News 25 Student athletes of the week: St. Martin’s Mileon Graham and ‘Ham’ McGee

They say it takes two to tango and that same rule applies to the St. Martin offense. ‘Ham’ McGee and Mileon Graham are more than likely the fastest one-two punch on the entire Gulf Coast and that game breaking speed was on full display during a crucial week 9 victory for the Yellowjackets.

For the first time, News 25’s Student Athlete of the Week is a two-for-one special going out to the tandem backfield otherwise known as ‘Ham’ and Graham.

In this corner of region 4 class 6A, St. Martin’s game plan for a pivotal road game at Biloxi was simple. “Coach told us we can’t lose no more games, so we went out there and had to get that W.”

Down by two in the second quarter, the Yellowjackets went right to their one-two. Mileon Graham in the gun, hand-off  ‘Ham’ McGee, and that’s 54 yards of pure electricity for the eventual go-ahead touchdown and the start of what turned out to be 27 unanswered. “It was kind of a game-changer because they had just scored, and we came back like the very next play and scored. I feel like it made the game momentum go up a little higher on our side.”

Head Coach Eddie Wayne Whitehead said, “That was huge. I mean it got the crowd into it because they had taken the lead and bam, we come back and answer right away and I think it took a lot out of them and it was definitely a momentum gainer for us.”

Ultimately, ‘Ham’ and Graham accounted for all five of St. Martin’s offensive scores in the 41-23 triumph. In addition to his first half touchdown scamper, McGee turned 14 totes into a buck 61. His running mate had 10 carries for 73 yards and three touchdowns to go along with another 104 through the air and a TD strike to Elijah Washington. “Once one of us gets going, it just starts rolling from there. He knows when I give it off, he’s going to do something with the ball. When I got the ball, he knows I’m going to do something with it.”

“We’ve been playing on the same team since like 10 years old, trust. We’ve just got that chemistry, it’s just trust.”

“Ham’s been a four-year starter for us and ever since coming up through the youth leagues when I first came over here him and Mileon were both in the peewee leagues, and they were the best two players in the league along with Donte Starks when I came over here, those three. So it’s exciting to see them and be their coach for all these years, and to see them excel as a senior.”

The class of ’19 pairing has accounted for 21 total touchdowns through eight games this season and they don’t really seem to care who has more.  “With ours together, I think we’ve got a pretty good duo.”

“There’s no Ham without Mileon.” “No Mileon without Ham, same thing.”

As for the student part of the award, both ‘Ham’ and Graham have a score of 26 or higher on the ACT. Graham has a 30. They also give a big shutout to the o-line and the defense.

On Friday, St. Martin plays host to rival Ocean Springs which just so happens to be our News 25 game of the week.