Head Coach: Casey Herrington
2025 Record: 8-4
Region Record: 2-3, Region 3-5A
Classification: MHSAA Class 5A
2026 Season Opener: Aug. 27 vs. Northeast Jones
South Jones spent the last two years proving the program was headed in the right direction. Now the Braves want more.
Under head coach Casey Herrington, South Jones has gone from a roster of roughly 45 players to nearly 100, posted back-to-back eight-win seasons and returned to the playoffs in consecutive years. Herrington said last summer the program had come “leaps and bounds” from where it started. This August, his message has changed. South Jones expects to win.
The Braves finished 8-4 in 2025, opened the season with seven consecutive wins and were perfect at home. They beat Northeast Jones, George County, West Jones, Quitman, Enterprise-Clarke, Long Beach and Sumrall before a difficult late-season stretch changed the shape of the year.
Losses to North Pike and Brookhaven were followed by a shutout win over Natchez and a 7-3 loss at Laurel. South Jones still qualified for the Class 5A playoffs, but Wayne County ended the season with a 34-10 first-round victory.
South Jones has now reached the postseason in back-to-back years, but the Braves have also gone one-and-done both times.
The next step is obvious. Win the region. Host a playoff game. And finally get out of the first round. And Herrington has made that the program’s primary goal entering 2026.
Anquan Jackson Gives South Jones a Legitimate Division I Weapon
The biggest name on the roster is senior athlete Anquan Jackson. Jackson enters 2026 committed to Tulane after choosing the Green Wave from an offer list that included Cincinnati, Oregon State, Memphis, Coastal Carolina, Troy, Arkansas State, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Texas State and others.
247Sports lists Jackson as a three-star prospect and one of the top players in Mississippi’s 2027 class. He is listed around 6-foot and 184 pounds and can play running back or receiver. Last season showed exactly why college coaches were interested.
Jackson produced approximately 1,300 all-purpose yards and 18 touchdowns as a junior. Herrington has the freedom to line him up virtually anywhere in the offense. Put him in the backfield. Move him into the slot. Send him outside. Get him the ball on screens.
South Jones does not need to make the offense complicated when it has a player who can change the game with one touch. Jackson’s speed makes him particularly dangerous once he reaches the second level. Recruiting coverage has credited him with 4.3-range speed and noted that he surpassed 1,300 yards from scrimmage last season after an even bigger sophomore campaign.
He is the type of player South Jones has not always had. A true Division I recruit capable of forcing opposing coaches to design their entire defensive game plan around him.
Kaleb McGruder Gives the Braves Another Big-Play Threat
The offense is not just Jackson. Kaleb McGruder returns after catching 10 touchdown passes in 2025. Herrington highlighted him as another major weapon entering the season. That matters because defenses cannot simply load the box against Jackson. If safeties begin creeping toward the line of scrimmage, McGruder gives South Jones a downfield option capable of making them pay.
McGruder said during preseason camp that the Braves are stronger, faster and more mature than they were a year ago. He also emphasized not overlooking opponents, a lesson South Jones learned the hard way in the upset loss to North Pike.
That game should remain somewhere in the back of this team’s mind all season. South Jones was good enough to beat nearly everyone on the schedule last year. The Braves were also inconsistent enough to lose to a one-win team. The margin between those two versions of South Jones may determine whether this becomes another solid season or something bigger.
Quarterback Is the Biggest Question
For all the optimism surrounding South Jones, there is one major unknown, Quarterback.
Collin Flowers graduated after giving the Braves stability at the position for two seasons. In his first full season as the starter in 2024, Flowers threw 19 touchdown passes while completing 65 percent of his attempts. The Braves entered August with two or three players competing for the starting job.
His expectations are fairly straightforward. The quarterback does not necessarily need to be the most talented player on the field. He needs to be someone his teammates trust, someone who distributes the football, gets the offense into the correct formation and protects possession.
That sounds simple. It may be the biggest factor in the season. South Jones already has Jackson. It already has McGruder. The Braves also return several experienced skill players and a defense with senior leadership. If the new quarterback can simply avoid turnovers and consistently get the ball to those playmakers, South Jones has enough around him to win.
If the position becomes a weekly problem, the ceiling drops quickly.
Braydon Armstrong Becomes the Leader of the Defense
Senior Braydon Armstrong enters the season as one of the leaders of the entire program. Armstrong led South Jones with 9.0 tackles per game last season while playing middle linebacker and fullback. His value extends beyond statistics.
Armstrong has been part of the class that experienced South Jones before the recent turnaround. He told WDAM that the program changed significantly as his class grew older and took on larger roles. That makes this senior class important.
The younger players arriving now know South Jones as an eight-win playoff program. Armstrong and the older Braves remember what it looked like while Herrington was still building it.
That gives them a responsibility to make sure the new standard survives. On the field, Armstrong anchors a defense that was one of South Jones’ strengths in 2025. The Braves allowed only 196 points in 12 games, an average of 16.3 per contest. They held four opponents to seven points or fewer and posted shutouts against Sumrall and Natchez.
If that defense remains intact, South Jones will not have to win many shootouts.
Five Games to Watch
Aug. 27 – Northeast Jones
There is no easing into the season.
South Jones opens against its longest-running rival after escaping with a 20-17 victory last year.
Sept. 11 – West Jones
Last year’s 38-35 South Jones victory was one of the best games in Jones County.
The rematch should again tell us plenty about how close the Braves are to the upper tier of Class 5A.
Oct. 9 – Sumrall
South Jones shut out Sumrall 6-0 last season. The rematch could have major Region 3-5A implications, especially with both programs believing they can finish near the top of the standings.
Oct. 23 – Brookhaven
Brookhaven won Region 3-5A last season and beat South Jones 42-24. If the Braves truly want the district championship, this is the type of game they have to win.
Nov. 5 – Laurel
South Jones lost 7-3 at Laurel last season. Four points separated the Braves from potentially improving their playoff position. The regular-season finale could once again decide where South Jones spends the first Friday night of the postseason.
2026 South Jones Football Schedule
Aug. 27 – Northeast Jones
Sept. 4 – at George County
Sept. 11 – West Jones
Sept. 18 – at Quitman
Sept. 25 – Enterprise
Oct. 3 – at Long Beach
Oct. 10 – at Sumrall*
Oct. 16 – North Pike*
Oct. 23 – at Brookhaven*
Oct. 30 – Natchez*
Nov. 5 – at Laurel*
*Region 3-5A game
Magnolia Coast Sports Outlook
South Jones is past the point where eight wins should automatically be viewed as a surprise.
Herrington has built depth, changed expectations and produced consecutive playoff teams.
Now the Braves have to turn that improvement into postseason results.
Jackson gives South Jones a legitimate Division I playmaker, McGruder gives the new quarterback an experienced receiver and Armstrong leads a defense that should again keep the Braves in most games.
The quarterback competition is the biggest concern.
South Jones also has to prove last year’s late-season slide was a lesson rather than a warning. The Braves cannot afford another loss like the North Pike game if they expect to win Region 3-5A.
Brookhaven remains the team to catch, while Laurel and Sumrall should make the region competitive.
Still, South Jones has enough returning talent—and enough confidence—to make this more than another eight-win season.
Magnolia Coast Sports Prediction: 8-2 regular season, second place in Region 3-5A and South Jones finally wins a first-round playoff game for the first time since 2004.
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