Mississippi
Top 25 Mississippi high school football rankings (12/5/2024)
It’s that time of the year, everyone. High school football playoff games are taking place throughout the state of Mississippi and there was plenty of great action taking place.
The season is coming into its final stages and we continue to bring to you our Top 25 rankings out of the state of Mississippi, as we see it.
They are led by their junior running back, Jaeden Hill, who has rushed for 2,048 yards and 32 touchdowns this season. The Golden Wave got by Madison Central in a 21-3 victory in the state semis. They will take on Brandon for the Class 7A state championship.
As the season has wore on, the Bulldogs have just seemingly gotten stronger and better with each passing week. Now after a decisive 31-13 victory over Ocean Springs, they’ll meet Tupelo for the 7A title.
On Saturday night, the MHSAA finals will conclude with the Class 6A state championship game and that’s where you’ll find Hattiesburg playing for the title against Grenada.
Standing atop of the MAIS is the Hawks after they avenged a regular season loss to Jackson Prep, winning 19-14 last week. What a way for the program to finish out the 2024 campaign.
The Patriots fell short of laying the claim to best team out of the MAISafter a 19-14 loss to Hartfield Academy.
The Chargers picked up their 13th straight win after they defeated Warren Central, 23-10. They will take on Hattiesburg for the 6A state title on Saturday night.
The Wildcats are gearing up for Saturday afternoon’s Class 4A state championship game after a 40-6 rout of West Lauderdale last week.
The Maroon Tide has had themselves a fantastic season and it came to an end back on Nov. 30th in a 39-35 loss to Hattiesburg.
Gearing up to play for the Class 3A state championship game this week, Kemario Taylor has continued to make his case in being the state’s Player of the Year.
The Yellow Jackets’ season ended last week with a 35-34 loss to top-ranked Tupelo. This Starkville team easily could’ve been competing for a state championship.
The Jaguars are another team that fell victim to their season being ended by Tupelo, except Madison Central fell 21-3.
The Patriots somewhat continued to see their ranking status dip throughout the season, but we keep them within the Top 10. Reason being Madison-Ridgeland Academy’s last game was a narrow 17-14 loss to eventual MAIS top team, Hartfield Academy.
The Gators keep winning, this time versus Brookhaven 37-35. Now they prepare to play for the Class 5A state championship against West Point.
It was an impressive 2024 season for the Panthers, but it ended up coming to an end against a very good Brandon team, 39-10.
The Admirals’ season ended back on Nov. 16th with a narrow 20-17 loss to Petal.
Ever since a October 4th loss to Tupelo, the Green Wave have won eight straight games en route to playing for the Class 5A state championship.
The Wolves won twelve straight games until they met their match against West Point, ending in a narrow 14-7 loss.
The Mustangs had a superb season behind the play of quarterback Justyce Williams, who has thrown for 2,890 yards and 35 touchdowns.
The Chargers, led by five-star wide receiver Caleb Cunningham, defeated East Webster 41-20 for their 13th straight win.
Hard to boot the Bulldogs out of these rankings, despite the way the season ended. New Albany fell in the second round to Louisville, 39-7.
The Warriors made a strong run at the tailend of the season, but ended up falling 27-14 to Ocean Springs.
Their offensive attack was led by senior running back Jax Toler who has 2,001 rushing yards and 35 touchdowns. The Pioneers ended the MAIS playoffs with a dominanting 70-42 win over Leake Academy.
The Vikings’ stellar offense was led by senior running backs, Eric Collins Jr. and Aden Greer, who are having outstanding seasons. Warren Central season ended at the hands of Grenada, 23-10.
The Tigers’ season ended a couple weeks ago in a 21-3 loss to Warren Central.
We ask that you not look at the six losses, but at the way this Rebels team played in the latter weeks of the season. George County’s season ended with a 63-40 loss to Picayune.
Be sure to Bookmark High School on SI for all of the latest high school football news.
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— Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @sblivems
It will be a beautiful start to the weekend with sunny skies and highs in the 80s. Here’s your statewide forecast from the National Weather Service.
Northern Mississippi
It will be a sunny Friday with highs in the mid-80s. Friday night will be mostly cloudy and warmer with lows in the mid to upper 60s.
Central Mississippi
Friday will be sunny with highs in the mid to upper 80s. Friday night will be mostly cloudy, with lows in the mid-60s.
Southern Mississippi
It will be a sunny Friday with highs in the mid-80s. Friday night will be partly cloudy with lows in the lower 60s.
Mississippi
Golden Spikes watchlist features players from Mississippi State, Ole Miss – SuperTalk Mississippi
Two pitchers representing Mississippi universities are up for the 2026 Golden Spikes Award.
USA Baseball announced Thursday the 25 semifinalists for the award, which is presented annually to the most prolific college player in the nation. Both Mississippi State’s Tomas Valincius and Ole Miss’ Cade Townsend cracked the list. It’s the latest award each was announced to be up for after Valincius and Townsend became Ferris Trophy finalists earlier this week.
