Ridgeland football hosts spring game

Ridgeland football concluded their spring practice with a spring game against Clinton last week and showed some promising signs going into the 2025 season.

After finishing 6-5 last season, the Titans are hoping to take the next step as a program and potentially make a deep playoff run in 2025.

“We had a great spring and great offseason, we started working out right after we lost to South Panola in the playoffs,” Ridgeland Head Coach Todd McDaniel said. “We don’t count morale victories, but I think our kids really used that as motivation to come out and have a really good spring and I thought we finished that by playing really well against a really good Clinton team.”

While Coach McDaniel does have 15 years of head coaching experience under his belt, he is entering his third year at Ridgeland, which has really allowed him to establish the culture that he wants to bring the program for it to be successful.

“Building a program is kind of like building an airplane, in year one we were just trying to take off, in year two we kind of got it off the ground and had some success, and now in year three we are trying to lift-off and get to our destination,” McDaniel said. “We want to win our region and we want to compete for state, so we are going to continue to work towards that goal.”

The Titans return a plethora of talent from last season’s team that was on the younger side, who hope to take the program to new heights this season. 

“Our guys have really learned the hard grind and know what it takes to win at this level,” McDaniel said. “They know what it takes in the weight room and what it takes in practice, so we’re just trying to bring it to the field and play Ridgeland football.”

Some key returners for Ridgeland include star quarterback DK Wallace on the offensive side and star linebacker Nigel Lockett on the defensive side. 

The Titans also welcomed in upcoming junior Trae’Kerrion Collins, who transferred in from Hazlehurst and recently announced his commitment to play at Ole Miss. Collins made several eye-popping plays at wide receiver and defensive back throughout the night and will be a major contributor for the Titans from game one on.

Ridgeland is scheduled to open the season at Mendenhall on August 29th.