On Wednesday, Feb. 1, Landrum quarterback Brandon Cannon signed his letter of intent to play football at Greenville Titans Sports Academy.
After the signing, head coach Russell Mahaffey stood around talking about his quarterback. One story stuck out in Mahaffey’s mind.
At a scrimmage last season, Cannon took the snap rolled to one side of the field and when nothing was there, he reversed his course to the other side of the field. Once he got to the other side, he let loose a 35-yard strike for a touchdown. A coach from an opposing team after that play told Mahaffey that Cannon’s ability wasn’t fair.
“(Brandon) has God-given ability,” Mahaffey said. “He just can do some things that others can’t do.”
Cannon led the Cardinals to one of the greatest seasons in the history of the program. He did that with his feet and his arm.
Cannon threw for 2,241 yards and 12 touchdowns last season. He ran for 785 yards and 12 touchdowns. He broke two records at quarterback for the Cardinals. He had 8,656 all-purpose yards in his career at Landrum. He also had 94 total touchdowns in his career.
Cannon is excited about the possibilities next season brings. He was recruited to play quarterback, but could play any position.
“It’s a very valuable opportunity,” Cannon said. “It gives me a chance to keep playing football.”
Cannon, however, is grateful for what he’s leaving behind. He was inserted as the starting quarterback six games into his freshman year and hasn’t looked back. It’s not about his individual effort, however, he said.
“(I know) what it’s like to help build something,” he said. “We really started to build a tradition here my last two years.”