An assortment of injuries made T.C. Taylor’s first season as Jackson State’s head coach a rough one, even as the Tigers finished with a respectable 7-4 record in 2023.
This season, JSU has restocked the roster with talent at every position, and that depth will be their key tonight as they open the season at Louisiana-Monroe.
“All three phases look good; we have great depth at each position,” Taylor said during Monday’s SWAC Coaches’ Conference. “That’s something I stressed to my staff in recruiting. I wanted each position talented and ready to go. It’s a great problem to have.”
Jackson State’s last trip to Monroe was a 12-7 loss in 2021 when Taylor was an assistant on Deion Sanders’ staff. A handful of players and staff members remain from that close encounter, and Taylor believes that his team has just as good of a chance to win tonight as they did three years ago.
“We were right there in that game. If you can get to the fourth quarter, you like your chances,” he said. “If we go down there, don’t turn the ball over and create some turnovers, we’ve got a great chance to win this football game. They’ve got a new team, new staff, so there’s not a lot of information coming from them to evaluate their talent, but football is football.”
Taylor looks at tonight as a test of how his team will measure up against their usual competition and is hopeful the Tigers will conquer the challenge.
“We’ll have some new faces as well that we’re excited about. We talk about the physicality of our football team. This is a great game to gauge and see where we are,” he explained. “Anytime you can go up against an FBS opponent, it gives you a chance to see where your football team is.”