Talkin’ football
- Updated: July 31, 2024
With mature Mims reaching senior ‘horse power’ and lots of experience around him, Oxford looks to challenge for the top spot in 6A, Region 6 race.
Editor’s note: High school football practice starts this week, and East Alabama Sports Today editor Joe Medley has begun his annual round of preseason visits to football-playing schools in Calhoun County. Check out East Alabama Sports Today’s Facebook page for live interviews each weekday leading up to season openers. Columns and key facts will also appear at EASportsToday.com and related social-media platforms. Here’s a link to today’s full interview.
OXFORD — College football coaches use a term when talking about Mason Mims.
The term would seem more suited for running backs or wide receivers than quarterbacks, but it’s become their word association with the Oxford quarterback and Louisville commit.
The big-armed, physically mature senior has “horse power.”
“When they compare his sophomore film to his junior film, and then when then evaluate him now, throwing live, the phrase that I’ve heard multiple times is how he has just more ‘horse power.'” fourth-year Oxford coach Sam Adams said.
It means velocity on throws.
It means Mims’ foot speed.
It means the total picture for a third-year starter who physically looks more like a college quarterback than at any time since he’s transferred to Oxford, and that’s the guy who’ll pull the trigger for the Yellow Jackets this season.
Mims will do it with weapons around him.
The Yellow Jackets lost departed senior running back Jaydon Thomas, but Caleb Wynn transferred back from Anniston.
Oxford lost departed senior wide receiver Camare Hampton, but Jalin Taylor is back after a year out of football and with similar skill sets. All-Calhoun County wide receiver Nick Richardson returns with athleticism he’s displayed in football and baseball, as a leadoff hitter and outfielder.
Mims also can look at his mirrors and see objects farther away than they appear. That’s because left tackle Reshad Cunningham returns to watch Mims’ back, and massive Munford transfer Bryson Sanderson has him covered at right tackle.
Mims can make all of the throws and has the Jimmys and Joes.
Mims also has a little something extra.
“Even as a sophomore, he was a really great decision maker,” Adams said. “He already had great accuracy, and if you’re kind of trying to pick him apart a little bit and find things to perceive as weaknesses, it might’ve been his physical strength and stature. It could’ve been velocity on his throws. it could be a little bit of foot spread.
“He’s worked immensely hard over the last two years to try to take those weaknesses and just wipe them off of the map, and that’s really what he’s done.”
Adams said Mims has bulked up 25 pounds since his sophomore year and added velocity.
‘Just the range of throws that he can make on the field has improved so much,” Adams said. “We’ve seen that just in the last few days of practice, where he’ll make a throw from one hash to the other set of numbers, or there other sideline, and not just talking a 5-yard throw. We’re talking a 40-yard throw across the field.
“When you can have that sort of range, I guess is the way to put it, with an arm, that’s hard to defend. That’s just more space on the field that the defense has to defend.”
Adams credits “an immense amount of hard work” on Mims’ part for his progress.
It translates to a bright future for Mims, who plans to enroll early at Louisville and work with Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm, himself a former quarterback. For the time being, Mims’ progress means that Oxford will have the edge at quarterback on most fall Friday nights.
That means Oxford will have plenty of “horse power” on offense.
Top recruit Keenan Britt leads the defense, which has to fill three vacated spots in the secondary. Size at some spots on defense remains a concern.
Realignment didn’t change Oxford’s lot much. Class 6A, Region 6, which has a habit of sending teams to the Super 7, lost Center Point but added Mountain Brook. State champion Clay-Chalkville remains, along with Pinson Valley, emerging Pell City et al.
Come playoff time, matchups will matter. It mattered when Parker’s star-studded defensive line sacked Mims six times in the Yellow Jackets’ second-round playoff loss last season.
But Oxford has something not every high school team has with a quarterback who can make a college array of throws, can move and make good decisions.
It’s the most important position in football, the one where horse power starts.
Jacket facts
Things to know about Oxford football heading into the 2024 season:
—Sam Adams enters his fourth season as Oxford’s head coach. In 2023, he coached the Yellow Jackets to a 9-3 record and second-place finish to eventual state champion Clay-Chalkville in 6A, Region 6. Oxford reached the second round of the playoffs.
—Key graduation losses from 2023 include seven Class 4A-6A All-Calhoun County players: RB Jaydon Thomas, WR Camare Hampton, OL Kevin Wheat, DL Donovan Jones, DB Latreveon Figgers, DB/WR Judd Syer and DB Cristian Gibson.
—Key returnees include 16 all-county picks: senior QB Mason Mims, senior RB D.K. Wilson, senior WR Nick Richardson, senior OL Reshad Cunningham, junior DL Keenan Britt, senior LB James Tapley, junior OL Jayden Young, senior OL Markevion Conley, junior DL P.J. Watkins, senior DL Caleb Tinner, senior DB Cedric Twymon, senior LB Desmond Whitson and sophomore LB Jiyez Fleming. Senior LB Hudson Gilman (shoulder), a Jax State baseball signee, is with the team but will not play this season. Senior FB/TE Jayden Lewis will focus on basketball.
—Players to watch include RB Caleb Wynn, who returns after playing 2023 at Anniston. OL Bryson Sanderson moved in from Munford, and DB Braylen Ray moved in from Lincoln. WR Jalin Taylor, a starter in 2022, is back after sitting out the 2023 season..
—The first year of a new realignment cycle has Oxford in Class 6A, Region 6 and aligned with Clay-Chalkville, Huffman, Mountain Brook, Pell City, Pinson Valley and Shades Valley. In non-region play, the Yellow Jackets open at Central Carrollton (Ga.) on Aug. 23, play host to Moody on Aug. 30, go to Helena on Sept. 27 and go to Florence on Nov. 1.
—Joe Medley
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