Mississippi’s junior college system has a way of humbling stars – and making them shine brighter.
Octavius Matthews and Lee Autry were content high school stars headed to Louisville and Wake Forest. Qualifying issues sent them to Itawamba Community College in Fulton, Miss.
Now headed to the country’s toughest conference, the SEC, via the country’s toughest junior college state, their success hasn’t come without trials and tears.
“You have to be humbled,” Matthews said. “My moment was my freshman year in the summer. It was real hot. I kept wanting to go home.”
With some extra push from his mother, sticking to it has paid off.
The sophomore running back from across the line in Alabama flipped his commitment from Louisville to Auburn in June. Autry, a defensive tackle, committed to Mississippi State three months earlier.
Autry, the No. 3 defensive tackle in the country according to 247Sports, followed his brother Denico’s JUCO footsteps and is following him to Starkville. Denico Autry played for East Mississippi CC and Mississippi State, and now he’s with the Oakland Raiders.
“When he walks in the door, he’s a physically impressive kid,” Itawamba CC coach Sean Cannon said. “That’s what they come looking for. We’re very fortunate to have him. They’re going to get a good football player and a better human.”
In a position the SEC covets, Autry is a 6-foot-3, 315-pound North Carolina product. He played in all 10 games as a freshman and had 21 tackles, half a sack and 2 pass deflections.
Players come to Mississippi junior colleges with no offers and wind up in the NFL, such as former ICC and now Colts CB Darius White. This duo parlayed offers into bigger offers. The grind of the level keeps even the SEC-committed humble. Cannon says part of the coaches’ focus is keeping his most targeted players from getting complacent.
“It helped me out a lot. I got stronger, faster. I probably would have gotten redshirted if I had gone straight out of high school,” Autry said.
Autry’s humbling moment came during board drills of his first fall camp.
“I got dumped by the center and was like, ‘Man, this thing is tough,’” he said. “I had called mom, shed a couple tears. I was ready to go home. But I stuck with it.”
Matthews broke out of a rotation of backs in the back half of his freshman season. At 6-foot-1 and more than 200 pounds, he is built to take the beating an SEC runner takes.
The No. 2 JUCO athlete in the country according to 247Sports, Matthews rushed for 808 yards and 4 touchdowns on 94 carries as a freshman. He caught 13 passes for 147 yards and 2 touchdowns and returned kickoffs for 111 yards.
He had an offer from Mississippi State but flipped from Louisville after a June weekend visit to Auburn.
“I bond with the coaches and the players,” Matthews said. “I got there, they were already treating me like I was a teammate. That’s what got to me. I’m going to keep grinding, trying to get better every day.”
“I always thought the SEC would come in and try to snag him up,” Cannon said. “I think it’s a natural fit to be in that offense in what they do.”
Mississippi junior college football has been placing SEC and NFL talent for a long time. The popularity of the Netflix documentary “Last Chance U” on conference foe East Mississippi has shed national light on how good the talent in the state is. It is the perfect proving ground that also has a tendency to break a spirit.
“You have to show up and show out when you come in this league,” Autry said. “You can’t just go out there and survive. You’ve got to go out there and make plays and try to get guys on your highlight film.”
