A mainstay of Jacksonville State’s offense will return for another season of college football.

Wide receiver Michael Pettway is set to return for a sixth season with Jax State’s football team after being granted an extra year of eligibility, a source confirmed to AL.com.

A 2020 graduate of Thompson High School, Pettway started his career at Washington State before transferring to Jax State and playing the 2021 FCS spring season.

Pettway has played in 45 games at Jacksonville State, hauling in 71 catches for 1,028 yards and five touchdowns while rushing nine times for 41 yards and a touchdown on the ground; he’s also returned 19 kickoffs for 438 yards, one going for 71 yards in 2022.

The 5-foot-10, 175-pound receiver marked career highs in almost every category for Jax State this past season, hauling in 25 catches for 454 yards and three touchdowns. He had a career-long 92-yard touchdown in Jax State’s season opener against Coastal Carolina.

Pettway, an Alabaster native, earned All-Ohio Valley Conference honors in the FCS 2021 spring season as a kickoff returner, leading the FCS OVC with an average of 27.2 yards per return and a long of 36 yards.

He ranks second in Jax State history for average yards per kick return in a single season (30.6, 2022) and ninth in career average yards per kick return (25.73).

Pettway starred at Thompson High School and was the program’s leading receiver in 2018 and 2019.

He caught 64 passes for 1,119 yards and 17 touchdowns as a junior in 2018 and hauled in 60 catches for 1,090 yards and 15 touchdowns as a senior, helping Thompson win a Class 7A title in 2019. He was named to the ASWA super all-state team in 2019 and Class 7A all-state team in 2018 and 2019.