School Spotlight: Ripley High School (Ripley, MS)

Ripley High School is a class 4A high school in Ripley, Mississippi – located in the northeast corner of the state. The black and gold Tigers have played football since 1930, winning 10 district championships beginning in 1981 through 2007. In 2020, Ripley High School hired veteran Head Coach Perry Liles.

Coach Perry Liles has now coached football for an impressive 32 years. His coaching career began at Crystal Springs High School, from there Coach Liles became the head coach at Aberdeen High School in 1993. After Aberdeen, he joined the coaching staff at Madison Central for a few years before becoming a head coach again at Coffeeville High School. He coached at Charleston High School for 6 seasons prior to his 10 year stint at Calhoun City High School, winning a state championship with the team in 2016. Coach Liles moved to Ripkley High School in 2020. In the previous two seasons at Ripley, the Tigers have an impressive record of 19-5 with back-to-back second round appearances.

The coaching staff at Ripley High School includes defensive coordinator Chad White, who formerly coached at Calhoun City with Coach Liles during the 2016 championship run. Josh Davis is the special teams coordinator. Ripley native, Jamal Braddock, is the offensive line coach for the Tigers. Tyler Pittman coaches the defensive line for the team. Rob Allen is a defensive coach, along with Austin Hill. Larry Gann is a pivotal coach on the staff, bring 40 years of experience coaching the quarterbacks.

The Tigers will be returning 8 starters on both offense and defense, along with their kicker to bring the total to 17 returning. I had the opportunity to speak with Coach Liles about his team at Ripley High School and he gave me a few players to spotlight for the upcoming season:

The team leader and signal caller this upcoming season for the Tigers is no. 2 Ty Long, listed at 5’10” 160 pounds. He has been starting quarterback at Ripley High School since his freshman year. Long is committed to Southern Mississippi for baseball, in the class of 2024.

No. 2 QB – Ty Long

No. 5, Micheal Turner was one of Long’s top targets as a wide receiver for the Tigers last season. Turner plays both ways, starting as free safety on the defensive side. He was a 2022 4A All-State player, with 12 interceptions in 10 games for the defense. Micheal is listed at 6’2″ 170 pounds in the class of 2024.

No. 5 WR/FS – Micheal Turner

No. 11, Jaylen Brooks is a young running back and outside linebacker for the Tigers. Brooks is listed at 6’0″ 175 pounds, in the class of 2025. Coach Liles believes this running back has great potential to be a star on the field.

No. 11 RB – Jaylen Brooks

The “pit crew” is the stout defensive line for the tigers, arguably one of the best units on the field. Defensive tackle Charles Christmas is listed at 6’1″ 350 pounds, Anthony Bell is a 5’11” 235 pound linebacker, defensive end Charlie Coombs is listed at 6’0″ 205 pounds, and Cooper Davis, who plays both ways as tight-end and defensive end, is listed at 6’0″ 190 pounds.

Ripley Tigers defense

Ripley High School, is a young, exciting team to look out for in the future. This offseason the players will be staying in shape by playing other sports, powerlifting, and track. The program plans on building off the last two seasons, and maintaining dominance at the 4A level for years to come.

“I enjoy our time here at Ripley, the administration and community have been very supportive of what we do – We know we can make the playoffs again and have some success with this senior group.”

Head Coach Perry Liles