After posting the winningest season in program history, the Jackson County Blue Devils boys basketball team is not interested in simply reliving last year’s success; they want to go back and finish what they started.
Head Coach Kevin Thomas said the goal for 2025 is clear: Get back to the Class 2A state tournament.
“I really do think that we’re going to have a good solid eight that we’re going to play, maybe nine,” Thomas said. “But we got six seniors in that group that have played a lot of basketball together and four have been starters since they were sophomores so that group is pretty tight knit.”
The Blue Devils are coming off a 29-3 season that includes a perfect 9-0 record in district play and a trip to the TSSAA state tournament, where they defeated Jackson Central-Merry before falling to Alcoa in the quarterfinals. Thomas said he believes this season experience and chemistry will be the team’s biggest strengths as they begin the new campaign.
“These kids are really gritty,” Thomas said. “That’s what we want to be known for is a team that’s going to show up and work and be gritty every night.”
That grit will be tested early. Jackson County enters the season less than full strength, with four of the seven rotation pieces still competing in football playoffs. Point guard Alex Meadows, who averaged ten points and five assists last season, will also be out for several weeks with mono. Thomas said despite the setbacks, he welcomes the challenge.
“The kids, they’ve almost changed from kids playing high school basketball to adults,” Thomas said. “Just the way they’ve grown over the summer and me just talking to them and the one on one meetings we have and just seeing them in the hallway, you can tell the maturity has been there and I think that’s going to make a difference with our basketball team.”
Thomas said his team has put up thousands of shots during the off-season, as well as during sixth period in school, sharpening an offense that will include Parker Patterson, who connected on 44 percent of his three-point attempts last season.
