Andrew Jackson Academy Football Returns To 8-Man For 2026 Season
For the 2026-27 season, the Warriors football team is moving back to 8-man football after playing at the Class A level the past two seasons.
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Ehrhardt—Andy Palmer will begin his second season as the head football coach, head softball coach, and athletic director at Andrew Jackson Academy, so the veteran coach wears many hats in his day-to-day activities in the Warriors program.
One major change for the 2026-27 season is the fact that the Warriors football team is moving back to 8-man football after playing at the Class A level the past two seasons.
“Our move back to 8-man should be an advantage for us,” said Coach Palmer over the summer. “We go from being one of the smallest SCISA 1-A schools playing football to one of the largest in 8-man based on enrollment.”
Coach Palmer tells the HSSR that the Warriors football team will scrimmage Orangeburg Christian in early August. The Warriors start the season against Jefferson Davis on August 21.
The summer roster provided to the HSSR showed six returning starters on offense and 9 returning starters on defense.
On offense, senior Ollie Barnes returns at RB/WR along with senior OL Eli Mathys. Senior Jason Tucker returns to the TE position while senior Brad Hightower returns as an RB. Junior Everett Ulmer is back at FB and junior London Johnson returns to provide depth as a WR.
The defense will return to 8 starters from last season. Barnes will flip to start at DB on defense, while Mathis will be a starter in the DL. Johnson will flip to start at LB, along with Ulmer, who will start at LB also. Other defensive starters returning include senior DB Jaxon Tucker, senior RB Brad Hightower, soph DL Noah Riddle, and junior LB Brison Riddle.
Top newcomers include: soph OL/DL Evan Mathys, along with freshman QB/DB Will Barnes, freshman QB/LB Braedon Wilcox, soph WR Cody Guider, freshman OL/DL Robert Stevenson, and freshman OL/DL Bryce Drawdy.
Other members of the AJA football team include senior OL/DL Nathan King and sophomore OL/DL Mitch Ott.
AJA has an excellent football program. Randy Rentz, Bill Johnson, and Robbie Williams work with the junior varsity program. Rentz heads up the 10U football team while Todd Folk coaches the 8U team.
At the school awards banquet in May, Tanner Chassereau and Walker Terry tied for the “Ben Fender Award,” given annually to a Male Student Athlete at AJA who plays at least two varsity sports, with academics and community service weighing heavily into the winners. “The Allison Carter Award,” based on similar criteria, is awarded to a female athlete every year and CJ Ulmer earned that award.
The Dean of Coaches at AJA, in terms of longevity at the school, is head boys’ basketball coach Josh Barnes who will begin his 16th season with the program this school year.
“We had a very active summer with the team,” said Coach Barnes recently. “We participated in the SCISA Live team event at Heathwood Hall in June. We also played in the Denmark-Olar play date where we beat Bridges Prep, but we lost to Midland Valley.
“For the first time ever, we hosted a play date at our place on June 17th,” said Coach Barnes. “We lost to Cathedral but beat Denmark-Olar and Hilton Head Prep and these games gave us some valuable experience.”
Three key players will return to the AJA boys’ basketball team this season. They include rising senior combo guard Ollie Barnes, rising senior power forward Elijah Davis, and rising freshman point guard Will Barnes.
Ollie Barnes averaged 24.3 points and six rebounds a game as a junior when he went over 1,000 points early in the 2025-26 season. He could become the all-time leading scorer in school history as a senior with a good senior season performance.
AJA will field six varsity sports in the 2026-27 school year including varsity cheerleading. Stephanie Brandt will once again be the varsity cheer coach. The HSSR extends sincere condolences to the Brandt family for the loss of a wonderful husband and proud father Shaun Brandt in early June. Mr. Brandt was a huge supporter of AJA, and he was a star athlete at the school in the 1990’s when he helped lead the football team to a state title.
Danielle Tuten will assist Brandt with the varsity cheer team. Catherine Bessinger and Ashlyn Peters will work with the “B” team cheerleaders. Brandy Smith will coach the mini-cheer team while Brittany Risher works with the Tiny Cheer team.
Zach Bolt returns as the volleyball head coach. Carmen Mixson does an excellent job as the Junior varsity, B team, and C team volleyball coach. Coach Bolt is also the head girls’ basketball coach. Randy Rentz and Jeremy Bessinger work with the lower-level girl’s basketball teams.
The junior varsity boys’ basketball coach is Leonard Carter while Jamee Barnes returns to coach the “B” team. Randy Rentz is the “C” team boy’s coach.
Head baseball coach Jason Mathys earned the Region Coach of the year in the SCISA 2-A region after his team had another winning season that included a region title. Coach Mathys will be returning as head baseball coach at AJA this season. Austin Risher coaches the jayvee baseball team.
Coach Palmer had a very successful season as the head softball coach this past season. He is assisted on the varsity and jayvee by Monica Beard. Bill Johnson, Jeremy Beard, Carmen Mixson, and Denise Duncan help coach the jayvee softball team.
Robbie Williams coaches the Sporting Clays team. Coach Palmer is the speed and strength coach at AJA also.
The Head of School at AJA is Gill Hackney. The Asst. Head of School and Guidance Director is Susan Kinsey. The Booster Club President is Jana Chassereau.
