5 Wildcats Named All-State By the Texas Sports Writers Association

Even though we’re well into February, the basketball regular season has come and gone, and both the Sulphur Springs Lady Cats and Wildcats basketball teams are currently in the playoffs, the accolades and recognition are STILL coming in for the historic 2024 Wildcats football team. 

Yesterday the Texas Sports Writers Association released their All-State teams, recognizing the best players in the state in each classification. The Regional Semifinalist Wildcat team saw five players who were recognized for their fantastic seasons, with four of them returning next season. 

All-State Third Team 

Jaxson Haire, All-Purpose: After taking all of his snaps exclusively as a wide receiver in his freshman and sophomore seasons, junior Jaxson Haire entered the 2024 season knowing he would be making a bit of a transition. While Haire would still get plenty of snaps from the slot receiver position, Haire would primarily be moving to running back, and he made the absolute most of the move. 

Haire was the focal point of the Wildcats offense, finishing just shy of 1,000 rushing yards, while also racking up 709 yards on 56 catches. Between rushing and receiving Haire finished the season with 1,674 total yards and 18 total touchdowns. 

After an incredible junior season, the offers are starting to come in for Haire, as he recently received his first Division 1 offer from UTEP. With his role only going to grow in his senior season, his offer from UTEP should be the first of many. 

Vincent Johnson, Offensive Tackle: The 2024 Wildcats offensive line was one of the best in the entire state and with four of them returning for 2025, it has the potential to be in a league of its own. The line is anchored by left tackle Vincent Johnson, who has been turning heads since before he was even on varsity. 

Johnson already has scholarship offers from Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Arkansas, TCU, Baylor, Kansas State, Memphis, UTEP, UNT and more. Now with a Third Team All-State under his belt and a 10-win season, that list will only continue to grow. 

All-State Honorable Mention 

Kaden Mitchell, Quarterback: The road to being QB1 for the Sulphur Springs Wildcats was a long one for Kaden Mitchell, seeing him as a young backup who had to step up during the playoffs as a sophomore, to moving to wide receiver as a junior, but in 2024, the QB1 role was all Mitchell’s. 

In the role, Mitchell made the absolute most of it, leading his team to 10 wins and making their deepest playoff run in over 15 years. Mitchell threw for 2,678 yards and had 28 total touchdowns to just 10 interceptions and was the perfect leader for the Wildcats offense. Mitchell received an offer from Mary Hardin-Baylor and also has multiple offers to play baseball at the next level, giving him plenty of options to choose from. 

Truth Holmes, Defensive Line: The 2024 Wildcats defense was one of the better ones in program history, and with them returning an overwhelming majority of their starters, the 2025 defense has the chance to be one of the very best in the state. One of those key returning contributors is defensive lineman “Cowboy Truth” Holmes, who was All-State Honorable Mention in his junior season. 

Holmes did an incredible job from the interior defensive line for the Wildcats, shutting down opposing running games, while also wreaking havoc in opponents backfields. As a junior Holmes had 52 tackles, four of which were tackles for loss. 

Cowboy Truth also led the team in sacks and quarterback hurries, providing the Wildcats with the rare gift of putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks from the interior. Holmes already has offers from UNT, UTEP SFA and East Texas A&M. Holmes has shown genuine leaps in each season and with multiple D1 offers already under his belt, he should only see that list continue to grow as he continues to play bigger and bigger roles for the Sulphur Springs Wildcats defense. 

Grayson Hardy, Safety: If you watched any amount of Sulphur Springs Wildcats football in 2024, you would have had a hard time not hearing the name Grayson Hardy. Going into his junior season as one of the more veteran leaders, Hardy put up video game numbers, leading the team with 179 tackles in 13 games. 

When he wasn’t making tackle after tackle, Hardy also led the team with 11 pass deflections and two interceptions, showing zero weaknesses in his game from the safety position. 

While those numbers will be incredibly tough to improve upon, Hardy will be one of the key leaders to a secondary that returns all five of their starters, and a defense who returns all but just a few of their contributors in 2025. Look for Hardy to find ways to be even more disruptive in his senior season. 

Each season in the Faircloth era has been better than the last, taking over a 0-10 team from 2021 and going 25-10 in his first three seasons as the Wildcats head coach, with playoff appearances in each year, and even making their deepest playoff run in 15 years this past season. With four All-State players returning, as well as almost their entire offensive line, their entire running back group and an overwhelming majority of their defense, the 2025 season could prove to be their best one yet.