Jackson State Football: Success is Now Taylor-Made

Stats Perform is bringing a greater spotlight to athletes, students and stories at Historically Black Colleges and Universities through a partnership with Urban Edge Network. Included in the 2024 college football season are both HBCU FCS Player and Team of the Week awards and a season-ending HBCU FCS National Player of the Year Award, each presented by HBCU+.

After Jackson State’s historic run under coach Deion Sanders, many in the HBCU world believed the Tigers would regress to Pre-Prime levels.

They went 7-4 last year after Sanders moved on to coach Colorado, then were predicted to finish third in the SWAC East prior to this season – a far cry from the back-to-back perfect records in the SWAC and Celebration Bowl appearances during the 2021 and ’22 seasons.

When Sanders was hired at Jackson State during the pandemic in September 2020, it seemed easy to consider it a gimmick – that the “Coach Prime” experiment would never work. The four previous coaches had a combined 23-42 record and Sanders would not be better nor perhaps be interested enough in the task at hand given his desire to coach on the FBS or NFL level.

You could have even said the results of the spring 2021 season, when Jackson State finished 3-3, were proof his tenure would be more hype than substance.

If you did, you were very wrong.

His final two teams produced a 23-3 record, the two SWAC titles and all the national spotlight the university known as “Thee I Love” could handle before he left for Colorado, and with some of the standout players as transfers, including his quarterback son Shedeur Sanders and two-way standout Travis Hunter.

One of the results of Prime’s move was the door opened for former Tigers alum and receivers coach TC Taylor to ascend to the head spot. He had been on staff even longer than Sanders.

After Taylor’s promotion, the doubters immediately resurfaced and said the success of the Prime era could not be duplicated. Out on the recruiting trail, coaches at other schools could say the program would take a step backward.

In Taylor’s first season last year, the Tigers were competitive, but they watched as Florida A&M captured the SWAC title and finished the job in the Celebration Bowl – a championship double not secured under Coach Prime.

The SWAC postseason accolades dwindled as well for Jackson State football. The Tigers’ five selections on the first and second teams only tied for the fourth-most in the conference, a far cry from the 2022 season, when Jackson State had the SWAC offensive, defensive and freshman players of the year as well as seven first-team and 12 overall all-conference selections.

Taylor, his staff and the players at Jackson State never flinched. They could have complained about the transfer losses following Coach Prime’s departure and made excuses, but instead, they put their heads down and went to work.

This season, Taylor and his Tigers are looking to prove any naysayers wrong once again. They’re 7-2 overall and 5-0 in the SWAC, with a loss to Grambling State not part of their conference schedule.

Quarterback Jacobian Morgan has taken the reins of the offense and passed for 1,561 yards and 14 touchdowns even with injuries to receivers. Running back Irv Mulligan leads the conference in rushing (709 yards in only seven games) and has put himself in the SWAC Offensive Player of the Year and the HBCU+ Player of the Year conversations.

Defensive end Joshua Nobles, a transfer from Western Michigan, has taken advantage of his fresh opportunity at Jackson State and totaled twice as many sacks (nine) than the team leader last season, and in fewer games.

Jackson State, which is averaging an FCS-high 30,527 fans through four home games at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium, controls its fate in the SWAC East race. Next up is a home game against a winless Mississippi Valley State squad, then it travels to the preseason divisional favorites, Alabama State (East) and Alcorn State (West). The Tigers, surely to be favored in all three of the games, also are playing to be the host of the SWAC Championship Game on Dec. 7.

Ultimately, the Tigers seek to beat the MEAC champ and win the Celebration Bowl for the first time.

It didn’t happen during the “Prime” era, but it just might happen with the 2024 Jackson State football team.

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