Valincius, a left-hander who followed first-year Bulldog head coach Brian O’Connor to Starkville from Virginia has been a star for Mississippi State this season. In 13 starts, the sophomore is 8-2 with a 2.52 ERA and 105 strikeouts, along with just 16 walks across 75 innings of work.
He has effectively limited opposing hitters to a .209 batting average on the year and ranks second in the SEC in strikeouts and wins, and is third in innings pitched and fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.56) and WHIP (0.99).
Valincius is the 10th Bulldog to earn a semifinalist distinction from the Golden Spikes Award and the first since Dakota Jordan in 2024. Will Clark is the program’s only Golden Spikes Award winner in 1985 while Rafael Palmeiro and Brent Rooker finished as finalists for the honor in 1984 and 2017, respectively.
For Ole Miss, Townsend is the first Rebel since Doug Nikhazy in 2021 and just the seventh ever to be named a semifinalist for the award. He is the first Ole Miss sophomore to ever be named a semifinalist as all six before him were juniors.
The right-hander boasts a 3.25 ERA and has struck out 77 batters while only allowing 20 earned runs in 55.1 innings. Townsend ranks fifth in the SEC in WHIP (1.01), strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.50), and strikeouts per nine innings (12.52). He leads the Rebels in all three categories as well as batters struck out looking (24) and wins and is second in opponent batting average (.202) and total strikeouts (77).
If Townsend is announced as a finalist, he will join Stephen Head and Drew Pomeranz in earning the honor. No Ole Miss player has ever won the Golden Spikes Award.
The full list of semifinalists can be found here. Finalists will be named on June 10, and this year’s Golden Spikes Award winner will be announced on the MLB Network on June 29. Fans can weigh in on which player is their favorite by clicking here.
One series remains in the regular season and Ole Miss and Mississippi State baseball are in similar situations.
Both are locks for the NCAA Tournament but are on the bubble for hosting a regional.
The Tennessean’s latest bracket projections have both the Rebels and Bulldogs as two of the 16 national seeds, but that is not solidified yet.
Finding wins in the final series, and possibly the SEC Tournament too, are necessary. Both teams close the regular season on the road against ranked teams that are also projected to host regionals.
The No. 12 Bulldogs (38-14, 15-12 SEC) play at No. 10 Texas A&M (37-12, 16-10). The No. 19 Rebels (35-18, 14-13) play at No. 16 Alabama (35-17, 16-11). Both series begin May 14 (6 p.m., SEC Network+).
Here’s a look at the different scenarios for Ole Miss and Mississippi State to host NCAA Tournament regionals.
Mississippi State, Ole Miss hosting scenarios for NCAA Tournament
Ole Miss and Mississippi State getting swept could knock them completely out of the hosting conversation, barring a deep run in the SEC Tournament. However, SEC Tournament wins are not always viewed the same as SEC regular-season wins by the selection committee.
Mississippi State is in a slightly better spot than Ole Miss. The Bulldogs’ RPI is at No. 12, one spot ahead of Ole Miss. They are tied for sixth in the SEC standings, while Ole Miss is ninth.
The Bulldogs also went 4-0 against Ole Miss, which could give them the edge if the final hosting seed came down to those two teams.
The Tennessean projects MSU as the No. 12 national seed and the Rebels as the No. 13 seed. D1Baseball and Baseball America also project MSU to host, however they both have Ole Miss as a No. 2 seed.
That could mean Ole Miss needs two wins against Alabama, while MSU may be fine with just one win at Texas A&M. If Ole Miss wins one game at Alabama, it probably would need multiple wins in the SEC Tournament.
Mississippi State winning two games at Texas A&M could keep it in contention for a top eight seed. Ole Miss and Mississippi State sweeping their series obviously would, too.
Getting a top eight seed is advantageous because that means you are guaranteed to host a super regional.
Who Ole Miss, Mississippi State fans should root against
It will help Ole Miss and Mississippi State if teams near them in the projections lose, too. That would be teams like Oregon, West Virginia, Wake Forest, Nebraska, Oregon State and Kansas.
Oregon hosts Southern Cal, Nebraska plays at Minnesota, Kansas plays at BYU, Wake Forest plays at Duke, Oregon State hosts Air Force and West Virgina hosts TCU.
How NCAA Tournament history could be made in Mississippi
If everything falls the right way, there’s a chance Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Southern Miss all host NCAA Tournament regionals. That’s never happened.
The No. 9 Golden Eagles (37-14, 19-8 Sun Belt) are projected by The Tennessean as the No. 10 national seed, just ahead of MSU and Ole Miss.
Southern Miss plays a home series against Georgia Southern (15-37, 7-20) at Pete Taylor Park beginning May 14 (7 p.m., ESPN+).
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for The Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
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