December 1997 Mississippi High School All-Sports Skuttle-Butt

Support your hometown high school sports team because these players and coaches put forth a lot of effort and hard work to be the best they can be and by going to their games you show them that you appreciate their efforts. If you want to have an added incentive, go to the game to see if you can find a prospect I can put on this page. I want your input to make this page the best it can be.

12/31/97 - Here is the latest, from one of my sources, on Syniker Taylor:

"According to report on the local news, the injury was probably an old injury that was almost healed. It was very strange how it happened. You would think an injury like that would happen when he landed but it appeared to happen when he left the ground. He actually grabbed the leg in mid air.

"The report also said that he would be in a cast for 12 weeks and then go through rehab."

12/30/97 - Gulfport's Syniker Taylor injured his right leg in a win over Harrison Central Monday night. It appeared that he injured his leg jumping on a baseline drive. According to my source, the scuttlebutt in the gym was it appeared that he broke a bone in the lower part of his leg. It looked like he was holding near his knee. Stay tuned for further details.....

12/30/97 - Here is a linebacker from Gulfport HS I just found out about: Geoffrey Strickland (Junior, 5-11, 210-lbs, 4.7). Geoffrey was selected 1st Team All-District this year after recording approximately 150 total tackles, 3 fumble recoveries, 4 fumbles caused and 2 interceptions. He also benches 250 pounds, squats 525 and deadlifts 500. This is someone that really sounds like he is a player to watch next year.

12/30/97 - The latest word on Vancleave's offensive lineman Robin Lee (the other big lineman on their team) is he has visited La. Tech and Troy State and is interested in McNeese State also.

12/29/97 - Check out each of the above lists of top Mississippi players for updated statistics for each of the QBs, RBs, WRs and TEs. If you have stats on any player I don't have stats for, let me know. I am also looking for any All-District, All-Division, All-Region, All-County, All-Area, or any other All-Team you see in your local newspaper (Mississippi Only). Fax them to me at (601) 356-4923 or mail them to: 4361 Cal-Steens Road, Caledonia, MS. 39740.

12/29/97 - Did you know Maben HS's TE/LB Donald Lee caught 54 passes (second only to Shorter of Port Gibson who caught 72) for 1,015 yards and 9 TDs? Get this: he is only a junior.

12/27/97 - Ripley HS has a freshman WR/DB by the name of Clint Jordan (5-11, 160) who has a chance to be a very good football player if he continues to work hard. Not only is he a good football player but he is also the starting PG on the B team basketball team and a possible starter on this year's baseball team.

12/24/97 - There is a 10th grader at Ripley HS who is supposed to be a very good basketball player. His name is Jeremy Johnson. Anybody know anything about him?

12/23/97 - Eric Brewer, an offensive lineman from New Hope HS, has been selected All-District First Team for the second year in a row and get this: he is only a junior. This is one player we definitely need to watch next year.

12/23/97 - Indianola Academy's Katherine Gantz stats after 15 games:

12/17/97 - Last night I received additional info on Hatley HS basketball star Jessica Dunlap (who is 6-0). Jessica is currently averaging 25 ppg through 12 games. During the Smithville tournament (Dec. 1-6) she scored 40 points against Hamilton and 36 points against Smithville. Saturday night she scored 26 points against Sulligent (AL.) and Monday night she scored 26 points against Calhoun City (MS). She also rebounds very well, averaging 10 rebounds a game. Anybody know about other deserving female athletes?

12/16/97 - Here is a little more info on Walnut HS football player Trave Hopkins: Trave also plays baseball (shortstop and pitcher on the varsity team) and averaged .357 as an 8th grader and hit .450 last year as a freshman. That's not all, he also has a fastball that has been clocked at 83 MPH.

12/15/97 - Here are a couple of Greenwood HS underclassmen to watch for next year: Junior Quarterback Cary Weaver, playing full time for the first time this year, was 71 for 149 passing with 919 yards, 10 TDs and 3 INTs. What makes this even more impressive is he became the starter around the 4th game of the season. Look for this player to have a chance, with continued improvement, to be one of the best QBs in the state next year. His teammate, wide receiver Jason Wallace, playing only his first season of football, is a junior who caught 21 passes for 337 yards and 3 TDs. With a year's experience under his belt, look for good things from Jason next year.

12/14/97 - According to one of my sources, Jessica Dunlap is a Hatley HS sophomore basketball player who is averaging between 24 - 25 points per game. She is also an excellent student. All of you Walnut HS sources, tell me what you know about her. Let's promote her.

BTW, I would like to promote more Mississippi HS girls so if any of you know of a deserving high school girl who you feel is a possible Division-I prospect, tell me about her. Let's help her get some recognition. Remember, this is a Mississippi Sports (girls and boys) HS Skuttle-Butt page.

