HSFT Stop #55 — Oxford

Oxford, Miss. (WCBI) — Oxford’s season ended with a second-round playoff loss to Madison Central. The Chargers received a huge boost with four-star heritage academy transfer Mack Howard joining the roster. Head coach Chris Cutcliffe is happy to have him and Mack sees Oxford as the perfect fit.

“I wanted to play in the best competition in the state of Mississippi,” Howard said. “Coach Cutcliffe is a great coach, Oxford has a tradition of being really good and that was attractive to a quarterback. I’m looking forward to playing with these guys”

The adjustment for Howard has been smooth.

“Mack has done a great job coming here in the spring and doing a great job off the bat,” Cutcliffe said. “He’s done a great job of that and he’s a great teammate and does an outstanding job of that.”

Howard committed to play college ball at Utah and knows what he has to bring in order for the Chargers to be successful.

“The ability to be a great leader and teammate,” Howard said. “Playing aside I need to be a guy who can help everybody out in a time of need.”

Cutcliffe is excited about the team’s depth at linebacker headlined by Alex Sanford and Martavious Blackmon and he praised his guys’ mentality

“We got little goals as a team of being a family that we need to get to,” defensive end Malaki Pegues said.

Expectations are high, but Cutcliffe doesn’t want his guys to lose sight of why they are playing the game.

“Football practice is supposed to be fun and that’s an important perspective to keep,” Cutcliffe said. “We have high expectations but our goal is to have a great Wednesday today, come back tomorrow and do it again”

At the end of the day the Chargers have one goal.

“Win a state championship,” Howard said. “Have to finish it out with a state championship and anything less is a disappointment”

The Chargers season gets rolling August 26th at Brandon.