Jeff Doke
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show With Brandon Derrick September 30 2026
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show with Brandon Derrick September 23 2026
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show with Brandon Derrick September 16 2026
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show with Brandon Derrick September 9 2026
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show with Brandon Derrick September 2 2026
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show With Brandon Derrick August 26 2026
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show with Brandon Derrick August 20 2026
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show with Brandon Derrick August 12 2026
Frederica Academy Knights 2026 Preview
By: Jeff Doke
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
When the 2025 Frederica Knights season ended in the state playoff semifinal round, the outlook for the future was bright regardless of the most recent game.
Unfortunately, the offseason between 2025 and 2026 was not kind. Several departures have taken the Knights from state title contenders to where some are questioning whether they will even make the playoffs.
Those people have obviously never dealt with Coach Brandon Derrick.
Known for “doing more with less” on the gridiron, Coach Derrick has got his work cut out for him as he enters his fourteenth season at the helm. Instead of the nine returning starters from the 20256 campaign they were expecting, Frederica will instead see five starters return. The four lost starters are significant, most notably starting QB/FS Stanton Beverly.
“(Stanton)’s gonna go to Valwood. So, yeah, so I lost a two year starter, all state quarterback and free safety.”
These will be uncharted waters for the coach, who has never had to face a former player on the field of play. Adding insult to injury, reports out of Hahaira are that Beverly will be the starting QB for the team when the Knights come calling on September 3rd.
At the end of the day, this means that two-year backup Braxton Sykes moves into the QB1 role a year ahead of schedule.
Entering his Junior year, Sykes was competent in the QB role when called into action in 2025, but was showing significant strides as a Wide Receiver in the meantime.
This summer, his primary focus has been travel baseball, but has been all-in on the QB role while at practice.
“We will be more pass oriented than we have been in the past,” says Coach Derrick. “with Stanton we could run the option. Braxton, he’s more pass oriented. He’ll have to run some and do a lot of RPO stuff, but I think he’s a solid player. He does a good job, he’s got a pretty good understanding of what we’re doing. It’s gonna be the decision making. The more he practices, the more he plays, the faster his decisions will be made, he’ll make better decisions.”
Those decisions will have to be made without two offensive weapons that his predecessor had; TE JC Wessel and WR Jayden Gibson who have left the team for different reasons.
Gibson has moved to the Atlanta area and will not be available for what should have been his senior season with Frederica.
Wessel, on the other hand, made a decision for what his family considers a better option for his future – transferring to Bolles Academy in Jacksonville, Florida.
“(JC and his dad) think he’ll be coached up better by one of the tight end coaches down there that they’ve brought in.” Several Bolles players are being recruited by D1 NCAA programs.
In addition to these losses on offense, DE Eric Alford also is no longer with the Frederica Academy Knights.
While roster depth is always an issue with Frederica (they will start 2026 with 27 players), this year’s squad will still be heavy on the upperclassmen.
OLB Eli Middleton and DE Clay Sproule will lead the class of eight seniors that will include stars RB Jordyn Rollins and CB/WR Jaylen Baldwin. Newcomer to the Senior class will be Sal Vinci who will be taking over placekicking duties from the recently graduated Mary Ford Fitzjurls.
In addition to the upperclassmen, look for freshmen WR/DB Henry Dorminy and DE/OL Hayes Brock to make immediate contributions.
Coach Derrick knows it won’t be easy, but honestly it never is in the GIAA.
“We’re going to put the best product we can on the field. We’re planning a really tough schedule. Hopefully our seniors, like I tell them every year, grab the steering wheel and drive the bus. I drive the bus, it’s bumpy. You drive the bus, it’s a lot better.”
The 2026 Frederica Knights season kicks off August 14th at home against Bethesda Academy.
Round Table Knight
By: Jeff Doke
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It is a common turn of phrase to say that someone that is ahead of others in their chosen field is “head and shoulders above the rest.”
Usually, this is a figurative statement. In the case of #88 for the Frederica Academy Knights football team, it is literal as well.
John Cannon Wessel – known as JC to everyone but his mother and his quarterback – is a rising junior that is drawing attention from sources local, regional, and national.
Entering his third year as a starter for the Frederica Knights, Wessel is building on a sophomore season that saw a significant statistical uptick from his freshman campaign.
After seeing action in 6 games his freshman year with 142 all-purpose yards, the 6’7” 225 lb. TE prospect more than doubled his stats with 338 yards on 18 receptions for 3 TDS over 12 games.
Not bad for someone sharing receiving time with Jaylen Baldwin, Jayden Gibson, and Braxton Sykes. Wessel puts a lot of that growth on the improved chemistry with Knights starting quarterback Stanton Beverly.
“Stanton and I are really good friends,” JC describes the relationship. “…The summer between freshman and sophomore year, we did a lot of work on just going to camps, and I learned a ton, just was trying to develop more and more.”
Add to that the fact that he hadn’t played football since Pop Warner, it’s no surprise that he’s noticeably working his way up the recruiting boards.
“I had played basketball the whole time,” says JC about his gap between time on the gridiron, “(but) I knew that I kinda wanted to try out football again just because my dad played football and see what I could do. I just started playing, and it was just super fun, and I loved the physicality of it.”
His family knows a thing or two about football. Not only did his uncle play for West Point after graduating from Colquitt County High School, his father Tadd Wessel won an Ivy League championship in 1995 with the Princeton Tigers. JC might just wind up following some of those footsteps.
As of mid-March, On3.com reports JC as having offers from Princeton as well as a dozen other D1 schools including 5 from the SEC, 4 from the ACC, and 2 from the Big 10.
With two seasons yet to play before graduation, JC hasn’t started narrowing down his choices yet, much less whether he actually wants to play past high school.
“I definitely have a lot interest in going that route, especially because my parents pushed me super hard towards that kind of path, but I have to take into account everything about the future and about my chances and about what I wanna actually do when I grow up,” says Wessel. “So as, as of right now, I have no idea, but hopefully as I go through high school, I’ll get a better understanding.”
The needle seems to be pointing in the collegiate ball route regardless. After earning all-region honors in his second season, words from his Head Coach Brandon Derrick are succinct and unmistakable; ”He’s only going to get better.”
With the schedule the Knights face in 2026, hopefully better happens sooner rather than later. Even though he understands that he’s not supposed to look past the next opponent, Wessel is making some exceptions to that rule.
“I’m looking forward to Charlton County because I haven’t played them…Stratford because we should have won that game last year…and Valwood because we hate them. Same for Bulloch.”
From a fan’s perspective, it’s hard to say he doesn’t have his priorities in order. The biggest payback he’s looking forward to is against the boys from the shores of Lake Sinclair.
”I don’t really remember that much of the (John Milledge) game. I was mad during the game. If we face them again in the playoffs, we’ve got a good chance this year.”
The Knights begin their 2026 March to Mercer with a home opener against Bethesda Academy on August 14th.
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