Early Contender No. 25 South Panola football will be without coach's son and starting quarterback

Video: Tyler Pogue's highlights vs. Memphis University
See the head coach's son in action last season for South Panola

Ninth-year South Panola (Batesville, Miss.) football coach Lance Pogue has never been confused for Chicken Little. He's helped build Mississippi's finest football programs — and one of the nation's best — based on action, positive reinforcement and a fearless ambition to play the country's best teams.

But even Pogue's knees buckled and he had to plead toward the sky when during a spring workout his starting quarterback made a simple, everyday cut and tore his right anterior cruciate ligament.

Making matters worse is that the signal-caller was Pogue's own son, Tyler Pogue, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound incoming senior who threw for 2,103 yards and 24 touchdowns last season, leading the Tigers to a 16-0 record, a No. 7 national ranking and an 11th state title, the fifth since dad took over in 2007.

Despite the injury, South Panola begins the season at No. 25 in the MaxPreps Early Contenders rankings.

Not only was the tear a dagger to the team, but also obviously to Tyler Pogue, a Division I prospect who was in a critical recruiting period.

"I could think of better days," Lance Pogue said of the day he brought his son home with the injury.

Rather than mope, papa Pogue immediately saw the bigger picture. It's a scope that has served him during a 24-year career than included a nine-season, 84-win stint at once-struggling Eupora (Miss.) before landing at South Panola. Coach Pogue, the son of a farmer and native Mississippian, has always identified with his blue collar roots, which made him a natural for Batesville, a small, hard-working community of 7,500 that identifies with adversity and responding to it.

"Life is full of setbacks and pitfalls," Lance Pogue said. "You don't always get dealt a fair hand. You just have to learn to overcome it all. … It's the first real adversity he's faced in 17 years. It's a hard time to learn a life lesson. But I know he'll make the most of it."

So, rather than draw from folklore or acorns, coach Pogue drew — quite literally — from real life. Someone quite tangible.

"I recently read about Drew Brees and how he had to overcome an ACL tear his senior year," Lance Pogue said. "And we know the rest of the story on him."

Surgery is more advanced than in 1995 when Brees had his, and teens recover faster. Tyler Pogue is healing remarkably well, dad said, and his son could return early in the season. "But we'll be smart," coach Pogue said. "He won't be on the field until he's good and ready."

That opens the door for Cornelius Lee, a 5-11, 170-pound incoming junior who last year threw just two passes, completing both for 30 yards.

"We like Cornelius," coach Pogue said. "We like his ability. He finished the spring strong. We won't put a lot on him. We have some other pieces of the puzzle so we won't have to ask him to do too much. He understands what we're trying to do."

That will likely be getting the ball to 5-9, 215-pound running back Oluwain Hoskins, who rushed for 1,125 yards and 11 touchdowns last season.

If Lee does need to throw, the team's top three receivers from last year — Demetrivs Market, Cole Rotenberry and Donald Twilley — all return. The senior trio combined for 101 catches, 1,584 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2014.

"We run a multiple offense and try to maintain a lot of balance," coach Pogue said. "We have some young guys at spots, so we'll have to keep that in mind. But overall, we like what we see."