High School Football Preview: Saint James
Saint James football will have somewhat of a new look this fall. The Trojans have a new quarterback and a new head coach in Aubrey Blackwell. If his name is familiar to you, it’s probably because he played quarterback at formerly-named Robert E. Lee High School and then coached at Montgomery Catholic before his most recent stop in Mississippi.
“It was a chance for me to come home and be with people that I know, that I’ve worked with before” Blackwell said. “I’m working with a football staff now where four of them played for me, two of them I coached with when I was here before and a school I’m very familiar with in a town that I love.”
Now returning home Blackwell inherits a Trojans team coming off its best two years in program history. They won the state championship two years ago and reached the semifinals last season. The Trojans struggled with turning the ball over in their 34-30 lost to Mobile Christian
“I feel like we could have won it. Had a tough game,” said Tabor Offord, a senior wide receiver at St. James. “And we still lost by four. So, I mean, it just showed how much we could have done.”
Wils Johnson, a senior linebacker, added, “Losing the manner that we did, everybody was kind of down about it, but I mean, it kind of brought us closer together, especially this year, with this team.”
One challenge St. James does have this fall: replacing star quarterback K.J. Jackson, who’s off to be an Arkansas Razorback.
Junior Chase Perry will step into the position. Blackwell said Perry has a strong arm and is always showing up to the field on the weekend to get extra reps with his wide receivers. His teammate, running back Pruitt Conner, said Perry’s going to shock a lot of people when the Trojans kickoff their season on August 24.
“We’re the best team in the city,” said Braylen Corley, a senior wide receiver and defensive back. “Come support, against (Montgomery) Catholic.”
