JHS Football: Quarterback Brady McCown transfers to Gilmer

Apr. 11—The Jacksonville Indians will be returning to the Class 5A, Division II, ranks, with the start of the 2024-25 school term.

Last season's starting quarterback, Brady McCown, will not be making the switch, as he recently enrolled at Gilmer High School where the senior-to-be is expected to compete for the starting quarterback spot, along with Cadon Tennison, who led the Buckeyes to a Class 4A, Division II state championship last season.

McCown will face some stiff competition as Tennison passed for 2,682 yards and completed 58.8-percent of his passes. He tossed 27 touchdowns and gave up five interceptions.

McCown's 2023 season was hampered by an upper and a lower extremity injury.

The 6'-2", 200-pounder completed 81 of 180 pass attempts for 1,188 yards in his first-full season as the varsity starter. He threw 10 touchdown passes and gave up eight interceptions on a Jacksonville team that went 0-10 last fall.

With the Indians scheduled to graduate 26 young men from last year's team this spring, the move to Gilmer, a perennial state-playoff contender in the Class 4A-II ranks probably seemed like a logical choice for McCown, who has aspirations to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Ryan McCown (East Texas Baptist University) and cousins Owen McCown (University of Texas San Antonio) and Aiden McCown (Lamar University) by playing football at the collegiate level.

Jacksonville head football coach Jason Holman said that he will be evaluating a number of kids within the program to find the right fit to replace McCown.

Jacksonville is scheduled to open the regular season at 7:30 p.m. August 30 by visiting Center.