Germantown High School is a class 7A public high school located in Madison, Mississippi. The school first opened doors in 2011, at the 4A level. Quickly the school grew in population throughout the decade, leading the Mavericks to the highest classification in Mississippi. Germantown has two district championships in the short program history. The Mavericks won their first district championship at the 4A level in 2012, followed by a district championship at 5A in 2016. Germantown is now under second year Head Coach Russell Mitchell.
Russell Mitchell took the job at Germantown High School in February of 2022. His coaching career began as a student coach at Pearl River Community college, where he coached the quarterbacks for five years. After that, Coach Mitchell became the offensive coordinator at Picayune High School for five seasons. He then moved on Oak Grove High School as the offensive coordinator for six years before taking his first head coaching job at Germantown.
The team will be returning about half of their starters from the last season. Germantown likes to keep players fresh, rotating players on the defensive line, as well as in the backfield that features multiple running backs. I was able to talk to Coach Mitchell about some of his key players for the 2023 season:
Left tackle for the Mavericks is no. 70, Wade Estess. This division one prospect is listed at 6’4″ 300 pounds. Estess is a very strong athlete who competes on the school’s power-lifting team as well. This leader of the team will be a senior this upcoming season, class of 2024.
Trae Stevenson is Germantown’s leading receiver. He is listed at 6’1″ 170 pounds. Stevenson is in the class of 2025, and has two more seasons as the Mavericks number one wide receiver target.
David Gainwell is one of the running backs used in the Maverick’s offense. Gainwell is listed at 5’9″ 175 pounds. Gainwell is in the class of 2025.
Jeremiah Washington will also be in the backfield for the Mavericks as their other running back. Washington is listed at 5’8″ 170 pounds. He is in the class of 2024.
Quarterback for Germantown is no. 18, Jackson Hood. Jackson is a two sport athlete who plays shortstop for the school. He is a player who has shared time in the past two years for the Mavericks at quarterback. The team will be relying on this upcoming senior’s experience this next season.
This Germantown team is going to be worth watching in 2023 as they compete amongst the best in Mississippi high school football. Coach Russell Mitchell has this program moving in the right direction, and will be exciting to see what the future holds for the Mavericks.