Jackson Jambalaya

All these establishment haters better take note! New sheriff in town, don’t ef with Hartfield!!

Wow, money talks I guess.

Money and politics win the day

Awesome!

Sports Ball is over the top. A real degenerate if you aren’t a sports baller.

I wonder how much that cost?

Baptists whipped that Catholic ass.

If Hartfield is the new sheriff, they would be Barney Fife.

With all the recruiting that private schools will be doing in the future it was no time for the association to set a restrictive precedent. It won't be long before certain private schools will dominate Mississippi football like in other states. Like college football, the money will rule.

So the word on the street is that proof was put forward that both Prep and MRA were making similar offers to the kid in question. Much easier for the MAIS to reverse course than put half of the beloved 6A golden children on probation! The MAIS has 0 leg to stand on now. After this, kids should be allowed to freely move between the schools without having to move or without the school creating a position for a parent to "teach". The MAIS just essentially opened the transfer portal. Good luck trying to put this back in the box.

Who are the real players in this deal? I meant payers.

Catholics take it on the chin-

It seems Hartfield has been taken over by the Rez and Flowood elites. I grew up at the Rez in the 80s and 90s things have changed a ton. We used to be a really close community and we all went to NWR. Now the rez has turned into a wannabe Madison. It's kind of sad. That is why I live in Brandon now. Great schools great community reminds me of the old days at the REZ.

I understand that Hartfield lost at the first and second levels of appeal (Affairs and Executive Committees), comprising MAIS officials and headmasters, respectively. Hartfield won in its final appeal to the entire body of the MAIS. I need clarification about who actually votes here.

Regardless, the message is clear: It is perfectly acceptable for one MAIS school to recruit from other MAIS schools and for a booster or group of boosters to pay the kid's way.

9:14, you DO realize we aren't talking about public schools, right? With private schools, there's no residency requirement or family member teaching rules.

Hartfield football team is 1/3 scholarship players and 2/3’s tuition paying players. All the scholarship players start and play most of the game, until it gets out of hand. Tuition players get to stand and watch, and it’s going to get more and more scholarship players vs tuition paying players. $12,000 a year to be on the scout team vs $0.00 to play. Go Hartfield.

@9:44 AM: Yeah. The MAIS is the wild, wild West now. Schools are free to buy up all the players they want.

No matter how much the private schools want to win, they will never be on the level of the public schools. It's fun to watch all these rich parents thinking their kid is a great athlete, when they wouldn't even make the team at a public school. Hartfield just wants to overtake prep as the top dog. If they are so confident in their program go play Brandon or Starkville. Then you will see how far you have to go.

Hartfield parents approve of this!

They are #ALLIN!

@9:44. I DO in fact realize we are talking about private schools. Maybe you need to reed the rules you are citing. In the MAIS, once an athlete reaches the 9th grade transfers to another MAIS school he/she is ineligible to participate in athletics for one year. He/she can only transfer and become immediately eligible if the family legitimately moves from their residence closer to the new school, or if a family member takes a position at the new school in which they are directly in charge of students for at least %50 of their work day.

@ 8:55 AM - Even when I was getting knocked around on the field in my MPSA 1A salad days, questionable private school recruiting has always been a factor.

Hey Mississippi. Welcome to the world of 21st century big time prep football.

Money ruining highschool sports.

No one gives a shit about the kids anymore.

9:43
No offense, but the 2 allegations were pitiful. The truth prevailed. they may have done it in other circumstances, but not with these instances and that is why this is so egregious. If MAIS has a complaint of recruiting, then they should deal with it immediately and not "stock up" allegations and then try to make a point on an alleged incident. Not a Hartfield parent or booster, but I know one of the maligned coaches well and it is BS. This was a bad precedent to set, and the MAIS was about to get it handed to them if they did not do something about this. The standard for what is acceptable evidence considered by the committee needs to be a little more consistent with how evidence is considered in a criminal case. Just having a pic of a coach talking to a kid is not recruiting. How many times has a coach given words of encouragement or congratulated a kid around the field, off the court or diamond on how they performed? Does that constitute illegal activity? No. But I would imagine that all of these coaches around here have known most of these kids regardless of where they go to school and are more than likely happy for them and want to see them succeed. We all want these kids to be successful maybe not when they play "our" team but in general we like seeing them "make it" to go on and have productive lives.

