By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

The next “Southern Six” Senior Spotlight sponsored by Reese’s of the school year is Jax Walker of St. Martin.

Each week throughout the school year, we here at SouthMiss6 Sports will highlight a senior student/athlete in the “Southern Six” to honor.

At 14-5 heading into the new year, the point guard Walker has already guided his Yellow Jackets to almost three times as many wins as they had last year when SMHS finished just 5-21.

The senior point guard had a big outing last week in the Pearl River Central Christmas Tournament.

Coming off a 10-day holiday break, the St. Martin boys split a pair of games over the weekend in the annual Pearl River Central Christmas Tournament.

The Yellow Jackets lost a thriller to eventual tourney champ Pearl River, La., on Friday afternoon 59-57 before bouncing back to thump Class 1A foe Sacred Heart out of Hattiesburg 72-44 in the consolation contest Saturday afternoon.

In the big win, Walker tallied a game-high 19 points and also had five assists and five steals to lead the way. On Friday, Walker had 17 points and he dished out eight assists

“We’ve spent a lot of time talking about what it means to put on that St. Martin Uniform,” veteran St. Martin head coach Charlie Pavlus said, earlier this season. “I think it starts with our Point Guard Jax Walker. I’ve challenged Jax to be the leader this program needs him to be and we watched a lot of film on some of our best players from the past 16-17 seasons.”

The Yellow Jackets head to Moss Point to face the Tigers Saturday afternoon.

The Reese’s company has long been a big supporter of current and former high school student/athletes all over the Southeast.

For over a decade now, Reese’s® Peanut Butter Cups has been the title sponsor of The Senior Bowl played annually in Mobile, Ala.

In addition to its new partnership with the Senior Bowl, the Reese’s® brand is also the official candy partner of the NCAA® and the title sponsor of the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Reese’s® College All-Star Game, which features the top Division I senior basketball student-athletes from around the country and is played the weekend of the NCAA Men’s Final Four®.

“The Reese’s brand is excited to continue our partnership with the Senior Bowl,” said Drew Iddings, Director, Promotions and Planning, The Hershey Company.  “We are confident that this partnership will continue to solidify the Reese’s brand’s leadership in collegiate athletics as well as honor senior student-athletes who achieved success on and off the field during their athletic careers.”

The 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl will take place on Saturday, February 1, 2025 at 1:30 PM CT at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. The game and practices will be televised on the NFL Network. 

The Reese’s Senior Bowl is widely regarded as the preeminent college football all-star game and the first stage in the NFL Draft process. The longest continual-running all-star game has taken place in Mobile, Alabama the past 75 years.  More than 900 NFL personnel, including key decision-makers from all 32 teams, and over 1100 media members from around the country were credentialed this year. This past April, the game produced 110 total picks, representing 43 percent of the entire NFL draft.