(From left, JaKolby Jones, Edarius Green, and Jarmaine “Big Baby” Mitchell will be leaders in the trenches for the 2025 Co-Lin football team.)

The Thursday night lights are set to shine a week from now, when Copiah-Lincoln Community College and the rest of the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) get their football seasons cranked up.

In Wesson, Co-Lin will play the first of its five home games in 2025 against the visiting Coahoma Community College Tigers. The Wolves enter the season as the no. 8 ranked team in the opening NJCAA poll.

Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. inside H.L. “Hook” Stone Stadium.

The game will be the first time in over 20 years that the Wolves won’t trot out of Pitts Fieldhouse under the direction of longtime head coach Glenn Davis.

Davis retired following a 5-4 campaign in 2024. He was replaced by his son, Micah Davis, who’s been on staff a number of years after finishing his playing career as a quarterback for the Wolves and then at Delta State University.

Micah Davis knows the importance of being strong across the offensive line in the MACCC, a league that’s often stocked with future NFL defensive linemen.

Co-Lin has a formidable trio of returnees up front that will work under the tutelage of offensive line coach Jacob Fleming.

One of them is recent Mississippi State commit, Jarmaine “Big Baby” Mitchell. A native of New Orleans, Mitchell stands 6-foot-8 and weighs over 300-pounds.

Ahead of signing day in his senior year at St. James High, Mitchell was all set to ink with the Holmes Community College Bulldogs. His relationship with Fleming changed those plans, as he flipped late to end up in Wesson.

“I could just see that Coach Fleming is someone that wants to push you to be a better man, just not a better football player,” said Mitchell. A left tackle, Mitchell said Mississippi State is one of many SEC programs that has been keeping up with his development over the years.

“I just feel like that’s a place where I really fit in,” said Mitchell. “The coaches have really let me know that they want me in Starkville.”

The other tackle is another product of Louisiana, Jakolby Jones.

Jones played at a small school powerhouse, Many High, located near the Texas state line. The Tigers are known for having a punishing ground game and Jones was a big part of that as a junior, when Many finished 13-0.

He came to work out for Glenn Davis and his staff, who loved his 6-foot-5 frame and athleticism. Jones needed to gain weight though, so he went back home for a year and worked and ate.

Employed in a factory making air compressors, Jones says he worked 12-hour shifts and filled himself with four big meals loaded with protein per day.

He now weighs 60 pounds more than he did as a high school senior.

After his freshman season at CLCC, Jones signed with Georgia Tech. He went through a semester in Atlanta but ultimately decided to come back to Wesson and play another year at Co-Lin, which has made him popular once again in the world of recruiting.

What Jones also has is perspective that comes from working on concrete floors for long hours just a few years ago.

“It humbled me,” said Jones after a recent practice about his time spent working after high school. “I’m more appreciative for everything that I’ve been able to do through football.”

The man between those tackles is center Edarius Green, a product of Adams County Christian School in Natchez.

Green was a force up front for the Rebels in high school, but he quickly learned last year that there is a huge leap in competition between the MAIS and the MACCC.

“I had to really focus on my technique, because this isn’t a league where you can just be stronger than every guy you line up against,” said Green. “On Friday nights, I could just overpower guys, but on Thursdays, you are always facing good players across from you”

Green too will sift through college offers from Division I programs when the season ends. Londen Butler is another returnee up front, making the offensive line the most experienced position group on that side of the ball.

The quarterback situation is still playing out, as Eli Vinyard, who served as a backup last season, is in the mix. Vinyard is a graduate of Jefferson Davis County High in Bassfield. Kendal Middleton out of Magee is a freshman quarterback on the roster and the third signal caller is Jaylen Pettway, who spent last season at Valdosta State, a Division II power in Georgia.

There will be competition for carries at running back, but the wide receiver room is always one filled with talent at CLCC. Returning this year is another Mississippi State commit, sophomore Matt Mayfield (Beau Chene, La.). Brookhaven Academy graduate Trevor Fortenberry is also back on the field after suffering a lower leg injury that cost his last season as a wideout.

The defensive secondary will be another strength for the team, as defensive coordinator Matt Gordon has always had fast, physical units during his time at Co-Lin.

A pair of Hazlehurst High alums will be covering the back end in safeties Doug Nelson and Sentario Willis. Nelson started his career at Central Arkansas before transferring to Wesson last season and Willis spent the past two seasons in Hattiesburg at Southern Miss.

They’re joined by another Division I transfer in his second year at CLCC in Tre Webb, who started his career at Louisiana Tech.

Linebacker Archie Chambers is another future Division I talent on that side of the ball.

Coahoma is under new leadership, as the Tigers hired former Hinds CC head coach Larry Williams. Williams was previously the defensive coordinator at Co-Lin when the school won a state championship in 2012.

CLCC opened the season in 2024 by going to Clarksdale and beating Coahoma 47-0 in a game that was delayed and then shortened by foul weather.

Davis and his Wolf Pack will be back in Wesson in week two, hosting Holmes on Sept. 4.

In other MACCC action set for Thursday, Southwest Mississippi CC will kick off the Les George era as their first-year head coach leads the Bears to face Holmes in Goodman. George had previously been an assistant at Holmes before being hired in Summit. Northeast Mississippi plays at East Central, Pearl River hosts Northwest Mississippi, Jones College travels to play at Mississippi Delta, Hinds goes to Itawamba and East Mississippi plays at Mississippi Gulf Coast CC.