Millsaps senior linebacker Nehemiah Coalson is the latest Major to earn one of the program’s highest honors.
On Saturday, coach Brandon Lechtenberg announced Coalson as the winner of the 2025 Juan Joseph Memorial Award. It comes with the honor of wearing No. 11 in honor of Joseph, a record-breaking quarterback from 2005-08 who went on to play professionally before being killed in 2014.
Each year’s recipient is voted on by the team and goes to one player who not only has made a difference on the field but also embodies the heart and spirit of Joseph.
#11 | Senior LB Nehemiah Coalson is the 2025
Juan Joseph Memorial Award recipient. In honor of the lateJuan Joseph, he will wear #11 this season. #GoMajors | #FliptheM pic.twitter.com/JNaX0Xhp5W
— Millsaps Football (@MajorsFootball) August 24, 2025
Coalson, a Belzoni native and Humphreys Academy alumnus, played in nine games a season ago and totaled 74 tackles with 4.5 sacks. He was the lone Major to be named to the 2024 All-SAA first-team defense and was nominated for the C Spire Conerly Trophy, given out annually to the top college football player in Mississippi no matter division.
Millsaps kicks off 2025 at crosstown rival Belhaven on Thursday, Sept. 4, at 7 p.m. Known as the Riverside Rumble, the Majors won last year’s edition for the first time since 2019.
