Stiggers brothers to write their own story

BY DANIEL SCHMIDT

THE LAFAYETTE SUN

LANETT — When glancing at Lanett High School’s football roster, a pair of underclassmen who share the same last name may catch one’s eye.

P.J. Stiggers, a freshman, and his younger brother Jayden, an eighth grader still in junior high, are already key pieces on a Panthers team coming off a run to the Class 2A state championship game. 

P.J. anchors the secondary at safety and helps carry the load offensively at running back, while Jayden will primarily handle the ball at quarterback.

Most programs would count themselves lucky to land one player like them, much less two a year apart and from the same family.

“You could tell early on just being around them that they’re very mature and that they’ve both got a good head on their shoulders,” McDonald said. “When you look at the group, they stand out physically even at a young age. They both look the part, and they have the mental aspect for their roles.”

For head coach R.J. McDonald, playing the two brothers and other underclassmen isn’t a gamble, but rather part of a development plan he measures over several seasons.

“Play them now, and they’ll be ready in a few years,” McDonald said. “Let them take their lumps now, but going forward, those two guys are going to be staples and catalysts for this program.”

He recognized just how rare it is to have two brothers both contributing so much at a young age together, as a standout older brother often graduates before his younger sibling arrives.

“The more you talk with other coaches around the state who are in the same situation, they’re like, ‘Coach, that’s a unique, rare thing to have two brothers who are ready to go like that this early [in their careers],’” McDonald said.

At a small school that has only hundreds of students to draw from, playing young is more of a necessity than a philosophy, and the proof shows up on the field. 

McDonald said his top three seniors on the offensive line have started since their own eighth-grade seasons and have combined for more than 100 career starts.

Leaning on young players also means living with growing pains, so McDonald engineers the rest. 

Older players bring the younger ones along in a chain of mentorship that runs into the weight room, where he pairs a leader with each rack and lets the youngest fixate on stance, first step and technique.

He rides them just as hard about the classroom, because the plan pays off only if the talent stays eligible.

P.J. found football almost by accident. When he first started playing the sport, he didn’t particularly enjoy it, and other sports had more of his attention.

“I liked basketball more,” P.J. admitted. “I began liking football because I was getting involved more, getting touchdowns, all that. And then you get to feel all that energy, everybody hollering for you.”

By last fall, he was starting at safety as an eighth grader on a team that came within a touchdown of a state title, falling 29-22 to Coosa Christian in the Class 2A final. 

He piled up 62 total tackles, seven tackles for loss and four interceptions. His signature moment came in the playoff semifinal game against Reeltown High School, when he broke from the far hash to run down a throw and pick it off on the opening drive.

Yet for his impact on the defensive side of the ball, P.J.said he is a running back at heart. 

“I can hit you, I can juke you, I can go,” P.J. said while grinning. 

He said his favorite play last year was a 70-yard touchdown run on the road against bitter rivals LaFayette High School.

While the numbers on the field were impressive for an eighth grader, P.J.’s ability in the weight room makes McDonald shake his head. 

P.J. squats 445 pounds and benches 285, figures the coach says belong to a decently strong lineman and not a skill player at that age.

“For a young guy at a skill position, that’s very rare,” McDonald said.

A year ago, older teammates looked after P.J. Now the freshman fills that role. 

“[Other players] look up to me, so when I tell them stuff, they do it,” P.J. said. 

His goals are not modest: more than 1,000 rushing yards, around 15 touchdowns and double-digit tackles for loss. The team goal is much simpler. 

“We don’t care about nothing but winning the region and winning a championship,” P.J. said.

Where P.J. is quick with a smile, Jayden is quieter — a “business kid,” as McDonald put it — and the type of player who simply hands the ball to the official after a touchdown and jogs back to the huddle.

According to McDonald, Jayden did not ask to be the quarterback. In fact, McDonald had to talk him into it. 

“He didn’t really want the job,” P.J. said. “I had to talk him into it. My dad talked to him too, and he decided to play [quarterback].”

The eighth grader is learning on the fly, behind a veteran line and a program that expects to win. 

“I’ve been good, but I’m still trying to figure it out,” Jayden said. 

He calls his arm his strength; reading coverages is what he is chasing.

What makes it easier is who is next to him: P.J. 

“I feel more comfortable playing with him,” Jayden said. “He’s been here, he’s done it before and he’s someone I look up to.”

He still lights up recalling his first varsity touchdown, a fourth-quarter jet sweep against Central Coosa County High School, and the linemen who hoisted him afterward. 

When he took a late hit in a different game last year, his brother, cousins and several of the offensive linemen rushed to his defense. Knowing that many of those same players will be back this year gives him a lot of confidence, according to Jayden.

“I know that they’ll protect me,” Jayden said.

If the brothers share a chip on their shoulder, it’s about legacy. Their father, Jacobia Stiggers, and uncles all wore Lanett’s famed black and gold, and none of them won a state championship for the Panthers. 

Jayden intends to change that. 

“I want to win a state championship,” Jayden said of the one thing the men who came before him never managed. 

He also wants to eventually set the school’s single-season passing record, and he knows who he wants beside him. 

“We want to break records together,” Jayden said of himself and P.J.

They will not chase it alone. The Panthers’ senior class is loaded, led by University of Missouri commit and left tackle Jaylen Hill, two-way standout Braylon Chambers — who McDonald says will have his pick of schools — and Tra Jackson. 

Freshman guard Marzavian Glaze also already checks in at 6-foot-2, 265 pounds.

With the season right around the corner, McDonald said he knows the two will make mistakes due to their age, and he will live with them.

But for now, he said he’ll enjoy coaching them and watching them grow up as they write their own legacy.

“I just want them to know that I’m really proud of what they’re doing and want them to keep going, pushing through adversity and continuing to do the right things in the classroom,” McDonald said. “They’re going to have a very good shot [to play college football] like a lot of these guys will.”