By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

POPLARVILLE — Poplarville standout junior running back Ty Keys has been selected as the “Prep Football Player of the Year” in the “Southern Six” as presented by SouthMiss6 Sports this season.

The honor is chosen by the SouthMiss6 Sports staff and a panel of area coaches, and is sponsored by David Baria, Attorney/Mediator, of the Baria Law Firm.

Keys, who was recently named “Class 4A Mr. Football” in the state, continues to make the amazing look routine this season. He is in the midst of one of the most impressive campaigns on the ground in South Mississippi history. Sometime around the first Hornets possession of the game Friday night in Columbia Keys will surpass the 3,000 total rushing yards mark on the season, a mark very rarely seen on the playing field in the “Southern Six”.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound stalwart has rushed for 2,969 yards on 259 carries this season and has scored an amazing 43 touchdowns. He has also thrown for another score and caught a scoring toss as well for 45 total touchdowns this year.

“He’s the real deal without a doubt,” Picayune head coach Cody Stogner, whose Maroon Tide slipped past Keys and Poplarville 28-21 earlier this season, said. “He’s big, strong and fast and that’s a pretty deadly combination. All that combined with his vision is just unreal.”

Keys is averaging just under 250 yards per game on the ground, one of the top totals in the state. He has eclipsed the 100-yard mark in 11 of the 12 Hornets games so far this season for the defending Class 4A state champions and is averaging close to 12 yards per carry.

Last week, Keys ran for 436 yards and seven touchdowns Friday night as Poplarville smacked Region 7-4A rival McComb 55-20 on the road in the Class 4A South State semifinal round. The win keeps the Hornets’ hopes alive for back-to-back state titles, and was the fifth time this season that Keys surpassed the 300-yard mark in a game.

The week prior, in an exciting 43-34 road playoff win over Forest, Keys ran for 193 yards and four touchdowns to power Poplarville to the comeback win after the visitors trailed 34-28 early in the final period.

To open the Class 4A South State playoffs, he ran all over Forrest County AHS in a 49-20 victory in front of a loud crowd at Henley Field in Brooklyn as he carried the ball 22 times for 281 yards and four touchdowns.

This came on the heels of an outstanding regular season in which he ran for an almost inexplicable 506 yards and eight touchdowns on 17 carries in a high-scoring 60-54 win on the road at Brett Favre Field over home-standing Hancock.

Keys entered his junior year after already having cemented his legacy in Hornet history after limited time in just his freshman and sophomore seasons.

After missing almost all of the regular season after a pre-season injury last year, Keys had 565 rushing yards on 101 carries with seven touchdowns in just five games as he helped guide Poplarville to its first-ever state football championship.

Keys was named the Most Valuable Player of the game when Poplarville captured a thrilling 29-28 win over perennial state power Louisville in the Class 4A state title tilt at M.M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi.

In the historic victory, Keys finished with 130 yards rushing on 23 carries and a touchdown. He also converted a two-point conversion and had a kickoff return for a touchdown and was named the “Most Valuable Player” in the game.

Keys already has been overloaded with numerous scholarship offers from Power 5 programs from all across the country. He is considered one of the top running backs in the 2027 class nationally.

For the ninth time in the past 10 seasons, Poplarville is headed to the Class 4A South State championship game. The win over McComb last week keeps the Hornets’ hopes alive for back-to-back state titles, and PHS will now face yet another region foe in the Class 4A South State title tilt as it heads to unbeaten Columbia on the road Friday night with a trip to the state finals on the line.

The Baria Law Firm, the Gulf Coast branch of Cosmich, Simmons and Brown, provides a beacon of trust and reliability in a complex legal landscape. Our firm’s unwavering dedication to you is at the core of everything we do. Choose David Baria of Baria Law as your legal ally, and let us handle the details while you focus on what matters most. Reach out to David at 228-395-8303 or dbaria@barialaw.com and at https://barialaw.com.