Fantastic Fifteen: Mangham Pippin ready to lead the Knights

ALBANY — The loudest voices are gone.

The seniors who led Deerfield-Windsor to a state championship two years ago and another trip to the state title game last fall have graduated, taking with them the experience, confidence and energy that helped define one of the most successful eras in school history.

Now, when the Knights look around for someone to lead them into a new season, they turn to senior linebacker and fullback Mangham Pippin.

The player who once followed championship-caliber leaders has become one himself. He was named Preseason All-State last week by the Georgia High School Football Daily.

“They were our hype men,” Pippin said. “Now it’s more of a challenge to get the energy up, but we will get it.”

Pippin is the latest player featured in the Albany Herald’s Fantastic Fifteen, a preseason series highlighting Southwest Georgia’s top high school football players entering the 2026 season.

For Deerfield-Windsor coach Jake McCrae, Pippin’s leadership isn’t measured by speeches or statistics.

It’s measured by the example he sets every day.

“Mangham is the guy everyone looks at when they need to remind themselves what it takes to be great,” McCrae said. “He understands the benefits of hard work and being a great teammate. Selfless, but also knows his hard work gives him the best chance of attaining everything he wants.”

That work ethic has made Pippin one of the school’s premier multi-sport athletes.

Fall belongs to football.

Winter brings wrestling and basketball.

Spring means soccer and track.

Before stepping away last season, he was also one of Deerfield-Windsor’s top cross country runners.

If there’s a scoreboard anywhere on campus, chances are Pippin has competed in front of it.

The son of Trey and Shena Pippin, he began playing football after enrolling at Deerfield-Windsor in the third grade. More than a decade later, he has become one of the most respected players in the Knights’ locker room.

Last season, Pippin finished with 76 tackles and 12 tackles for loss, helping Deerfield-Windsor reach the state championship game for the second straight year.

This fall, he’s chasing another goal.

“I want to break the school record for sacks,” he said.

His aggressive style has been shaped by watching one of football’s greatest linebackers.

Pippin studies Hall of Famer Ray Lewis, admiring the passion and relentless intensity that made Lewis one of the NFL’s all-time great defensive players.

He hopes to bring that same edge to the Knights’ defense every Friday night.

But statistics aren’t what concern him most entering his senior season.

Replacing a championship senior class is.

“It’s been kind of sloppy up until now,” Pippin admitted. “But we will get it together. We will be organized and ready.”

He believes this year’s team has the talent to keep Deerfield-Windsor among the state’s best.

The challenge is making sure everyone believes it.

For the first time, that responsibility falls on players like him.

Instead of looking to older teammates for motivation, Pippin has become the player younger teammates expect to set the standard.

It’s a role he embraces.

His teammates don’t follow him because he demands it.

They follow him because they see him putting in the work long before Friday nights arrive.

Pippin plans to attend college after graduation and hopes to study at the University of Georgia.

Before then, however, one mission remains.

Help Deerfield-Windsor stay where it has become accustomed to being — competing for championships.

Two years ago, Mangham Pippin helped carry a state championship trophy.

This fall, he’s trying to carry the responsibility that comes with keeping a championship tradition alive.