By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

A pair of former prep multi-sport standouts in the “Southern Six” have left four-year schools after signing baseball scholarships last season and have returned to South Mississippi.

Pascagoula’s Keilon Parnell and Gautier’s Kaden Irving, both of whom excelled on both the football field and baseball diamond for several seasons during their prep careers, are each about to enter a new collegiate phase of their journey after the first stop didn’t work out. Sources familiar with both situations have indicated that Parnell recently left Mississippi State and Irving also departed from Ole Miss.

Parnell has enrolled at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College according to those same sources while Irving could also end up at Perk but is currently weighing his options. Both would be eligible to play baseball in the Spring at a junior college of their choice.

After well-documented and decorated prep careers, Parnell signed with the Bulldogs during his senior season at PHS and Irving did the same with the Rebels during his final year at GHS. They both were honored on the gridiron, as Parnell was selected first-team Class 6A All-State as an athlete/kick returner while Irving was named the quarterback on the Class 5A First Team All-State squad after becoming just one of the only players ever in the state to throw for over 10,000 yards and 100 touchdowns in his high school career.

At one point, at the end of their sophomore football seasons, Parnell was Pascagoula’s starting quarterback and committed to Mississippi State for baseball while Iriving earned all-state honors as the signal-caller for the Gators and was committed to Ole Miss baseball while at the same time Ocean Springs standout quarterback Bray Hubbard was committed to the baseball team at the University of Southern Mississippi.

However, Hubbard went on to become the first and only back-to-back Class 6A Mr. football in the state of Mississippi while leading the Greyhounds to consecutive unbeaten seasons and Region 4-6A titles during his junior and senior seasons and then shifted his future endeavors to the gridiron and eventually signed with perennial national power Alabama. As a senior, he threw for 2,197 yards and 21 touchdowns as while rushing for 1,760 yards and 20 scores  and was also named as the Class 6A All-State Most Valuable Player and quarterback. He enrolled early at Alabama mid-way through his senior year at OSHS.

And speaking of Hubbard, he has a chance to win a national championship after his Crimson Tide beat Georgia in the Southeastern Conference championship game and earned a berth in the four-team College Football Playoff.

Alabama faces Michigan in the historic Rose Bowl on Monday, Jan. 1st. The other semifinal pits Texas vs. Washington, and the two winners advance to meet one another for the national championship one week later.

Hubbard, who wears number 18 for the Crimson Tide, has seen some time on the field during his freshman season in Tuscaloosa, as he hs played in seven games and he was named Alabama’s Special teams Player of the Week after a win over Alabama earlier this year. According to the Alabama Football official team website, Hubbard “came to UA as a two-way player and settled in at defensive back … contributes on special teams … selected as one of the special teams players of the week by the Alabama coaching staff for his play against LSU. Middle Tennessee: Saw his first collegiate action against the Blue Raiders. Arkansas: Worked on special teams in the Homecoming game. Tennessee: Saw time on kickoff coverage against the Volunteers. LSU: Continued his solid play on special teams … recorded one solo stop on kickoff coverage. Kentucky: Worked on defense and special teams in Lexington. Chattanooga: Saw extended minutes at safety while continuing his work on special teams. Auburn: Contributed on special teams against the Tigers. Georgia: Continued his work on special teams in the SEC Championship Game.”