There will be another Breland coaching the Mississippi-Alabama All-Star football game.
Union’s Brad Breland was recently named to be the head coach of the Mississippi team.
“It was very humbling to be chosen,” Breland said. “I’m very honored that the committee would think that I was worthy to handle it. It says a lot about our program here at Union and our kids to even be considered. I’m very honored and blessed.”
Breland enters a unique class after being selected to the, joining brother Jeff Breland who was head coach of the team in 2015. Breland was the defensive coordinator on that team.
Breland was a scout coach on last year’s team that beat Alabama 24-20.
The assistants for the team have also been selected. On the defensive side, Germantown’s Tim Sharamek will be the defensive coordinator while Winona’s Joey Tompkins will coach the defensive line. Velma Jackson’s Bernard Euell will coach the defensive backs while Forth Forrest’s Anthony Dillon will coach outside linebackers. On offense, Brandon’s Tyler Peterson will be the offensive coordinator. Oxford’s Chris Cutcliffe will coach wide receivers while Neshoba Central’s Patrick Schoolar will coach the offensive line. South Delta’s Derrick Hooker will be the scout coach.
“We assembled our staff back in March and I am excited about that,” Breland said. “It’s a great group of guys. We are putting together a preliminary group of players at each position. We pretty much allow the position coaches to chose their players. We want to have about 8-10 kids at each position to chose from. All of these guys are head coaches and understand what their role is. I think we all have a great deal of respect for each other.”
Breland said he has gotten some good feedback from several college coaches.
“I’ve talked with Coach (Brad) Peterson at Mississippi State and coach (Matt) Luke at Ole Miss and they have helped me with some lists to get started,” Breland said. “I’ve also talked to several junior college coaches to get their opinion on the players in the state. We have leaned on those guys a good bit to get a good starting point.”
Breland said the majority of work will be done in this summer.
“We are going to try and knock most of it out this summer,” Breland said. “We have a 40-man roster and would like to have about 30 of those chosen before we start our season. Once the season gets going, everybody will be concerned with their own program. We will juggle a little bit because we have to pick the team in mid-October.”
The game will take place on Saturday, Dec. 14 at Southern Miss’ M.M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg.
