Prep senior commits to Baylor

Jackson Prep Senior Matthew Parker flipped his commitment from Vanderbilt to Baylor Tuesday. Parker was committed to the Commodores for a little over a month before committing to Baylor.

Parker visited Baylor this past weekend, which sealed the deal for him and his commitment to the Bears. He simply stated “I’m Home,” in his announcement of his commitment on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

Parker is rated as the 1353th best player in the nation, the 101st best offensive tackle, and the 22nd best player in Mississippi, which is good for a three-star prospect ranking in 247Sport’s composite rankings, which combines ratings from all the major recruiting services. He also held notable offers from schools like Duke, Florida State, Houston, South Florida, and Memphis before committing to play at Baylor.

This year’s Jackson Prep team will have two bookends at the offensive tackle position this season with Parker playing right tackle and Cole Allen, who is also a three-star prospect and is committed to Duke, playing left tackle. The Patriots will also have four of their five total offensive linemen starters returning this season, including Robert Watson, Reid Vineyard, and Thomas Coco rounding out the key players in the Jackson Prep offensive line unit.

The returning offense as whole will be loaded for Jackson Prep as well, most notably with senior quarterback Billy Puckett returning, who accounted for 2,711 total yards and 25 touchdowns last season and will have a phenomenal offensive line protecting him this season.

After falling in the MAIS 6A title game to Hartfield Academy last season, Jackson Prep, led by what will be one of the most talented offensive line units in the state, will look to make another run at a championship in 2024. 

Jackson Prep will open the season on the road at Copiah Academy in a non-region game on August 23rd.