Just so everyone is on the same page, no employee, booster/constituent, or STUDENT may engage in recruiting an athlete to come to that individual's school.

9:44, If a kid does change MAIS schools, then they have to move closer to that school from the current living location.

YES, all schools do it. Seriously, MRA has been doing it for ever, and JA Prep and Hartfield along with a host of others do it too. Set a rule and apply to all and make it hurt the coaches (suspension), the player in question (suspend them) and fine the hell out of the school, but do not punish the rest of the kids.

But if a family makes contact with a school to look at changing schools, then it is open season.

All's Fair in Love and War!!!! Great song. You know who sang it?

Wow, Haters gonna Hate.

Question for Tip O'Neil @ 9:52. Where did you get your intel? I think you are just making up facts. How do you know this. What you suggested is absolutely not true. You should be ashamed of yourself for trying to trash kids.

So what if private schools recruit from public schools. It's not a bad thing if a kid gets to leave an underperforming public school to go to a better private school. There is nothing wrong with a kid taking advantage of their God given talents to better themselves.

Hartfield is the future. The old private schools built on hate in reaction to school integration (Prep, JA, MRA, St. Joe) need to see their enrollments continue to dwindle and die. Chip Henderson is leading a Christian revolution in our state and these other backwards private schools need to accept that Hartfield offers superior academic and extracurricular opportunities in a modern Christian environment.

SJ? Seriously?

10:42AM Lets say the kid wasn't recruited. Does he meet the eligibility requirement about moving from one MAIS school to another MAIS school? Did the family move to Flowood and meet the requirements?

@11:01 St. Joe was founded in 1870, 100 years before integration. But go off

Attention please. Would posters please break up their long post so that it doesn't look like a wall of text. Yes, I do have prescription eyeglasses. Yes, they are a current prescription. Thank you.

11:01 I don't beleive you are serious. Most institutions in Mississippi more than 40 years old, public and private, were founded based on race one way or another. That includes Ole Miss, MSU, USM, JSU, Alcorn, Murrah, Lanier,
Prep, MRA, Hinds, Coahoma CC, Piney Woods, Casey Elementary, etc. etc. etc. All built to be segregated one way or another. So they should all wither and die? Hartfield is the future because it has no past? C'mon. Be serious.

anonymous 10:06

that’s not the case anymore dear. private schools have some of the best athletes in the state now. our players are ranked in with the public school players. i will put a lot of our players up against public any day of the week.. especially fridays.

not anonymous… shannon jesiolowski

@ 11:01 AM - It is a fact that the majority of Mississippi private schools were founded in response to integration, but that doesn't mean those schools need to die.

FWIW, the football field has probably been the greatest contributor to integrated MS private schools as a whole.

@12:44 well you are welcome to play them any day of the week. Set up a schedule. I believe Preps JV team played Oxford last week. At least Prep has the balls to go and play the public schools.

anonymous 10:06

also.. i am a parent of a hartfield senior and i pay his tuition every month and have for 12 years.

again … not anonymous… Shannon Jesiolowski

@10:06 you are living in the past...and the backwoods past at that! Many of the well funded private schools have already surpassed MOST of the public schools in Mississippi in athletic talent. They are fast catching up to the top 5A, 6A, and 7A schools too. If they are willing to spend scholarship money and recruit they will catch them too. If you will look at the national prep rankings you will see how rich private schools fare with the nations top public schools. Look around it's 2023.

@12:44 … know your facts … we do play public schools. come watch one sometime. they tried to schedule more but for some reason it just “never worked out”.

SJ

If the bulk of Hartfield’s football team (or any team for that matter) is substantially mercenary ringers, when they win is it Hartfield winning? Many of the big rich academies are no more than athletic clubs that teach kids on the side.

@ 10:42 - The MAIS must be more transparent about the facts and review process to retain credibility.

Perhaps the reversal was warranted; maybe it wasn't. The only processes we can be reasonably sure about are (1) the MAIS rules require an investigation and finding from the Affairs Committee, (2) decisions of the Affairs Committee can be appealed to the full body of the Academy Activities Commission, and (3) the final appellate body for all issues unresolved is the Executive Committee. We know the Affairs Committee found the violation. We know that an appeal(s) resulted in a reversal. But we don't know the reasons for the reversal. The MAIS should release a statement that outlines the appellate process, the results of each appeal, and the reasons for the results.

Like it or not, the only publicly available information leads one to reasonably conclude Hartfield illegally recruited a kid from St. Joe. Hartfield has yet to release a statement explaining why it did not illegally recruit the kid. What was its defense?

@ 1101 the part where Hartfield is a superior academic institution literally had me laughing out loud. You silly! They do compete athletically with Prep et al..sometimes. Hartfield's academics are an embarrassment particularly in the middle and high schools. Money down the drain. Campus is full of holier than thou attitude. Chip is no leader on anti racist work nor is anyone at the church or school leadership.

SJ is right. Private schools down there do have some of the best football players in the state.

I grew up in a local 5A public school and played ball there. I currently have a child enrolled in a local private school. Sure, the private schools have closed the gap in athletics, and have produced a few stars, but they are in no way comparable, at least in football, to the big 5-6A public schools.

On the Hartfield situation, I don't know what the three sides are to this story, and don't really care. I do know that Hartfield is all education and bible study until you start talking about their athletic program and then the parents get REAL testy. It looks like overcompensation. It has the look of trying to make themselves feel more (insert word of choice) than others, inferiority complex if you will. Why don't they let actions speak louder than words? If you have to tell the world how great you are, you probably are lacking somewhere.

i would love to have so little to do in my days to sit and defend our school and athletic program, but i don’t. we proved there was no basis for the suspension, we won the appeal. we have teams who pull against us which only makes this process even more satisfying. we have great athletes. i am not sure why attacking the preacher at pinelake is needed. he didn’t lead this mission of starting hartfield. that’s a whole other issue you may want to work out. i’m so sorry you feel such bitterness over this but i think i speak for a lot of parents, staff, and players that your opinion simply doesn’t matter. we are playing. we will be in the playoffs. also, there must be a reason you are so upset over that. i’m pretty sure we know why. #gohawks

not anonymous… SJ

A few years ago my son, a white boy, played football for Madison Central. From the time he was in 6th grade until he was a senior, his team never lost a football game until they met Starkville in the state 5-A (at the time) playoffs. Those wins included all the Jackson public schools, both in Warren County, Rankin, Greenville, Greenwood, Pearl and Clinton.

Whoever is crowing about the strength of all these public school teams is off base.

4:08- Say what you need to say about defending cheating. Enjoy the ride, not everyone is JP or JA material.

Everyone knows what Hartfield is doing. Look at the recent hires and the kids that came along with it. Look at the roster now compared to 2-3 years ago. Just own it and roll with it. MAIS isn’t going to do a thing about it.

@9:14 am - haven’t you heard, “Prep doesn’t recruit”.

1:33,

Sideline observer here,

You want a school to explain how they did not commit an illegal recruiting act? That may be the dumbest thing ever. Insert any school, please release a statement and tell us why you are not guilty! Apparently, they did prove it to the executive committee, and they had to do a complete 180 degree turn from where the earlier committees made a mistake. That is the most embarrassing part of this entire situation. MAIS has zero credibility now. It looks like it was a witch-hunt.

To me this is like asking you, when did you stop beating your wife? I will hang up and listen.

12:07 - all these institutions based on race? You are exactly correct. But not due to hate; out of necessity to ensure: a better education, respect for authority, moral values. If that aggravates you, so be it.

All the college scouts are watching for Hartfield’s standouts now! Hope it was worth the money! :)

As long as the parents are paying the tuition a Student athlete should be able to go to whatever Private school they choose. Their money their choice. If there is a “scholarship “ involved let the student and parents make the choice. Having rules you can’t enforce is is ridiculous.

I guess the video tape of the coaches talking to the kid's parents wasn't enough evidence.

In the private school system, anything goes as long as you win. Bigly.

Three Things...

1) I don't see how Hartfield didn't make a recruiting violation. The evidence is obvious and overwhelming. I think that the MAIS just didn't want to set a precedent because of another more blue blood program getting stuck with it in the future. The violation was pretty blatant. (The Hartfield "building an academic powerhouse" comment was hilarious. Thanks for that.)

2) St. Joe and St. Andrews are by far the most progressive private high schools in the Jackson area. They were accepting minority kids well before integration and were based on religion, not racism. The "prep" and "academy" schools were the schools invented to circumvent integration. That's pretty well known to anyone who has a brain.

3) Right now, the public schools vs private schools at the top level are not close. I played at both. I played at a local private school until 9th grade and switched to public school. I also played D1 football and coached. I still help D1 teams and NFL scouts evaluate talent. There might be one or two standouts at a private school that may make it as a starter at a top public school. The problem, however, is that the rest of the team isn't at the same level. Football is a team sport and you are only as good as the weakest link. Having a star RB, WR, or QB isn't going to matter if you have a Olineman that can't block or a DB that can't keep up. A good program will recognize and take advantage of that mismatch in a heartbeat. In MS right now, an average 6A public school defense would absolutely demolish the best private school offense. The defensive speed and training is just not close. As another poster mentioned, the private schools are closing the gap from a few years ago but it is still a Bama vs. South Dakota St. sized gap.

5:32 is correct and you can me mad all you want.
I attended public school in the 90s and it was perfectly adequate.

Students of all color behaved for the most part, and the 2 parent households demanded decency from their offspring.

White and Black trash in public schools of today have ruined that option. Parents are useless, and teachers are muzzled or lazy and education is not on the agenda.

Public school is a shit show in most places and I would work ten jobs to ensure my kids were not in them.

@11:40 - You don't have to guess about what might happen. We have actual data and will soon be getting more.

MRA beat Corinth 51-17 in 2020, the year after Corinth won the MHSAA 4A state championship. MRA plays public schools every year and high-quality out-of-state competition. MRA has yet to lose many of those matchups. MRA plays Oak Grove this year. MRA may not win, but I bet people will be surprised at how competitive MRA is in that game.

Jackson Prep plays a public school or two every year. The only one of those matchups I recall them losing is to Oxford when it had DK Metcalf and won the state championship. And those were two very close games. Prep plays West Jones, last year's MHSAA 5A champ. I bet Prep wins that game, but it should be very competitive if it doesn't.

And Hartfield, while a young school, has at least SEVEN players with D-1 offers or that soon will have them (Womack, Jeslowski, Ross, Jones, West, Vaughn, Simmons). There are few, if any, MHSAA schools that can say that. And with all of that talent, Prep beat Hartfield twice last year.

JA has an excellent coaching staff, and at least four players with D-1 offers or who soon will have a D-1 offer (Watkins, Ellis, Terry, Albert).

The top 4 MAIS teams (MRA, JP, JA, Hartfield) would be very competitive in football against the MHSAA level in which they'd be slotted. For most, it would be 4A. Prep may be 5A.

@1:25

I went back and looked at MRA, St. Joe, Prep, JA, and Hartfield’s schedule over the last five years and combined they’ve only played 3 public schools. Two of them were last in their district (3A). Corinth didn’t even make the playoffs the year MRA beat them and Corinth is not exactly a powerhouse program. Maybe they’ll give Oak Grove their money’s worth? I’m more expecting a 45-17 beat down. The private schools in MS are just not that good in comparison to the public. Like the previous poster said, there is more to football than a few recruited players. At the top level, there can’t be any weaknesses at any positions.

Plus, if private schools get all scholarship players, what’s the booster’s kid going to play? Isn’t that why most kids play prep ball anyway? They cant make the public school team? (Except Jackson residents. I wouldn’t send my kid to school there either.)

Thank you 1:25 Many of these writers who say the private schools cannot compete are citing unrealistic matchups instead of looking at relevant size classifictions. The top private schools match up very well and will often dominate those public schools of similar size classification. It's hard for any 2A 3A or 4A public or private to consistently match the talent of a 6A or 7A powerhouse, although they could still beat many of the weaker programs (like JPS). The point is, the wealthy private scholls are getting better all the time because they have resources and they CAN recruit almost unrestricted.

@1:25

11:40 here. I literally help D1 programs recruit kids across MS. I helped sign two of Hartfield's guys to USM. I know each school and their coaches. I've been in the stands of Prep, Hartfield, and MRA. I also evaluate talent at public high schools. I never said that private schools didn't have talent. Let me clarify my original statement, private schools have a couple standouts, a few good players, a few average players, and a few poor players. Those school's standouts could probably compete for any school. But, their poorer players would never make the field at a bigger program because there is more depth and a larger population of talent to choose from... that's why they wouldn't compete well with large schools.

That's also why I used the analogy of South Dakota St. (who would beat probably half or more of the FBS teams) vs. Alabama. SDst has a great team. They win national championships in a bracket format that is arguably a harder format to win national championships than FBS. They have proven themselves to be a great team over the years. That said, Bama is deeper. The starters of both teams would probably be equal and it wouldn't be surprising to see them tied at half. But when the Jackrabbit's starters begin to get tired, Bama's backups are fresh and just as good as the first team. They wear you down and by game's end, they beat you by 30. I'll be at the Oak Grove and MRA game. I hope you are right about MRA but I'm expecting the second half to be all Oak Grove.

@1:25PM & 2:31PM

The previous comments are correct. The top private school teams can not compete with the top public school teams (mostly larger classifications). It's true that you can compete in the 4A public school league, but the difference is the 4A public school doesn't get to hand pick 6-8 talented players from 3 different counties. You should beat them, but you are wrong if you think Hartfield and other top private schools would be able to handle the schedules that Brandon, Northwest Rankin, and Madison Central plays every year. They don't get teams like Heritage Academy, Brookhaven Academy, and Cathedral on their schedules. It's a different game from start to finish. Yes, you do have some good kids that could play on the public school teams, but you don't have 11 that can compete with the 11 on the other side of the ball.

@3:01-

Insofar as your analogy goes, while I wouldn't use South Dakota St. as the stand-in for the MAIS 6A school, I think we agree. That's why I said the MAIS schools would do very well when they played against comparable size MHSAA schools.

I think a better analogy would be to compare the top Group of 5 teams to Alabama. And taking that analogy further, there's only one Alabama and one Georgia, and then a significant step-down. That scenario applies to the MAIS-MHSAA situation too. The further you get away from the top 7A MHSAA schools, the more likely that the top MAIS 6A schools would do just fine.

But, of course, football is everything. The top MAIS schools, particularly Prep and MRA, would be dominant in baseball at any level of MHSAA. There's a reason why Rankin and Madison County schools refuse to play them, and it isn't because Prep and MRA may recruit their kids. I always laugh at that excuse. Everyone who cares already knows who can play at every school. They won't play them because they know there's a substantial chance they'd lose; in that scenario, they have nothing to gain. If Northwest Rankin or Madison Central beats Prep or MRA, that was supposed to happen. It's seen as a tremendous blow within the MHSAA schools if they lose.

3:01- “I literally help D1 programs recruit kids across MS“

Hey, so do I. My name is Walter Mitty. Nice to meet you!

3:01 and 4:01 At present there is not one private school in Mississippi that would be classified as 6A or 7A in Mississippi. At that level the good teams platoon and have depth that will be problematic for any 1A-5A teams, public or private. So what is your point? However being a well-supported private school able to recruit means that the distict possibiity exists that they can recruit elite talent that most public schools would find hard to match even if they are not so "deep". Since you mention Oak Grove you might also mention Greenville Christian. GC, a smaller school than Prep, MRA, or JA that beat Oak Grove should give you something to reconsider when you say what little private schools can't do...

Madison Central won the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP with the #1 baseball team in the country according to max prep in 2021. I don’t think they would have a problem playing and beating Prep or MRA. NW Rankin, Brandon, Starkville, and Tupelo would also easily wipe the floor with any prep school in the state. The prep schools are closer in baseball than football to the big boys but still worlds apart.

There are clearly a lot of JJ readers that pay for school. I’m curious. I have never understood why someone in the suburbs (especially Madison) would pay to send their kids to a worse school? (I understand if you live in Jackson.) 90% of MRA, Hartfield, Prep, and JA kids are headed to state colleges anyway. Why pay? Just curious.

5:22. You realize every high school in America plays on Friday night, right? Nick Saban isn’t going to be in the stands watching your kid play. Neither will Freeze, Arnett, or Hall nor their assistants. They send scouts to evaluate talent for them. If they are really serious, they might send a coach. (I guarantee you there is at least one scout at every 3A+ game.)

9:59 Leave Max Prep alone. Currently 4 of their top 5 football teams in the nation are private schools. And things are changing in Mississippi.

8:14. Are you really comparing Hartfield or Prep with IMG academy and Bishop Gorman??? Those are boarding schools that only exist for sports. These local prep school fans have lost their minds. The only reason prep schools exist in MS is to get around integration and/or because their kids couldn’t make the public school team. There are no elite prep schools in MS.

I see only one way to settle this discussion. A representative from each school shall be chosen by the schools mentioned in this thread. They will be assembled at The state fair grounds, where an old fashion hell in a cell match will be held. Winner takes all. Ticket, and pay-per-view proceeds will be used to help fund a decent mayoral candidate for Jackson. Be there.

@11:08 - Will Hartfield use a current school rep or recruit someone to handle the task?

To those who say the wealthy private schools in Mississippi cannot possibly compete with the top public schools, I have two words: GREENVILLE CHRISTIAN

Things can change, even in Mississippi.

Well played @11:19! Well Played!

I’ll give Greenville Christian a kudos. They had a good team, once. How did they do last year? Tulane won the Cotton bowl against USC last year. I guess by your logic they should be competing for a national championship soon. It doesn’t work that way.

Like the poster above said, you will run out of boosters if the booster’s kid doesn’t get to play. That’s the downfall of private schools. They want to pay for play until their kid loses his position to someone better. Then the money dries up. Unless they are a Bishop or IMG where they live and play everyday with minimal academics, the glass ceiling exists.

This sanctioned match, will be run under NCAA/NFL-NIL rules. This means that any, and all, monetary payments are allowed under the federally enforced NIL stipulations. It also means that the quitter hole, I mean the transfer portal, will be allowed for use. So, yes, Hartfield will be allowed to recruit.

9:02 In case you haven't noticed Archie Manning is not still the QB at Ole Miss and Hoyle Granger is not still running the ball for MSU, they were once all white and limited but no more! Please note also that Prep, MRA, JA, Hartfield and others are quite integrated. Please take notice they do not look like they did 10 years ago. No, they cannot beat IMG Academy or Bishop Gorman YET, but neither can Starkville, Oak Grove or Madison Central. However if you would open your eyes you will note the direction those local private schools are headed. The latest ruling on recruiting makes it clear that they will not be held back by recruting restrictions in the future. If that is the case they do not intend to live in the past as you suggest, and they can not only compete they can dominate. Not today, but tomorrow. Take notice and stop living in the past!

@9:59- Prep has boat-raced Tupelo in baseball for the last two years. Prep has also beaten most Desoto County public schools they've played. Check the records.

@12:28- You've identified the real, practical issue in MAIS schools. There is a sweet spot that JA, JP, MRA, and Hartfield have to hit when recruiting. They must recruit only a few kids who don't pay full tuition because they risk the tuition-paying families losing interest and pulling their money. Recruiting can only really be used to fill gaps where the school needs players who can be competitive.

As a parent of a Hartfield student athlete I would like to make a few comments:
1. As far as I know the details of the MAIS hearing are not public so all the people making assumptions about Hartsfield's guilt are just speculating and trying to form a negative narrative about the school and it's athletes. Bring some facts or shut up.

2. The football team is not a group of mercenaries put together by some rich booster to win games at the expense of other student athletes. The core of the football team have worked and improved together over multiple seasons. Playing time at Hartfield is based on ability and not a kids daddy or booster. Yes, kids transfer in and out of the school, but that's normal for all schools.

3. The idea that kids that play sports at Hartfield and other private schools are somehow less athletic and couldn't make a public school team is a completely made up idea created to be negative about a school and group of people. Kids at private schools routinely play multiple sports. Football is the second sport for many of the key contributors on the HA football team. MRA, Prep and JA also have many dual sport athletes. HA has 14 senior football players this year. 6 of the 14 have already committed to play a sport in college (3 football - 3 baseball). Next level coaches don't recruit kids that cant make the team.

4. HA is not a sports first no academics school. HA has many good teachers and they challenge the kids academically. I'm not sure if there is true metric to compare schools academically so I will give you a personal example to the quality of HA's academics. At least 90% of the people reading this wish their kids ACT score was as high was my kid's ACT score.

12:28 Sorry you misunderstood my argument. I didn't know you were talking about consistent national championships or winning every year. Only a few schools are Alabama or Georgia (although they don't always win) A few years ago Clinton won the state championship but they haven't repeated. But they have a good competitive public school program. I only argue that SOME private schools have the resources to compete with the top programs in any state and certain Mississippi private schools seem to be headed in that direction. Will they dominate every year? Probably not. But the changes they are making seem have them headed in the direction of being much more competitive with the local so-called powerhouses. That's all.

Also Greenville Christian shows how good they can be and how fast they can get there if they really want to.

@9:02 A.M, WOAH HOSS! You were alright with me until you mentioned Bishop Gorman High School. My first cousin living in Vegas sent his kid to Gorman and it is NOT a school that "exists for sports". Bullshit. The kid went to Gorman did not play sports went to Arizona State on an academic scholarship and is now a rich civil engineer. Only talk about what you know. Unless you are talking about another Bishop Gorman. If so, never mind.

@1:36 - you’re delusional. Look at Hartfield’s roster and you can clearly see where most of Hartfield’s recruits are coming from. If you are too drunk off the All In Kool-Aid, it’s from a local “tournament” football team the coach of which is a Hartfield coach. It’s not hard to figure out who will be at Hartfield next year most likely.

And just because MAIS folded like a wet paper towel doesn’t mean that Hartfield is innocent. It’s clear exactly what Hartfield did and how it went down. See above. MAIS not enforcing the rules is an entirely different conversation.

Yes, most of Hartfield’s recruits are supported by a primary group of boosters. Everyone in town knows who they are. Need help, look at 10th, 11th and 12th grade. Hartfield doesn’t seem to care about sports until 9th grade, and that’s when the horses show up. Again, see above.

I’m not even going to waste my time discussing Hartfield academics. Hartfield may be close to MRA, but there’s no comparison to Prep and JA.

You Hartfield folks act like you’ve been falsely accused. Just because you got away with this recent “allegation” (and others), it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Embrace it because there’s no recourse, but don’t act all holier than thou.

@ 2:22 - You should google gaslighting.

Bring some facts to the discussion, not your speculation. Give me some examples of rules violations. What did HA get away with? Is it against the rules for a private school to recruit kids from a public school? How do you know who is or isn't getting financial aid at HA? Who is this big booster group you are talking about? Let's have some names?


All I read in your post is bitterness. What school are you associated with?

Very few, if any of these kids will make a living playing football. I love watching and I suppose the kids learn how to be part of a team/work together. Otherwise, I could care less. I feel Hartfield needs to focus more on improving academically. When they start consistently having students named a National Merit semi finalist or finalist, I will take them more seriously academically. In 2023, it looks like the had a student be named a Commended student (a step below semi finalist) so maybe they are on the right track. Sports=how to work with others/discipline and Academics=paycheck. Step it up academically Hartfield. Until that happens, I would send my child elsewhere.