Quistors come together as a brotherhood toward new football season

Photo: Calvin Russell strikes a pose for the photographer during the Olive Branch Conquistadors’ football media day. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)

Hoping to come together to improve on last season’s 2-7 record, the Olive Branch Conquistadors football team believes coming together as brothers is a large first step forward in that accomplishment.

Playing last season in the highly competitive Region 1-6A, the Quistors football program struggled with only victories against Lewisburg and Saltillo to show for the year. 

This season, the new Region 1-6A alignment adds Grenada, to join South Panola, Center Hill, Lake Cormorant, and Saltillo into the mix. Grenada last year won a state 6A championship and two years ago finished runner up. A Grenada assistant coach, Mitchell Harville, returns to DeSoto County this year as head coach at district rival Center Hill.  Harville previously coached Horn Lake’s football team.

“This is one of the toughest districts in the state to me,” said new Olive Branch head football coach Marcus Jamison during the team’s recent media day. “It’s going to be a lot of smash mouth football. We’re going to run and that’s what is going to get us to adapt to this division.”  

Jamison was brought in to be head coach at Olive Branch at the end of last season. He led a DeSoto Central defense that helped take the Jaguars to the MHSAA 7A playoffs in 2024.  

Now, Jamison is at work, bringing in new assistant coaches and challenging players to continually improve.

‘We’re looking for improvement, improvement over last year and even improvement from the springtime,” Jamison said.

Olive Branch has 26 seniors on the roster entering the fall but only four in that group were starters last year. 

“It’s a brand new team, brand new everything,” Jamison said. “We’ve even asked some guys to play brand new positions. Versatility is something that I’m really big on. We’ve got to be able to play multiple positions. Technique is also something we really harp on.” 

Expect some new looks on offense this season and also look for a defense that swarms to the football.  

Nehemiah Shields is among the group Jamison wants to be swarming to the football as a senior outside linebacker. 

“I feel like we’ve been working extremely hard and I think we can do some great things and have a great impact,” Shields said. “We have a very tight bond and we’ve done nothing but work towards our goals, which are to get to the playoffs and win a state championship.”

Caleb Burress will be lining up as an offensive lineman for Olive Branch. Burress is optimistic his team will be much better this season.  

“Everybody’s getting involved and becoming a brotherhood,” Burress said. “The brotherhood means everything. I need to trust the person who is next to me. Brotherhood is big here.”

Coach Jamison is certainly familiar with one person in the locker room, as wide receiver son Marcus Jamison Jr. comes over with his dad to play the position this year in Blue and Gold.  

Three players are vying for the role of starting quarterback and coach Jamison said the competition is stiff for that spot. 

“We have three guys who are right there,” he explained. “We’re pushing them each week to separate themselves. We’ll name a starting quarterback going into the week of the Aug. 22 jamboree.”  

Fans in Olive Branch are hungry for success on the gridiron this year. The Quistors, over their history, have won 11 district championships and won the 2011 state title with an undefeated team. But the program has not been in the playoffs since 2019 when it reached the second round under Tyler Turner, who went 33-8 overall and 5-3 in the playoffs over three seasons.