Hinds Community College esports team in national playoffs 2021

Staff reports, Mississippi Clarion Ledger
Published 6:00 a.m. CT April 17, 2021

Seven members of the Hinds Community College esports team begin playoff competition Tuesday, hoping to bring home a championship.

In its second season, esports at Hinds Community College produced a national champion last year. Joshua Brandon of Vicksburg won the national championship in esports after an undefeated season in Madden NFL 19.

At Hinds, a former storage room inside the McLendon Library on the Raymond Campus was renovated to accommodate players. It includes six HDTV monitors and gaming stations, plus a coach’s corner to quickly track player academics. 

A look at Hinds CC esports competitors

Taking their gaming controllers in Smash Ultimate, the crossover fighting game series, their records this season and their playoff seed, are:

• Iquez Common, of Jackson, 9-0, 11
• Rashaan Dennie, of Jackson, 7-2, 34
• Jalen Haymer, of Jackson, 7-2, 42
• Glendon Jeffery, of Jackson, 6-3, 62
• Timothy Riggs, of Jackson, 7-2, 48
• Karvin Wade, of Greenville, 9-0, 4
• Mordecai Wilson, of Port Gibson, 7-2, 57.

Competition takes place on the Generation Esports gaming platform and features 64 players from colleges nationwide.

Players are excited heading into playoff competition.

“There’s an adrenaline rush that comes from knowing you might possibly lose a match,” Wade said in a media release, adding he plans to pursue a career in video game design after he earns his Hinds degree. “I get really fired up while playing.”

Haymer enters the tournament as a veteran of playing older-generation games, such as Donkey Kong, and has big plans after Hinds.

“I’m studying chemistry and plan to go into being a pharmacist,” he said in a media release. “I enjoy helping people and will enjoy learning to mix medicine.”

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