12/13/97 - Received this info last night:

"Greenwood has a good running back and linebacker by the name of Gary Davis. He had knee surgery early in the season and missed 3 ballgames. In the last 8 games, he rushed for over 900 yards. Another good player for Greenwood is offensive lineman Kendrick Wise. He is 6'3' and weighs 301 lbs. He benches around 395, and runs between a 5.1-5.3 forty. That is pretty impressive for a guy that size."

12/12/97 - Watch this sophomore kicker from Walnut HS next year. From what I have been told, Trave Hopkins (6-0, 165) has a strong enough leg (has kicked 50+ field goals in practice) to consistently kick his kickoffs inside the 10 yard line most of the time this past football season. During games this year, his longest field goal was 40 yards and he only missed one PAT. Keep an eye on this kid, because it looks like he has a chance to be a very good kicker if he continues to work hard in practice.

12/12/97 - Have you ever heard of Ellis Scott? Well, I have and all I hear about him is very good indeed. Ellis is a 6-1, 208-lb freshman linebacker from Pontotoc HS. According to my sources, he is already a very good player as a freshman. My sources believe he has a chance to be a star in the future.

12/12/97 - A couple of Starkville HS players to watch are Brandon Poe, a freshman running back with great speed, and Rod Prather, a sophomore basketball player who has a chance to be a special player.

12/12/97 - I have talked about him before, but he is so good he is worth mentioning again: Rodney Outlaw, a freshman defensive lineman from Starkville is an outstanding football player who has a chance to be great. He is a young man who does well in the classroom as well as on the field. Remember this player, because he has a chance to be one of the best in the south and, maybe, nation by the time he is a senior.

12/11/97 - Josh Moore, who is from Starkville, MS., is a 6-5, 295-lb freshman football player who is very agile and has a lot of ability. Watch for him the next three years.

12/11/97 - West Union (1-A) girls improved their record to 18-1 (only loss to Oxford) with a 72-33 win over East Union on Tuesday night.

12/11/97 - Katherine Gantz of Indianola Academy scored 40 points Tuesday night against Cruger-Tchula.

12/11/97 - Two Walnut HS players that are not getting a lot of attention but should be, are running back Pereece Hunt (6-0, 180-lbs, 4.4) and OT/DT Jesse Bass (6-0, 275-lbs, 5.4). Pereece is an outstanding running back who is strong and explosive. He also returned kicks (ran three back for TDs). Good kid also. Jesse, while possessing a little less athletic ability than Perceece, plays the game with a tremendous amount of desire. He is very strong in both his upper and lower body. If anyone out there knows a college coach or if any college coaches check out my page, get on the ball and call Walnut HS.

12/11/97 - Mantachie HS has a junior player by the name of Adam Lindsey. Adam while not very big (5-9, 165) has great speed (4.5) and quickness and is also very strong. He has the ability to make people miss him. He gained over 2,000 yards this year and is a player to watch next year.

12/11/97 - A little more info from the South Panola fan. The week prior to the championship game between South Panola and Moss Point, the SP kicker missed 3 extra points. It appears the kicker was in a slump, folks. Too many folks appear to be quick to criticize without having all the facts.

12/10/97 - This quote comes from an upset South Panola fan. He is referring to the South Panola - Moss Point 5A Championship Game and the reaction from various people about the decision by SP coach Ed Stanley to go for a TD instead of a FG during overtime:

" The talk of the town (as I'm sure you're aware of) is the decision to go for the TD in overtime instead of kicking the field goal. People were even talking about it on a Memphis SportsTalk station yesterday. The general public reaction is that Coach Stanley made the wrong decision, and people who don't know anything about our team are wondering why a coach wouldn't kick. But those of us who are close (and know a lot about the players and personnel) to the team know that our kicker-Jerry Ware-is also our #1 deep snapper. And when we kick a field goal, it's with a second string snapper. Also, the uprights at Memorial Stadium are college uprights, which are more narrow than high school uprights. Factor in that we have the best RB in the state (Sanford), and I think we had a better chance of gaining 5 yards than kicking a 25 yard FG.

The man who called up the Memphis radio show and criticized Coach Stanley's decision wasn't even at the game, and I have heard other people who have never seen us play criticize the decision as well. This man went on to say that being a 5A school SP probably dressed out 80-85 players, therefore we should have somebody that can kick. I don't know where he got that from. SP has about 50 players this year, and in '93 -when we had the best team in the history of the state- we only dressed 36 players. SP is one of the smallest 5A schools in the state, and could be a 4A school if we wanted to (Batesville's population is about 7,000 playing against the Tupelo's of the world).

I've also seen Rebel fans on the Rebel Recruiting chat page call the decision "silly." They also said that Eddie Strong was our kicker. Just another example of people talking about things they know nothing about (& have no business talking about).

