Star quarterback AJ Brand Leading Irmo Into Title Game
By Dennis Brunson
hssr.com Associate Editor
Irmo – The Irmo High School football team went 13-1 last season and lost to South Florence 28-21 in the lower state championship game of the AAAA state playoffs.
With just three starters back on both offense and defense and the Yellow Jackets being bumped up to AAAAA due to reclassification, surpassing that success was considered unlikely by some. However, one of those returning starters on offense was quarterback AJ Brand, and he and his teammates had other ideas.
Brand is having a historic season and Irmo is a victory away from winning the AAAAA Division II state championship. The Yellow Jackets will take on undefeated Northwestern on Saturday at 6:06 p.m. in Orangeburg at South Carolina State University’s Oliver C. Dawson Stadium.
Irmo’s only loss on the season came to undefeated juggernaut Dutch Fork by a 24-14 count in the regular-season finale. After getting a first-round bye in the playoffs, the Yellow Jackets beat Chapin 38-7 and followed it with a 56-7 triumph over West Florence. Irmo won the lower state title with a 29-25 triumph over White Knoll.
Brand, a senior who has signed with Virginia Tech, enters the game with 2,449 yards and 28 against just four interceptions while completing 171 of 237 passes. He’s also rushed for 1,894 yards and 25 touchdowns on 162 carries.
Brand’s head coach – and father – Aaron Brand, believes his son is on the precipice of becoming the first quarterback in state history to pass for 2,500 yards and rush for over 2,000 in the same season.
“He’s just stepped up after we lost so much from last year,” Coach Brand said of his son. “We lost a great (2,000-yard rusher) running back in (Jaden) Allen-Hendrix, most of our offensive line, and he has just stepped up his game.
“AJ has stepped up to help us with our running game. He’s also a great leader on the team. I mean passing for 2,500 yards and rushing for 2,000 is something you don’t hear of.”
Brand has a Power 5 wide receiver to throw the ball to in Donovan Murph, who has reclassified to be a member of the 2025 recruiting class and is being heavily recruited by South Carolina and Clemson.
Murph has 88 catches for 1,205 yards and 10 touchdowns. Murph had 57 catches for 1,084 yards and 17 touchdowns last season, but Coach Brand said he has been impressed by the year Murph has put together because of all of the attention he has drawn from the defense.
“He has had someone underneath him, someone coming over the top and someone on the inside with him most of the year,” the head coach said. “He may not have the number of touchdown catches he had last year, but the fact that he has as many catches as he does tells you how good of a receiver he is.”
Murph is joined in the starting lineup at receiver by sophomore Maleek Miller, who has 52 catches for 885 yards and eight touchdowns. Freshman Demarion Arrington also starts at wide receiver.
Tight end Joey Albritton has just nine catches for 158 yards, but seven of them have gone for touchdowns.
Sophomore Amir White is the starting running back in the 1-back set with 895 yards and seven touchdowns on 108 carries. Also, senior Anton Jones has rushed for 529 yards and two scores on 63 carries.
Leading the way up front on the offensive line is senior center Ryan Love, the lone returning starter.
“Ryan has just been a leader on the line,” Coach Brand said. “He has done a great job of bringing that line together.”
The other starters on the line are junior left tackle Bryson Moore, junior left guard Kelron Vauls, senior right guard Stephen Hill and junior right tackle Vernon Hairens.
Two of the three returning starters on defense are along the line in sophomore end Jaiden Bryant and senior tackle Ethan Gamble. Starting along with them are junior end Major Taylor and junior tackle DeVaughn Sutter.
Bryant is the Yellow Jackets’ leading tackler with 92. A large number of those tackles are high impact plays as Bryant has 18 ½ quarterback sacks and 26 tackles for loss.
Gamble has 88 tackles and seven TFLs, Taylor has 40 tackles and seven TFLs, and Sutter has 57 tackles and six TFLs. Gamble has seven sacks, Taylor six and Sutter three.
The starting linebackers are senior Kyle Mitchell, junior Brandon Goldsborough and junior Tye Rivers. Mitchell has 62 tackles and six TFLs, Goldsborough has 54 tackles and Rivers has 58 tackles.
The other returning starter on defense is senior safety Mathew Blocker. He is joined in the secondary by sophomore safety Jamar Grissett, senior cornerback Darius Goodson and senior cornerback Terin Bowman.
Blocker has 87 tackles, four interceptions, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Grissett has 70 tackles and four interceptions, Goodson has 78 tackles, two interceptions and six TFLs, and Bowman has 55 tackles.
Bowman is also a force on special teams with four blocked field goals. Junior Tucker Williams is the placekicker and punter. Miller handles the return chores and has taken both a punt and kickoff back for a touchdown.
Irmo is playing in its first championship game since 2006 and is seeking its first state title since 1980. Standing in the way of accomplishing that feat is 13-0 upper state champion Northwestern.
While the Trojans are averaging 50 points a game, Coach Brand is impressed with the defense.
“Everyone talks about their offense, and I love their quarterback (Finley Polk), they’ve just got a great defense,” Brand said. “They’re just really aggressive on defense.”
