Jackson State Head Football Coach, John Hendrick
 
Opening statement…
"I'm excited. I'm really excited about being able to complete the staff and the guys we were able to bring in to coach our players and to help us grow as a football program. These are guys that I believe that are after my heart who really care for young people. These are guys that are really good coaches, good role models, good men, good husbands, good fathers, and are going to be good for the Jackson community. I'm really excited about having the opportunity to hire Ron Dickerson Jr. as the offensive coordinator, who I have great respect for and what he has done in his career. T.C. Taylor comes in as our quarterback coach. I went to go interview T.C., and just by interviewing him, I fell in love with him as a coach. I'm just glad to have the opportunity to have him come here and coach for us. Otis Ridley is a guy that I have known for a long time back when I was recruiting in the late 90's, early 2000's, at Mississippi State. He played for me a little bit and I've been watching his progress over the last seven years as a coach. I made up in my mind about three years ago that if I ever become a head coach, I would hire Otis as my offensive line coach. I also coached our defensive line coach, Dorsett Davis, at Mississippi State. Dorsett is a really great technique teacher and is a guy that is really going to be a great asset on our staff. Finally, I've had an opportunity to hire Medgar Harrison as our strength and conditioning coach. It's invaluable to us. Medgar is a guy that I believe is going to change the face of our program by what he does in the weight room and build mental toughness through the weight room. This is something that we really need and just to change them physically. The staff we've put together, we're very fortunate to have them and we look forward to the progress we will make."
 
On recruiting…
"Earlier it was tough because we were short-staffed, but as we got everybody in and everybody has gone out for recruiting, it has made it a little bit easier for us. I think we're putting together a pretty good class. We still have some work to do and it's not over yet with signing day next week. We have a pretty good number of commitments and just need to finish. I really believe when we finish, it will be exactly what we need and where we've addressed needs. We've filled in holes by bringing in guys that we think will improve us as a program."
 
On his outlook on offensive and defensive coordinators…
"Coach Stokes, who I elevated to defensive coordinator, has been with me for a couple of years and he understands me, and he understands the defense. We're not going to change what we do on defense. We make tweak what we do and add some things to it, and he understands that. He understands what our system is and how our system is ran, and how we coach the guys. He's going to be a great addition as the coordinator. He was my right-hand man the whole time he's been here. I'm looking for him to become a really good defensive coordinator as time progresses. Coach Dickerson brings what I want to offense. People asked me, when I was looking for a coordinator, 'What kind of offense you want to run?' I would always answer to people, 'I want a coordinator that gets first downs.' So, it really never really mattered to me whether it was spread, air raid, east coast or west coast. I wanted a guy that fit with us that could throw the ball when we need to throw the ball, run the ball when we need run the ball, and get first downs. It's an offense that fits what your players can do and what we need to be as an offense. Last year we got into situations where people would gang up against the run. You can't bang your head up against the wall when people gang up on you against the run, you have to the throw the ball. When people are saying, 'Ok. We're not going to let you throw it, we're going to play coverage.' You have to be able to run the ball. We have to be smart enough to be able to do that. We'll be a multiple offense. Some things we will do with a little bit more power and some things we will do with a little bit more finesse. That's what I wanted offensively."
 
 
On quarterback's coach, T.C. Taylor…
"I love Taylor. I had never met Taylor, but I have guys on my staff that knew him. I went and met with him in Charlotte, North Carolina over the Christmas holiday. We sat down for over two and a half hours and we talked ball and we talked about life. I fell in love with the guy when I first met him. Taylor is a guy that loves Jackson State and there is no question about it. He's a Jackson State guy who loves his institution. I'm fortunate as a head coach, and we're fortunate as an institution to have both T.C. Taylor and Ron Dickerson Jr. on our offense. Those guys have been together for a couple weeks and they act like they been together for 10 years. I believe the guys that we have on our offense with Dickerson, Taylor, Ackerman, and Ridley, that we have a good mixture of guys that are really going to help up us be really effective on offense in terms of how we teach our kids and how we prepare our kids, and how our kids react and play"
 
Defensive Coordinator, Lionel Stokes
 
Opening statement…
"I want to thank God because without Him none of this would be possible. Next, I want to thank Coach Hendrick and A.D. Robinson for allowing me to be in this position. Usually, you don't see guys my age gets this opportunity to be a defensive coordinator at this level. I just want to thank those guys and I'm just excited to get started. The players are excited and I'm happy that they are excited. They have accepted me as the defensive coordinator and I'm just looking forward to the season."
 
On Coach Hendrick…
"I've never told him this, but coach is one of my biggest mentors mixed in with father-figure and head coach. He's all that in one and I really look up to him. I go to him about everything and he's a guy I look up to a whole lot."
 
