HSFT Stop #13: Starkville Academy
STARKVILLE, MS (WCBI)- Starkville Academy football hovered around the .500 mark last season, finishing with a 5-6 record and second place in their district. Head coach Chase Nicholson focuses on being a family rather than a team.
“Part of our core values of the Starkville Academy football team is that we’re going to be a family,” Nicolson said. “One of the things we talked about the other day was trust. We’ve all been to a family reunion; we all know that we’ve cousins we don’t see but once a year, but they’re still family, and if those family members need you, you’ve got their back. And they’re going to trust and know that you’re going to be there for them. It doesn’t matter if you see them once a year. Or once every other year. For us, we get to see each other every day, and we get to go to battle on Friday nights. And we have to trust that no matter what’s going on, whatever’s happening, we’ve got each other’s backs. No matter how much we love each other, no matter how much we like each other, we are all still a family. We have to trust that we’re going to be here, we’re going to be on time every day, we’re going to go to work on Friday nights, and that to me, as a family, you trust. Trust in each other, and that’s the big thing about being a family, about being a team, but we use the word family.
The volunteers were a young team in 2024, but they’ve since grown into a more experienced and battle-tested squad heading into the new season. That growth didn’t happen overnight; it came from months of grinding in the weight room, on the field, and reps when no one was watching.
“We’ve got a lot of guys returning, whether they’re starters or whether they were second string guys, whether they’re seniors or juniors, anytime you have a lot of the guys coming back, you feel good because there’s not as many speed bumps along the way that you have to learn. So these guys have learned a lot of football, but then you have a talented sophomore group that has played a lot and won a lot of football games, so they know what it takes to win. They’re very talented, and when you get that right group of people meshed together with some experience, with some youth, with some eagerness to be that starter now, not that second guy, that perfect combination is how you can have a chance to win a championship. When they all come together and they all fit together like a perfect puzzle, and that’s our goal is to win a state championship.”
That blend of experience and emerging talent is exactly what is going to give the volunteers the edge they need. Now, it’s up to the veterans to set the tone and lead the younger guys, both on and off the field, to chase a state championship.
“You kind of have to lead by example,” defensive end John Lesley said. “If you’re always just talking, saying stuff, and you just don’t do it or don’t execute, then no one is going to trust you, believe in you, and see what you can do.”
One of the ways captains on this team are leading by example is setting the tone from the summer and taking it into the fall.
“The captains come up with a three-letter phrase or a phrase that sums up the mentality for the season,” running back Miller Shy said. “That just forms throughout the summer, and what this team is about. So we’ll kind of come up with that towards the end of the summertime, but it’s just what this team is focusing on, and we’ll figure out what that is.”
As summer workouts wind down and the season draws closer, that phrase will become more than just a motto; it’ll be the standard this team holds itself to. Starkville Academy will begin its season on August 22 against Chambers Academy.
