JACKSON East Mississippi Community College running back Gavin Griffin has been named the MACCC North Division’s Offensive Player of the Year to highlight the Lions’ 13 selections to the 2025 All-MACCC football teams. Chosen by a panel of the MACCC’s head football coaches, the conference’s first-team, second-team and honorable mention football selections from the league’s North and South Divisions were announced Wednesday by the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference office. Along with Griffin, head coach Buddy Stephens’ 7-3 EMCC Lions placed Ole Miss bounce-back Noreel White on the MACCC North Division First Team as both a wide receiver and return specialist. Also earning first-team honors for the division co-champions were offensive lineman Kison Shepard, defensive lineman Kevin Norwood Jr., along with defensive backs Donald Passmore III and Jathan Hatch. Second-team accolades for the Lions went to the offensive line tandem of Mike Wallace Jr. and Julian Jakobe, as well as the defensive line duo of Davier Bishop and Darrell Gross. A pair of EMCC freshmen, wide receiver Christian Thomas and linebacker Ja’Cari Owens, earned honorable mention recognition for the Lions. As EMCC’s lone repeat all-conference performer from a year ago, Griffin was twice selected the NJCAA and MACCC Offensive Player of the Week this season on the way to currently topping the NJCAA Division I statistical ranks in rushing yards (1, 168), rushing touchdowns (22) and rushing attempts (207). Griffin’s 134 points scored this season presently lead the NJCAA Division I ranks by 47 points, while his 22 rushing TDs are nine more than his nearest competitor. During the Buddy Stephens coaching era (since 2008), both totals rank only behind Tyrell Price’s 24 rushing touchdowns and 150 points scored during the Lions’ 2017 national championship season. On EMCC’s single-season statistical leaders list during the Stephens era, Griffin’s 1, 168 rushing yards (in 10 games this year) rank only behind 2025 EMCC Sports Hall of Fame inductee Rod Moore (1, 303 in 2011) and Lakenderic Thomas (1, 334 in 2013). Both Moore and Thomas had the luxury of playing two additional games during their respective national championship seasons with the Lions. In addition, Griffin’s 207 rushing attempts this season are the most by an EMCC player during the Stephens era, breaking the mark of 200 carries previously held by Deon McIntosh during the Lions’ 2018 national championship season. On EMCC’s career statistical leaders chart during the Stephens era, Griffin’s 1, 722 career rushing yards rank only behind Lakenderic Thomas (1, 724) and Rod Moore (2, 211). Griffin’s 30 career rushing touchdowns tie Tyrell Price for the most during the Stephens era. Along with Griffin’s 66 points scored (8 rush TDs & 3 TD catches) as an EMCC freshman by way of Velma Jackson High School, the 2023 MHSAA Class 1A Mr. Football also became just the second EMCC player of the Stephens era to reach 200 career points scored. Kicker Drew White tallied 204 total points during the Lions’ back-to-back national championship seasons of 2013 and 2014. Noreel White, out of St. Martin High School, currently ranks third in the MACCC with 52 receptions on the year in addition to standing second in punt return yardage (15. 0 yds/ret) and sixth in kickoff return yardage (24. 5 yds/ret). Among his 12 punt returns on the year was an 83-yard touchdown return against Itawamba. Kison Shepard, a transfer from Trinity Valley Community College in Texas, anchored an EMCC offensive line that has helped the Lions rank fifth nationally in total offense yards (428. 5 yds/gm) as well as rushing yards (217. 3 yds/gm). The 6-foot-7 left tackle prepped at Memphis’ Germantown High School. On the defensive side of the ball, Kevin Norwood Jr., out of Theodore High School in Alabama, made an immediate impact along EMCC’s defensive front following a redshirt season at Troy University. In the secondary, Donald Passmore III, a Terry High School product, was the Lions’ second-leading tackler on the year with 58 total stops along with his team-leading eight pass breakups and two blocked kicks. Jathan Hatch, a bounce-back from the University of Louisville by way of Biggersville High School, was EMCC’s No. 3 tackler this past year with 51 stops. EMCC’s second-team quartet earning all-conference honors was evenly distributed between the offensive and defensive lines. Davier Bishop, a product of Notre Dame College in his home state of Ohio, topped EMCC with nine tackles for loss, including six quarterback sacks, this past season. Darrell Gross, a Madison native out of Germantown High School, was credited with six tackles for loss as an EMCC sophomore. From the Lions’ offensive line, sophomore Mike Wallace Jr., out of Itawamba Agricultural High School, benefitted from moving over to the starting center position and was joined on the division’s second-team unit by freshman right tackle Julian Jakobe from Tupelo High School. Honorable mention recognition for the Lions was earned by freshman receiver Christian Thomas, who ranks sixth in the MACCC with 43 catches after having bounced back from Jacksonville State by way of Shades Valley High School in Alabama, and freshman linebacker Ja’Cari Owens, a Louisville High School product who led EMCC with 61 total tackles, including 6. 5 stops behind the line of scrimmage, this past year.
https://meridianstar.com/2025/11/20/griffin-heads-emcc-football-honorees-as-maccc-north-division-offensive-player-of-the-year/
Tag: jackson
Supreme Court Issues Emergency Order to Block Full SNAP Food Aid Payments
BOSTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Trump administration’s emergency appeal to temporarily block a court order requiring full funding of SNAP food aid payments amid the government shutdown, even though residents in some states have already received the funds.