Please put something on your high school page concerning the criticism that Coach Stanley has been unrightfully receiving. The man is 28-2 in his last two seasons, so I think he knows what the capabilities of his team is better than anyone else in the world."

12/10/97 - Need help on a couple of players:

One is a junior kicker (#16 maybe) from Senatobia and the other one is a freshman linebacker (#42 maybe) from Pontotoc. Anybody know who these guys are? I heard some great info on them, but I don't want to post it until I know their names.

12/10/97 - Watch Northeast Jones this year. They have a couple of very talented senior basketball players by the names of Johnny White (6-6) and Derrick White (6-4, not sure of his classification). Johnny is a great leaper, very athletic and is a good shooter. Derrick is very athletic, great ball handler, good touch and a great leader. Northeast Jones is 11-1 on the year.

12/10/97 - I talk about the young lady and look what she does. Katherine Gantz was named a top performer of the week yesterday by The Clarion-Ledger ... Indianola is Class AAA ... in the last three games against Class AAAA competition, she has averaged 26 points, including a high of 35 against Clarksdale Lee.

12/10/97 - There were 3 undefeated teams in Mississippi this year (Weir, Ackerman & Winston Academy) and they were all within 16 miles of each other.

12/08/97 - Keep a watch on this high school girl basketball player for the next two years:

"Junior Catrina Frierson from Vicksburg High played at the Nike All-American Camp this past summer. Only the top 80 girls from around the country were invited. She was 1st team all-state as a sophomore last year (Clarion-Ledger). She is currently averaging 25 points a game for her team which is 9-1 and currently ranked 6th in the state by the Clarion-Ledger. She is 6'0'' with guard skills but can deliver in the post as well. She has received mail from heavyweights such as Louisiana Tech, Stanford, Georgia, Connecticut and hundreds of others."

12/07/97 - More info from my contact at the Mississippi HS Championship games at Jackson:

Magee 20 Senatobia 6. Justin Griffith, who had very few holes to run through today, had a 25-yard TD run called back.

Ackerman 47 Booneville 0. Connor Stevens of Ackerman is a man. Good as advertised.

12/06/97 - This Moss Point - South Panola info comes from a very knowledgeable football source of mine:

It was probably one of the three best high school games I have ever seen. It was the fastest high school game that I have seen. A buddy of mine stood next to Rick Cleveland and he said the same thing. Yes, the guys were even faster and quicker than the ones in the MS-AL all star game (although it should be said the MS-AL guys were in a new system and these guys were intimate with their systems).

The best team won. I thought South Panola would win by 10 - 14 points, but Moss Point was better. MP's cornerback's were incredible. If Pascagoula's Reggie Myles is better than these guys then he must be outstanding. There were no outstanding players heads above the others. Both teams were incredibly balanced and markedly improved over last year. One final comment about both of these teams: Speed kills.

Player by player: Francisco Kelly looked better than Toward Sanford. Sanford may have been hurt as he did not run the ball much. On his 50+ yard TD run he was quick around the end but other than that Kelly looked better.

Eddie Strong was still very good, but he was nowhere near as dominant as in last year's game. This may seem to be an odd statement considering that last year MP scored 33 points compared to 17 points in overtime. This difference is that both teams were so good across the board. Eddie Strong is still great, but he got pancaked some as well and he slowed runners down at times for others to tackle, whereas last year he did it all himself. Strong will have to step it up a notch at the next level. Given his attitude, he probably will.

12/06/97 - Here is some interesting information found in Huskers Illustrated:

Edward Prather is rated Number 2 on Nebraska list of the Nation's Top Running Backs, (Huskers Illustrated, Sept. 20, 1997 issue)

Freddie Milons, of Starkville, MS is rated Number 3 on Nebraska list of the Nation's Top Cornerbacks (Huskers Illustrated, Nov. 15, 1997 issue)

Reggie Myles, of Pascagoula, MS is rated Number 10 on Nebraska list of the Nation's Top Cornerbacks (Huskers Illustrated, Nov. 15, 1997 issue)

Lorenzo Diamond, of Biloxi, MS is rated Number 9 on Nebraska list of the Nation's Top Tight Ends (Huskers Illustrated, Oct. 11, 1997 issue)

12/06/97 - Here is a very talented high school girl's basketball player to watch the two next years.

Katherine Gantz, 5-11 (still growing), Junior, Indianola Academy, averaging about 25 per game Team is 12-0. As a soph, she was the team's leading scorer and rebounder.

As a soph, she won the conference in the discus and finished 3rd in the state behind two seniors ... she's a straight-A student.

12/06/97 - OT/DT David Junkin of Cathedral HS was named MVP for District 7-A yesterday.

12/04/97 - Here is the latest word on a couple of Picayune HS players. All recruiters take note: