Accolades for his football and basketball prowess is nothing new for Kosciusko High School’s Antonio Harmon. After all he received his first NCAA Division I college football scholarship offer as a freshman, when Mississippi State did the honors.
Harmon is ranked the No. 1 football recruit in the state for the lass of 2021 by 247 Sports, a recruiting website. He is currently tabbed as the no. 77 nationwide recruit.
The 6-foot-4, 200-pound junior wide receiver/defensive back has SEC offers from Ole Miss, MSU, LSU, and Georgia, as well as instate school, the University of Southern Mississippi, and other schools across the nation. Many more offers are expected.
Last year he caught 18 passes for 445 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 24.7 yards per reception. The versatile Harmon also recorded two defensive touchdowns — one interception and one fumble return — and scored twice on kick returns.
— Austin Bishop
SAME INITIALS, NEW NAME
There are several changes going on in the state private school association.
The Mississippi Association of Independent Schools recently changed its name to the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools. The association was previously known as the Mississippi Private School Association. The MAIS has schools in Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas.
In other MAIS news, the association will double the size of its baseball playoffs allowing four teams from each division to qualify.
— Robbie Robertson
ETHEL SOFTBALL SET TO BEGIN
After taking part in the Winona Tournament last Saturday, the Lady Tigers of Ethel High School are set to begin their slow-pitch softball season in the Houlka Tournament.
EHS is then set to host Leake Central on Tuesday, Aug. 13 and Winona High School on Thursday, August 15. The next week sees Ethel visiting Leake Central on Aug. 20 and Winona on Aug. 22.
— Austin Bishop
LEGENDARY BASEBALL COACH AS WELL
There have been many outstanding coaches at Weir over the years, but many may be surprised at who may actually hold the all-time career winning percentage as head baseball coach of the Lions.
In his one year as head coach Junior Graham posted an 18-6 record, for a career winning percentage of .750.
He just happened to be the head coach during the senior season of Roy Oswalt, a former Major League Baseball All-Star and newly inducted member into the Mississippi Hall of Fame.
It is what he did after Oswalt concluded his high school career that showed Graham’s coaching genius.
“I retired from baseball when he graduated,” Graham said.
Graham, who made his mark as a high school football coach at Weir, Eupora, Winston Academy, and currently Winona Christian School, said his strategy while coaching Oswalt and the Lions was pretty simple. “The best thing I ever did for Roy as a coach was to put the No. 1 position (pitcher) in front of his name and let him call his own pitches,” Graham said. “He was literally a diamond that fell into my lap!”
— Austin Bishop
11 TO WATCH WINDING DOWN
The Kosciusko Star-Herald’s Eleven To Watch for 2019 is winding down. You will find the 10th of the 11 athletes chosen announced elsewhere in this week’s paper. Next week the 11th member of the elite group will be revealed.
The premise behind the series was to keep high school football fans engaged during the offseason. Sure, everyone you thought that needed to be chosen was not, but we carefully considered the nominations of the football coaches from Kosciusko High School, Ethel High School, McAdams High School, Central Holmes Christian School, Winona Christian School, and French Camp Academy and used our professional judgment.
If it is something you would like to see continue in future years, please contact me at starsportsboss@yahoo.com. This feature was created as a "Top 10 To Watch" during my previous tenure as sports editor of the Star-Herald and has been running each summer since that time.
All feedback is appreciated.
— Austin Bishop
NEW SLOW-PITCH SOFTBALL
The Mississippi High School Activities Association will introduce a new slow-pitch softball for the upcoming season.
The new ball will go from 11 inches to 12 inches in circumference for safety purposes.
The new softballs are the Razzo+ performance softball.
— Robbie Robertson
WE NEED YOUR HELP
If you have some ideas for tidbits that would fit well into this Prep Notebook format, just e-mail your information or ideas to starsportsboss@yahoo.com and you just may see them n print. You can also text them to Austin Bishop at 601-938-2471.
— Austin Bishop