A judge had given the Republican administration until Friday to make the payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). However, the administration appealed to an appeals court to suspend any court orders demanding spending beyond available funds in a contingency reserve, seeking to continue with planned partial SNAP payments for the month.
After a Boston appeals court declined to intervene immediately, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued an order late Friday pausing the requirement to distribute full SNAP payments. This pause will remain until the appeals court rules on whether to issue a more lasting suspension.
Justice Jackson, who handles emergency matters from Massachusetts, said her order will stay in effect until 48 hours after the appeals court decision, allowing the administration time to return to the Supreme Court if the appeals court refuses to act.
The SNAP program serves about one in eight Americans, primarily those with lower incomes.
### States That Have Issued SNAP Payments
Officials in more than half a dozen states confirmed that some SNAP recipients had already received full November payments on Friday. However, Jackson’s order may prevent other states from initiating the payments.
– **Wisconsin:** More than $104 million in monthly food benefits became available at midnight on electronic benefit cards for about 337,000 households. A spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said the state quickly accessed federal funds by coordinating with its electronic benefit card vendor in response to Thursday’s court order.
– **Oregon:** Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, said state employees “worked through the night” to issue full November benefits, ensuring families relying on SNAP could buy groceries by Friday.
– **Hawaii:** The state had November’s payment information ready and submitted it quickly after Thursday’s court order but before any potential higher court pause, according to Joseph Campos II, deputy director of Hawaii’s Department of Human Services.
The Trump administration told the Supreme Court that these fast-moving states were “trying to seize what they could of the agency’s finite set of remaining funds” before any appeal could be filed, potentially to the detriment of other states’ allotments.
“Once those billions are out the door, there is no ready mechanism for the government to recover those funds,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in court documents.
Additional states including California, Kansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington also reported issuing full SNAP benefits on Friday, while others expected to distribute full benefits over the weekend or early next week. Some states are awaiting further federal guidance.
### Many SNAP Recipients Face Uncertainty
The ongoing court disputes have extended weeks of uncertainty for Americans with lower incomes. Individual SNAP recipients can receive up to nearly $300 monthly, while a family of four may qualify for up to nearly $1,000, though many receive less based on income.
For some SNAP participants, the timing of their benefits remained unclear. Jasmen Youngbey of Newark, New Jersey, for example, waited in line at a local food pantry Friday. As a single mother attending college, Youngbey relies on SNAP to feed her 7-month-old and 4-year-old sons. She said her account balance was at $0, explaining, “Not everybody has cash to pull out and say, ‘OK, I’m going to go and get this,’ especially with the cost of food right now.”
Later Friday, Youngbey reported receiving her monthly SNAP benefits.
### The Legal Battle Over SNAP Takes Another Twist
Due to the federal government shutdown, the Trump administration originally announced that SNAP benefits would not be available during November.
However, two judges ruled last week that the administration could not skip November’s payments entirely. One of those judges, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr., ordered full payments on Thursday.
In both rulings, judges required the government to tap an emergency reserve fund containing more than $4.6 billion to cover November SNAP benefits. They allowed some flexibility to use other funds to make full payments, which total between $8.5 billion and $9 billion monthly.
On Monday, the administration said it would not use additional funds beyond the emergency reserve, stating that it is Congress’s responsibility to appropriate funds for the program. The administration cited the need to reserve other funds to support child hunger assistance programs.
Thursday’s federal court order rejected the administration’s plan to cover only 65% of the maximum monthly benefit, a measure that could have resulted in some recipients receiving no benefits this month.
In court filings Friday, the administration argued that the judge overstepped legislative and executive authority by ordering full SNAP funding.
“This unprecedented injunction makes a mockery of the separation of powers,” Solicitor General Sauer told the Supreme Court.
### States Take Different Approaches to Food Aid
States are varying in their response to the federal uncertainty surrounding SNAP payments.
– **Colorado and Massachusetts:** SNAP participants may receive full November payments as early as Saturday.
– **New York:** Full benefits access is expected to start by Sunday.
– **New Hampshire:** Full benefits should be available by the weekend.
– **Arizona and Connecticut:** Full benefits are anticipated within the coming days.
– **North Carolina:** Officials distributed partial SNAP payments Friday, with full payments expected by the weekend.
– **Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, and North Dakota:** Partial November payments have been distributed.
Meanwhile, Delaware’s Democratic Gov. Matt Meyer announced the state used its own funds Friday to provide the first of what could be weekly relief payments to SNAP recipients amid federal uncertainty.
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The situation remains fluid as courts and states navigate the intersecting challenges of funding SNAP benefits during the government shutdown. Millions of Americans rely on this critical food aid program for their daily meals.
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