Jackson State football tries to find its identity without Deion Sanders
In Deion “Prime” Sanders’s three years as Jackson State (JSU) head coach (2020–2022), the team’s record was 27-6, including marks of 11-2 in 2021 and 12-1 last season. The Tigers were the Southwestern Athletic Conference champions in Sanders’s final two seasons and one of the most popular and followed HBCU teams since the heydays of Grambling State University under the late, legendary head coach Eddie Robinson.
Sanders moved on to take the head coaching position at the University of Colorado last December and instantly transformed a Buffaloes team that was 1-11 a season ago to must-see TV, arguably the hottest ticket in all of sports. He led them to a 3-0 record and a No. 19 ranking in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
The Tigers are not off to a similar auspicious start under new head coach Thomas “T.C.” Taylor, a former player for Jackson State from 1998–2001. Taylor served on Sanders’s staff as the Tigers’ offensive coordinator in 2021 and 2022, and was the tight ends and wide receivers coach at his alma mater going back to 2019 before ascending to that position.
Sanders ardently lobbied for Taylor to replace him, confident the former JSU quarterback and wide receiver could continue to build on the strong foundation he had laid before departing to coach a major college program. Colorado, which currently is in the Pac-12 Conference, will move to the Big Conference effective for the 2024-25 academic year.
“Everybody’s been asking me, ‘Are you ready’”? Taylor said earlier this season via the Associated Press. “I’m like, ‘Just put the ball down. We’ll show you what I’m talking about.’”
Jackson State opened this season on August 26 with a 37-7 win over South Carolina State in the Cricket MEAC-SWAC Challenge Kickoff, then fell to Florida A&M in Miami, before defeating Southern for the fourth straight time in Week 3. They were beaten handily 77-34 by Texas State last weekend and are 2-2 going into this Saturday’s game versus Bethune-Cookman in Jackson, Mississippi.
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) has not begun conference play, but so far, Morgan State and North Carolina Central have the best records at 2-1. North Carolina Central took a 59-7 drubbing by UCLA last Saturday.
In the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), heading into this weekend’s games, Virginia State and Virginia Union are undefeated at 3-0.
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