Someone sent me this - JA changing their logo
- Thread starter dawgstudent
- Start date
I don’t know their scholarship situation these days but it may be saying they’ve brought in a lot of guys from Clinton
Read the article below, you'll catch on.
https://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-only-constant-is-change.html
Jackson Academy (Shay Hodge) raided Clinton Highs roster and took five of their best players, including three that are amongst the top 10 players in the state.
A few people are pissed about it.
Clinton lost their chance at making a run this year
JA families that have been there since Kindergarten lost their starting position and/or number
A bunch of JA families are coming forward saying its been happening in other sports for years
JA went 9-4 and lost in the semifinals last year and returned the core of a team that could have competed. They went all in and got these transfers to make sure they won.
All this and they are preseason No. 13 in the state - behind Prep and Hartfield FWIW.
PRO TIP: Despite what premium content writers will say, Shay Hodge is all about Shay Hodge. Never forget that.
Can't finish behind both schools in Flowood. Too much of a hit to the collective ego, and the JA brand.
I can pen some truth about what is going on at private (and some public) schools but it will piss off some people.
I will say this though - Jackson Academy is facing some issues.
South Jackson's demographic change and the collapse of Worldcom at the same time just about killed Hillcrest. The JA brand has helped JA stay above water for longer, but many families with school-age children moving to Madison and Flowood/Brandon and choosing MRA or Hartfield (along with public schools). JA is having a hard time getting non-legacy families. Now Prep has an elementary school so that attracts some families that they had an advantage of.
All the big four are recruiting. They are recruiting the publics and they are recruiting each other. It's a damn mess right now. My opinion is that Prep is the only one taking a step back and asking if this is what they want to become. The others are full speed ahead. The MAIS as an organization is powerless to stop them. They do not have the resources to fight if it goes to court (which any adverse move would cause it to go to the courts).
So this is what it is. JA is in a kill or be killed mindset. The number of 30 year olds that are not married or have kids is at an all-time high. There just aren't enough future students to go around. Prep went over 50 years without a lower school and had a de facto relationship with FPDS. Do you think they just woke up and said lets start a lower school No the data suggests they have to have one.
Just like colleges, sports are an attention grabber. MRA has been seeking out ESPN games. Prep has perhaps the best high school baseball program in the South. Hartfield is selling "Christian" with all of their success. JA has nothing. They used to have the best facilities but others have caught up.
This is going to be a real interesting two year cycle in the MAIS. I think the Anchor Plan is going to be a complete failure.
I will say this though - Jackson Academy is facing some issues.
South Jackson's demographic change and the collapse of Worldcom at the same time just about killed Hillcrest. The JA brand has helped JA stay above water for longer, but many families with school-age children moving to Madison and Flowood/Brandon and choosing MRA or Hartfield (along with public schools). JA is having a hard time getting non-legacy families. Now Prep has an elementary school so that attracts some families that they had an advantage of.
All the big four are recruiting. They are recruiting the publics and they are recruiting each other. It's a damn mess right now. My opinion is that Prep is the only one taking a step back and asking if this is what they want to become. The others are full speed ahead. The MAIS as an organization is powerless to stop them. They do not have the resources to fight if it goes to court (which any adverse move would cause it to go to the courts).
So this is what it is. JA is in a kill or be killed mindset. The number of 30 year olds that are not married or have kids is at an all-time high. There just aren't enough future students to go around. Prep went over 50 years without a lower school and had a de facto relationship with FPDS. Do you think they just woke up and said lets start a lower school No the data suggests they have to have one.
Just like colleges, sports are an attention grabber. MRA has been seeking out ESPN games. Prep has perhaps the best high school baseball program in the South. Hartfield is selling "Christian" with all of their success. JA has nothing. They used to have the best facilities but others have caught up.
This is going to be a real interesting two year cycle in the MAIS. I think the Anchor Plan is going to be a complete failure.
Hillcrest, who 20 years ago lost the state championship game in the highest classification of the MAIS (then MPSA) is playing 1A 8-man football this year.
Is that arrowhead shaped by stone strikes from a displaced native american, or the meticulous labor of a skilled Amish scroll-saw laborer using electricity from an African pedaling a magneto-equipped bicycle?