On being a young defensive coordinator…
"The players don't look at the age (Stokes is 28). This is not just on the defensive end, everyone on the team shows me that respect level of an older guy. That has been one of the biggest and exciting things for me as far the respect that the players give me."
 
On what the 2019 defense may look like…
"We've been playing good defense the past couple of years and we're trying to build on that. This past season, we only lost about three starters so that's a good situation to be coming into. We didn't lose anyone in the secondary and lost a guy to the front and two at the linebacker level, but it's a lot of experience coming back. Being that we would be running the same thing and using the same terminology, it'll be a lot of carry over for the guys to pick up where they left off. I'm really excited about the experience coming back. The defensive line has been our strength and that's where you want to build a team and defense."
 
On his reaction to the hire…
"When he (Hendrick) actually told me, I was just happy and excited for the opportunity. For him to feel that way about me, believe that I could get the job done, that was kind of a weight off my shoulders. I'm just excited to get started."
 
Offensive Coordinator, Ron Dickerson Jr.
 
Opening statement…
"First and foremost, I'd like to thank God for giving me the opportunity to be here today and to also be at this outstanding university. I'd like to thank Coach Hendrick for believing in me. I would like to thank the Jackson State University and community for believing in us as a staff. And, the most important person next to God is my wife because she has had to put up with me and this wonderful profession that some say, 'this crazy profession.' Today you live here and tomorrow you live there. She's had my back through it all. Since I've been here, I've seen the family environment of this university and I think that is very important for the success of this program."
 
On first down offense…
"We're going to be an offense that comes from the west coast. We're going to be an offense that comes from the spread and we're also going to run RPO (Run-Pass Option). At the end of August, our young men are going to name the offense because it's going to be their offense. If they want to name it I-20, the dirty south, the Sip; I don't care. It's going to be for them because they're going to have an identity. People want to know what you're going to do when it comes to all that. When it comes down to it, it's what your young men believe in and what they can do. Like Coach Hendrick said, 'We're gone run the ball. We're going to pass the ball.' Our ultimate goal is to get first downs. If you get a first down, that means you've moved the chains."
 
On the opportunity…
"The rich tradition. 50-plus offensive guys alone have been put in the NFL. I was a big Walter Payton fan, so to have the opportunity to walk on the same campus that he walked on is great. I played with Tim Barnett and a great friend of mine is Lewis Tillman. There're other guys through my career that I have had the opportunity to either meet or play with. When you talk about the rich tradition, that's what excites you because it's here. It's not something we have to recreate, it's here. It's like finding oil. There's oil underground, you just have to tap into it. That's what I think Coach Hendrick has done with this offensive staff. He put us together, we just have to tap into this rich tradition. That's what I'm really excited about. We just have to tap into the oil."
 
On coach T.C. Taylor being part of the staff…
"It's not a staff, it's a family. You'll probably look out there, me and him and the rest of the staff are hanging out. We just came out of a room laughing and joking even though we were going over the offense. That's the key: when things don't go right, we're still a family. When things are going right, it's not Ron Dickerson Jr. or T.C. Taylor, it's that offense and whatever the name that comes out of it. Having him and his knowledge is great. We could be walking to get something to eat and we will be talking football. But you know what else we're talking about? We're talking about going hunting and taking my son and his son to go hunting. We're talking about how my wife and his wife are going to like this restaurant and that restaurant, and what they're not going to like. We're talking about going to work out at 5 o'clock, and for Taylor that's a too early in the morning, but if that's what we have to do; we'll get there. The unique thing is that we have a job to do. At the end of the day, it's to get first downs, and that's what we're going to do. It's one team, one heartbeat."
 
On how fast the staff has bonded…
"It's maturity. We have a job to do. When we come in and see what Coach Hendrick has done, we found to put the Lord first and that wipes away a lot of our problems. We talk outside of football. Like I said, we talk about hunting. I like deep sea fishing and a lot of the guys on the staff like lake fishing. I have to get used to lake fishing. You know what that does? That bonds us together. I think when you start that way, you build something, and that's what Coach Hendrick has been trying to do. If you listen to him, he wants to build something. The foundation is here because of the rich university tradition."
 
On offensive outlook...
"We are going to find out what they do well. We know some of the things we can do well because we've already broke down the whole season. Taylor and I have been watching the season backwards and forward so we can tell you the different personnel, who stepped wrong, and all that other stuff. The biggest challenge is letting these young men know that they have an identity - who they are and what we plan to do offensively. If we can run the ball, and that is going to win the game, we're going to run the ball 100 times. If we can throw the ball and we have to throw the ball 100 times, then we're going to throw the ball 100 times. Our challenge is teaching these young men to understand what the purpose of this offense is and what their identity is."