By Thomas Grant Jr.
There’s still plenty of ‘All Gas, No Brakes’ attitude at Irmo High School.
This past year saw former Irmo All-State selections quarterback Aaron Brand and wide receiver Donovan Murph head to the college ranks. In fact, they will see each other Aug, 30 in Atlanta, Ga. when Brand’s Virginia Tech faces Murph’s University of South Carolina.
Despite missing two instrumental players to the first state championship appearance in 18 years, the team is still living up to head coach Aaron Brand’s philosophy.
“I texted (Brand) him,” he said. “I said ‘I said, we miss you. But I’ve got to keep going. I’ve got 100 guys out here that just need and deserve what we bring to the table.
“We’re going to miss A.J. We’ve missed him since last December. He and Murph were a special tandem. But we’re trying to get that same camaraderie with some guys that have come back and some guys that are ready to step up to take that challenge.”
During the Aug. 7 home scrimmage against Spring Valley, the heir apparent to Brand and Murph looked to make their case. At quarterback, Brookland-Cayce senior transfer Dre’Von Dopson and junior Britton Davis were scheduled to share an equal number of snaps.
Both had their moments in leading scoring drives. Dopson threw a pass to Maleek Miller that the team’s leading receiver turned into a spectacular catch and run for a touchdown.
“Just working every day to make sure I maintain a healthy receiving group,” Miller said.
Davis had a touchdown run on a direct snap and threw a touchdown pass to Miller’s younger brother Corey. Running back Amire White also had a touchdown run on offense and Airport transfer Jay Eaddy is also expected to contribute on offense.
“We’ve got two guys who have worked their tails off all summer and we’re trying to decide which one deserves more reps,” Brand said. “I saw some good things from both of them and the thing about both of them is they both do good stuff. But they both do extremely bad stuff too.
“So we’ve got to figure out which one is going to lead the troops and once we get down to that, we’re going to play them both all year. Somebody’s got to take the bull by the horn and we’re still looking for that guy.”
Where Brand sees as his team support is upfront on both sides of the football. All-State defensive tackle Jaiden Bryant played with the same energy, which produced a team-high 85 tackles and 14.5 sacks last season.
This season, he’ll be accompanied on the defensive line by Nate Carson, who will play on both offense and defense, and White Knoll junior transfer nose guard/defensive end Tyrone Jennings.
“Once we get fully staffed on the defensive line, we’re going to be a tough out,” Brand said. “Those guys get after it. We’re fortunate. If you’re going to start over with a different quarterback, it is really essential, it’s really gratifying to know that we’re going to be pretty good interior on both sides, offensive and defensive lines. So, we’re going to build around those two groups and, hopefully, we can get some guys to play great around them.”
Last year’s last second 34-31 loss to Northwestern in the Class 5A Division II championship game is also a big motivator. Carson made it clear their intentions this year is to avoid a repeat disappointment.
“After what happened, we bounced back the next day,” he said. “We can’t stay stuck on what happened in the past. We’ve been working hard all season. We’re going to make to state and we’re going to win.”
“We’ve got a chip on our shoulder,” Bryant said. “Everybody thinks we’re not going to make it again. We’ll have to show them otherwise.”
Irmo will face Eastside at 6:45 p.m. Friday at Cecil Woolbright Field. It’s the second scrimmage in the Chapin Kickoff Classic.
IRMO 2025 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
(Kickoff time is 7:30 p.m.)
AUG. 22 – at Oceanside Collegiate Academy
AUG. 29 – at J.F. Byrnes
SEPT. 5 – BUTLER
SEPT. 12 – CAROLINA FOREST
SEPT. 19 – at Myrtle Beach
SEPT. 26 – Bye
OCT. 3 – LEXINGTON
OCT. 10 – at River Bluff
OCT. 17 – WHITE KNOLL
OCT. 24 – at Chapin
OCT. 31 – DUTCH FORK
CHAPIN KICKOFF CLASSIC SCHEDULE
Gray Collegiate vs. Clinton 6 p.m.
Irmo vs. Eastside 6:45 p.m.
Midland Valley vs. Anderson 7:30 p.m.
Chapin vs. Mid-Carolina 8:15 p.m.
