With 10 tackles for loss, and six and a half sacks, Deon King Jr. helps lead the LaGrange defense. LaGrange athletics photo by Collin Hardin

By Brian Lester
D3sports.com

LaGrange quarterback Henry Brodnax is from Newnan, Georgia, roughly 30 minutes from where he now plays college football. He transferred to LaGrange, in Western Georgia, a little over 10 miles from the Alabama border, last season and is in his second year as the starter for the Panthers.

It means a lot to him to play a role in helping a program that was 0-9 just two seasons ago continue to flip the script.

So far in 2025, the Panthers are 6-1, winners of five in a row, and have already matched last year’s win total while sitting in a position to win a USA South Conference championship with a 3-0 mark.

“It’s amazing,” Brodnax said. “To transfer back here and be the starter and help transform the program, it’s a dream and has been a blessing.”

Blessed for sure. Surprised? Not really.

“Going 6-4 last year, we knew this year could be our year, and we are right where we want to be with three games left,” Brodnax said. “We have a great chance to win the conference. We are very confident right now.”

Linebacker Dezmond Jones has a similar feeling.

“It’s been amazing,” Jones said. "Winning the conference is one of our goals, and we want to achieve that goal.”

For third-year head coach Wes Dodson, seeing the team rise up has been enjoyable to watch. And despite the success, the Panthers have remained dialed in on the task at hand.

“Our guys work really hard every day,” Dodson said. “They come to work focused in on what we’ve got to do and they don’t look ahead to what could be or what might be. They just come ready to practice and ready to play.”

Dodson came here after spending 16 seasons at Hampden-Sydney, ready to turn around a program that had been 9-30 in the four years prior to his arrival.

The first year didn’t go well. The Panthers finished without a win. But they posted a winning record last season, winning six times, and haven’t looked back.

“We came in with a vision and plan and wanted to build a good culture,” Dodson said.

LaGrange hasn’t steered away from that and one of the biggest differences this year is experience.

“We’re playing with a lot of juniors and sophomores as opposed to sophomores and freshmen," Dodson said. "We were traveling 40 freshmen last year on the first couple of road games and now we only travel a handful. Having older guys who work hard, and having experience, has been a big difference.”

They are also close as a team. 

“We’ve come together and have put the pieces together. We treat each other like brothers,” Jones said.

LaGrange has also seen its running game get stronger as the year has progressed, with Michael Hays and Tacaris Bozeman leading the way, combining for nearly 800 yards and five touchdowns.

Brodnax has thrown for 1,451 yards and nine scores. And don’t forget about freshman Kirk Scott, who saw time at quarterback against Huntingdon this past week and ran for three scores.

“Teams come in trying to stop the pass and we’ve been able to run the ball more because of it,” Brodnax said. “The O-line does a great job of allowing us to run and protecting me. The more strides we make running the ball, it continues to open the passing game up.”

Then there is the defense, which is relentless. In a 30-14 win vs. Huntingdon last week, the Panthers held the Hawks to 7 rushing yards and tallied a school single-game record 10 sacks. LaGrange is holding teams to an average of 260.3 yards per game.

“We run to the ball and give relentless effort on every play,” Jones said.

Jones ranks third on the team in tackles with 31. Chad Smith and Deon King Jr. have come through with 43 and 36 tackles, respectively, and have helped LaGrange hold its last three opponents to 14 points or less. 

“The defense is playing at a high level and we have guys who play really hard, fast and physical. We are also aggressive in our play-calling,” Dodson said. “It’s fun to watch. These guys never take a play off.”

LaGrange has also benefited from the experience of its one loss this season, a 48-0 defeat at the hands of Berry, the No. 17 team in the latest D3football.com poll, in Week 2.

“It was a good experience for us as a team,” Brodnax said. “A little humbling, but we got to see what a top 25 program looks like and we know we have the ability to get to that point. We learned a lot from it.”

Dodson said the team no doubt gained a lot from the experience.

“We were able to look at the film and see where we could have been better, and we learned from our mistakes,” Dodson said. “We turned the corner from there. It was a good early season experience for us.”

At this point, LaGrange controls its own destiny. The Panthers have Greensboro (1-6, 0-4) this week and then play fellow conference unbeaten Belhaven (5-2, 3-0) the week after before closing the regular season against Southern Virginia (6-1, 3-1).

The game at Greensboro is on the road. So is the Southern Virginia game.

“The next game is the most important. You have to take it game by game or you are going to end up disappointed,” Dodson said. “We harp on consistency and effort, and not letting ourselves be complacent. It’s about sticking to the process and giving our best effort in everything we do, be it on the football field or in the classroom.”

Jones knows there is more work to do.

“We know the job isn’t finished and we can’t be complacent. We remind ourselves of that every day,” Jones said. “We continue to work for our goals.”

Brodnax seconds that and is ready to keep pushing forward as the team heads down the final stretch of the regular season.

“Coach always tells us not to be content,” Brodnax said. “We have three conference games to go, all against good teams, and we have to be ready for each one. We knew this year we could put ourselves in a position to win the conference, but the goal is far from achieved.

“We still have a lot of work to do.”