“They may be the most underrated position on our team because everybody else gets so much hype and so much publicity,” Mitchell said. “It’s just a group of guys that comes to work every day, and coach (Bill) Murphy does a great job with them. They’re selfless. They don’t have egos and it is not about them. It is about us. They truly exemplify that probably more than any other position we have.”
Barnes, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound senior, had “Hawgs No. 58” written on a white towel that he had on his waist. He said assistant coach Bill Murphy came up with the nickname for his offensive line charges before the season started and put it in each player’s locker one day. Barnes said it doesn’t matter that the offensive linemen often go unnoticed because that fits perfectly with the way they approach their business.
“We just work hard,” Barnes said. “As an offensive line, you don’t get that much credit, especially if you have weapons like Raphael and Brady and all of them, but we still have to do our part to win.”
Barnes said the offensive linemen are doing their part despite the fact only two of the five are listed at 250 pounds or better. What the linemen lack in girth they make up for in athleticism that they use to open holes in the ground game or protect Davis when he is under center or in the shotgun. For an offense that runs a mixture of quick-hitters and routes with fakes that take time to develop, the play of the offensive line has enabled Davis and the receivers to hook up in a variety of ways.
“It’s a group that plays with great effort and tenacity,” Mitchell said. “Tyler Barnes is our senior leader up there. He is really the heartbeat of them. Our guys know he is the best one we have, and he leads those guys in a great way. Tyler has been a three-year starter for us. Not to minimize the rest of them, but he really gets them going. It is just a special group of kids.”
Barnes said it took a few weeks for the offensive linemen and skill-position players to develop continuity with Davis, a senior transfer from New Hope High. He said that adjustment period is natural with a new quarterback in a new system. Once it clicked, though, Barnes said it came pretty easily.
Davis said the chemistry started to come together in the spring. He said he missed some throws in Starkville’s spring game against Brandon, but he said he and his receivers continued to work together to get their timing down.
“Going into the season, we had it down,” Davis said. “We did seven-on-seven in the summer all the time and routes on air and seven-on-seven in practice. We are always throwing balls up. Whenever we get bored, I call my guys up and we come over here and toss the ball around. That is really what has gotten us where we are now.”
The win against Tupelo moves Starkville two victories from a chance to play for a state title Dec. 5 in Starkville. To get there, Starkville will need all the pieces of its perfect season to remain in place. The Yellow Jackets figure to be in good position as long as the skill position players and the “Hawgs” keep doing their jobs.
Dantzler, a junior defensive lineman who nearly returned a fumble for a touchdown, said the defense will continue to play its part and “knock on the door” to show its dominance. He said “knocking on your door” is one of two slogans the defensive players have used this season. It might not be as catchy as “Jump,” which all of the Yellow Jackets routinely do to the House of Pain song during breaks in the action, or “11:30,” which means 11 players to the ball, three downs and out for opposing offenses, and zero points allowed, but it will do just fine for a unit, like the offensive linemen, that prefers to broadcast its hustle, attitude, work, and grit.
“We just believe in ourselves,” Dantzler said. “We believe we can do anything we put our mind to. We are undersized for our position, but we still play hard. You have to have heart to play defensive line, and that’s what we have.
“We just tell the offense what we are about to do and we go out and do it.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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