Eagerly looking forward to getting back on the gridiron for the first time in two years, the five-time national champion Lions of East Mississippi Community College have added incentive heading into the 2021 football season.

Following an unprecedented eight-year stretch (2011-18) in which they claimed five NJCAA football national championships (2011, ’13-14 & ’17-18), the EMCC Lions had to settle for a 6-4 season and a semifinal-round appearance in the conference playoffs before falling to eventual national champion Mississippi Gulf Coast two years ago. Then after opting out of the 2020 season due to health concerns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the resulting two-year absence from the national limelight has 13th-year head coach Buddy Stephens’ 2021 EMCC Lions hungry for more championship hardware.

With this year’s talent-laden team expected to field but 12 players who saw action for the Lions during the 2019 season, EMCC’s 2021 squad will largely feature players ready to make their respective collegiate debuts with the Lions as signees or transfers from the past two years. Of those dozen third-year sophomores back in the mix for EMCC offensive coordinator David Boykin, Jamari Jones (Northwest Rankin) returns as a prime contender for EMCC’s starting quarterback position after throwing for 430 yards and three touchdowns on 39-of-73 (53.4%) passing, while rushing for three more scores, two years ago.

Also in the picture behind center, Damon Stewart should team with Jones to give the Lions a productive tandem at quarterback. The freshman signal-caller led Oak Grove High School to the 2019 MHSAA Class 6A state championship game while earning first-team all-state honors after accounting for 3,579 yards of total offense and 47 total touchdowns.

The Lions’ top returning receivers are Zach Patterson (Corinth) and Jontarius Henderson (Laurel), who combined for 36 catches and 358 receiving yards between them in 2019. Myles Hopson (Madison Central) is also back for EMCC after making six catches two years ago.

Expected to contribute immediately in EMCC’s passing game in their debut seasons on the Scooba campus are a quartet of second-year receivers comprised of Kevin Barnett, who prepped at Oak Grove High School, along with the trio of Starkville High School products Tonorris Brookins II, Cameron Hines and Joshua Aka. Incoming pass-catchers Duke Miller (Taylorsville) and Carl Robinson (North Panola), along with South Carolina native Antonio Barber, are also anticipated to challenge for significant reps on offense.

On the ground behind a mostly rebuilt but sizable collection of talented offensive linemen, the Lions look to feature returning running back Zias Perryman (Laurel) and Arkansas transfer Montae Spivey. Perryman was EMCC’s second-leading rusher in 2019 with 489 yards and a team-high eight touchdowns on 108 carries. Spivey was a consensus three-star prospect and a 2018 Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Game participant coming out of Class 7A Alabama High School state champion Central High School.

For first-year defensive coordinator and former Southern Miss assistant coach Chris Boone, the Lions return only five players from 2019 on the defensive side of the football. EMCC does return defensive back Kel Williams (Starkville), who saw limited action at Northwestern State (La.) last season but has returned to EMCC to take advantage of his extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic. Williams ranked as EMCC’s third-leading tackler with 49 stops in 2019 along with recording three pass interceptions on the year. Linebacker Brandon Lairy (West Point) also returns for the Lions with game experience from the 2019 EMCC season.

Though EMCC’s new-look stopper unit will be relatively inexperienced as a whole when the 2021 season kicks off, the Lions have seemingly beefed up their defensive firepower with the addition of Syracuse transfers Lee Kpogba and Drew Tuazama, a pair of North Carolina natives, as well as Trey Laing from the University of South Florida. Kpogba, a linebacker from Winston-Salem, was named the 2018 USA Today North Carolina Defensive Player of the Year, while Tuazama is an athletic 6-foot-6, 250-pound defensive end out of Raleigh. Laing was a three-star prospect coming out of Tallahassee’s Godby High School.

The Lions also picked up four-star prospect Kadarius Calloway, who transferred from the University of Alabama in August after excelling on both sides of the ball at Philadelphia High School. A two-way prep starter during his junior and senior years, Calloway made the Mississippi/Alabama All-Star Game roster as a wide receiver, though he is expected to play safety for EMCC.

With most of the Lions’ starting defensive alignment expected to consist of first-year players, EMCC’s other promising defensive newcomers include defensive back Kendarius Smith, who previously played at Meridian High School before moving to Florida, along with transfer secondary standouts Joshua Short (Mississippi State/Northwest Rankin) and Cam McCullum (Mississippi Delta/Greenville).

While the Lions are expected to be totally rebuilt along the defensive front, South Carolina native Elijah Davis (Wagener-Salley) and Devonyal Lofton, a two-time Class 3A All-State honoree from Forest, both figure to make immediate contributions as first-year players.

On special teams, EMCC’s kicking and punting duties figure to be handled by Starkville High School product Peyton Rodgers, who scored 84 points as a prep senior in 2019 on 7-of-11 field goals and 63-of-66 PATs. Fellow second-year freshman Josh Ham looks to have earned the Lions’ long-snapping responsibilities after earning 2019 Class 3A All-State First Team honors at West Marion High School.