Wildcats Crack Preseason Top 10
The Texas High School Football season is right around the corner and Dave Campbell’s Texas Football is releasing all their yearly predictions. Late last week, the Magazine, who is the official rankings provider for the Associated Press, released their preseason rankings and the Sulphur Springs Wildcats enter the season with a ton of respect and expectations from outside sources.
In the past it felt like no matter how much the Wildcats did, they couldn’t quite seem to catch the attention of people outside of Hopkins County. Now, after their best season in 15 years, the spotlight is on the Wildcats before the season has even started, coming in ranked No. 9 in the Preseason Poll.
“Working in a new QB is a challenge,” Dave Campbell’s said. “But the Wildcats are legit.”
Quarterback Kaden Mitchell does leave tough shoes to fill, after combining for just shy of 3,000 yards last season and finishing the year with a total of 28 touchdowns. With that being said, The Wildcats are in about as good of a position as a team can be to replace their QB, with utility man Deuce Timmons expected to take over as QB1.
As a sophomore, Timmons saw snaps from the quarterback position, as well as running back and receiver. The sophomore finished the year with over 20 touchdowns and averaged 7.4 yards per rush, picking up 774 yards on 105 attempts.
The Wildcats also return almost their entire offensive line and all four of the returners already have scholarship offers, including Vincent Johnson, who is ranked as the No. 9 offensive guard in the state according to DCTF and is already committed to TCU. Johnson, along with Aidan McCarroll, Jeff Stevenson and Tripp McIntyre help to make the Wildcats the No. 3 ranked offensive line in all of 4A according to Dave Campbell’s and should play a huge role in the Wildcats success.
Also playing a huge role in the Wildcats No. 9 preseason ranking is the return of Jaxson Haire, who will be entering his fourth season on varsity for Sulphur Springs. Haire had a combined 647 receiving yards and seven touchdowns in his first two seasons, and blew those numbers out of the water in 2024.
As a junior, Haire was one of the most electric players in the state, leading the team with 965 rushing yards on 142 carries (6.8 yards per rush). He also had the second-most receiving yards on the team with 709 yards on 56 catches (12.7 yards per catch) and had 18 combined touchdowns.
Timmons and Haire will also be joined by Kyshaun John who was the Wildcats most efficient runner in 2024. John was only given 43 carries last season, but racked up 371 yards, giving him a team-high 8.6 yards per carry. With Timmons likely to get the bulk of his snaps at quarterback and with Haire likely to play just as much, if not even more receiver than he did in 2024, John’s workload could go up tremendously this fall.
While Sulphur Springs has a ton to be excited about by their returning production of the offensive side of the ball, what they return defensively is perhaps even more exciting. The Wildcats return nine of the 11 starters from last season, including four players who already have scholarship offers.
The defensive line will be anchored by senior Truth Holmes, who is already committed to the University of North Texas. Cowboy Truth, as he’s known amongst Chad’s Media viewers, enters his senior season with a combined 101 tackles, four tackles for loss, six sacks and nine QB hurries, and has seen considerable improvement each year of his career.
Cowboy Truth and the defensive line are followed by four returning linebackers and an entire secondary of returning starters. The linebacking core consists of Alex King and TJ Bolden, both of which have scholarship offers already, along with Alex McCormick and Zae Godbolt.
The linebacking core combined for 263 tackles in 2024 alone, along with 11 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks and five QB hurries. The linebackers also had a combined four interceptions, 12 pass deflections, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
The secondary, all of which are returning starters, is led by Grayson Hardy who’s incredible 2024 season resulted in him already committing to Louisiana Tech. Hardy led the team with 179 tackles, a number that would’ve felt unbelievable if you didn’t see the games yourself.
The secondary as a whole combined for 375 tackles and four tackles for loss, along with four interceptions and 29 pass deflections.
The Wildcats defense was one of the best in the state in 2024, allowing just 269 points in 13 games played. Their 20.7 points per game allowed was the second-best in the district behind only Celina, and with nine returning starters, they should be even better in 2025.
Last year, the Wildcats were in perhaps the toughest district in all of 4A and that seems to be the case once again this year. The only two teams who beat the Wildcats last year are expected to be incredibly strong once again this season, with Celina coming in as the Preseason No. 1 and Frisco Panther Creek not far behind them at No. 7.
Celina not only won State in 2024, but return one of the best quarterbacks in the state in Bowe Bentley, a player who is committed to OU. Bentley is joined by tight end Wyatt Villarreal, who is committed to Pitt and running back Logan Gutierrez, who has multiple D1 offers.
Preseason ranked No. 7 Frisco Panther Creek has even more returning fire power, including four pass catchers who all have D1 offers, headlined by Jalen Lott, who is the No. 61 ranked player in the entire nation, according to 247 Sports. Lott is scheduled to announce his decision later this week, with Texas considered to be the overwhelming favorite to land the top ranked recruit.
Lott is joined by Donovan Webb and Parker Ord who have each already annouced their commitments to Texas Tech and BYU respectively, along with Jeremiah Forde, who has received numerous offers, including one from Akron.
The trio of Celina, Panther Creek and Sulphur Springs gives District 7-4A three teams in the Preseason Top 10, though that’s not all. The Aubrey Chaparrals also cracked the Preseason Top 25, coming in at No. 24 after a strong 8-5 year in 2024, though they only return a pair of starters on offense and three on defense.
With four of the seven teams in the district in the Preseason Top 25, that certainly makes District 7-4A one of the most respected in the state. While Paris, Lake Dallas and Community didn’t make the cut, they will be looking to see if they can surpass one of the four who did and find a way to make the postseason in one of the toughest district’s in all of Texas High School Football.