JA location is horrible. Parham Bridges is supposedly fencing in the entire park to stop the drug deals & other stuff that goes on there every day, not to mention the murder a few months ago. Bug they’ve got so much invested in their facilities they can’t really move. And where could they move to anyway? Prep, MRA & Hartfield are already well established anywhere they might want to move to. Their long term future is pretty dismal.
I’ve been keeping up with a little of this from a distance. I get it, it’s frustrating to have someone else take “your spot”. This is what I don’t really understand. Say you’re the starting center and they bring in some stud that’s bigger and faster than you and you can’t beat him. If I’m that kid, I’m about to be busting it at practice to beat out one of the two guards and take their spot so I can get on the field. It’s the coaches responsibility to put the best 11 on the field. Put the coaches in a position where they HAVE to play you.
You’re not beating out the players they brought in. And even if you did you still wouldn’t play because someone invested a lot of money in those players.
I agree with what you are saying but I'll go a step further. A couple of years ago JA started a K2 program to try and get more students. The first year they had around 40 kids. Last year, FPDS started a K2 program with about 30 kids. Prep has a defacto K2 program now with Meadowbrook Preschool,who this year will have 24 kids. Point is that schools are looking at other ways to keep the doors open.
Prep had approached FPDS to be their elementary school but the church said no. As a result of that decision Prep built their lower school which will expand some this year and some next year.
I spoke to an MAIS basketball official on Friday and he said as of about a month ago, Hillcrest had 97 kids enrolled. Hillcrest is my alma mater and it's sad what it's become. They made a big push to recruit Wingfield students when JPS closed Wingfield but I think most of those kids went to Forest Hill. Supposedly there's a church in Byram that's a main supporter of the school to help keep their doors open. Central Hinds growing and Clinton Christian becoming a school didn't help their situation either.
The current system won't last past these two years. It will either go to a 4 team conference or I could see them going to a regional schedule. There would be an outside chance they go MHSAA but right now I think that would be a small chance.
The people that I talk to say it like this in regards to the Big 4 joining the MHSAA.
Before this fiasco with Clinton, they would have had to have every maybe vote on the committee. Now there is not a chance that the MHSAA will vote to allow them in. Presbyterian Christian may have gotten out at the perfect time.
If they go to a 4-team division, which is the most likely, your varsity football schedule will look something like this.
One game against the other three (3 games)
3-4 games against out of state teams (Memphis, Nashville, Mobile, Birmingham schools)
2-3 games against out of Central MS public schools (Oxford, Tupelo, Oak Grove types)
An early game against an old rival like Pillow, Parklane, etc.
You can make it work for football, but other sports it will be an issue.
Before this fiasco with Clinton, they would have had to have every maybe vote on the committee. Now there is not a chance that the MHSAA will vote to allow them in. Presbyterian Christian may have gotten out at the perfect time.
If they go to a 4-team division, which is the most likely, your varsity football schedule will look something like this.
One game against the other three (3 games)
3-4 games against out of state teams (Memphis, Nashville, Mobile, Birmingham schools)
2-3 games against out of Central MS public schools (Oxford, Tupelo, Oak Grove types)
An early game against an old rival like Pillow, Parklane, etc.
You can make it work for football, but other sports it will be an issue.
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It’s a crap-show from elementary on up in the metro area in regard to sports with transferring etc. That said, if the MHSAA brought them in, wouldn’t they have the authority to put a stop to some of the stuff?
Possibly. The fix to this is to allow them to recruit a certain number of players but make them play at an index. That's what Alabama does and its worked since 1994.
If Prep has 800 students, multiply it by 1.5 and they have to play 7A like they have 1200 students. They get 20 total recruits in a 30 mile radius across all sports with no more than 6 in football or 3 in any other sport. The problem is the booster clubs cannot be paying the tuition after the financial aid is given. That has to stop.
It makes 7A better. MRA, Hartfield, Prep and JA are all better in football than Region 1 sans Tupelo, Murrah in Region 2, Terry in Region 3 and all of Region 4 sans Ocean Springs. All four are better in basketball. MRA and JA could win volleyball and Prep is the best baseball school in the state right now.
The MHSAA will not do that though. Both associations are void of leadership and live in 1995.
The wildcard in all of this is universal school choice. If the legislature passes say, what Arkansas has, high school sports in Mississippi takes a big turn. I suspect that's a little of the reason it hasn't picked up traction like it has in every other red state.