Players of The Pine Belt: Mount Olive RB/LB Malachi Mickel

MOUNT OLIVE, Miss. (WDAM) - Mount Olive High School is looking to move forward after a middle-of-the-road 5-5 football season in 2022.

With a younger team, the Pirates are going to rely on running back Malachi Mickel to help them find gold.

The senior has proved to head coach Dante Durr that it’s his time to captain the ship.

Halfback isn’t Mickel’s only strong suit.

He prides himself on being elite on both sides of the ball, earning accolades at linebacker last season.

“He’s very valuable on the defensive side,” said Durr.

“He was all-state last year, I think that’s one of his strong points.”

“At practice, I just try to go hard every play,” Mickel said.

“I got everybody counting on me so I gotta step up my game.”

Rejuvenated with a clean slate, Mickel and his team have sent a warning to their opponents.

“We’ve gotten better this year,” Mickel said.

“We worked hard this summer, everybody came to summer workouts, we came to work hard. We’re the underdogs, so we gotta keep that chip on our shoulder.”

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