"Great Week!"

Those were the initial words delivered by Jackson State head football coach T.C. Taylor as the Tigers wrapped up the first week of practice Saturday morning at the Walter Payton Center.

"They competed. Guys competed," said Taylor of what made the opening days of camp great. "Early on, you expect in the first couple of days there will be some missed assignments, some plays without max effort.  We told them earlier this week that we've got to come back and correct those things, and they did in these last couple of practices. They got after each other. We put the shells on these last two days and had some thumping and contact. It was a physical week."

With the season-opening Cricket MEAC-SWAC Challenge Kickoff against South Carolina State exactly four weeks away, Taylor is mindful to balance the need for contact along with taking care of the health of the roster.

"We talk about technique tackling," Taylor said. "We don't want contact below the waist at this point in camp, but still you want them to play fast and understand we are preaching physicality. We teach him to thud up (making contact with the person with the ball without bring them to the ground), and get to the ball.  If we get 11 hats to the ball on defense, and then have the O-line chasing and transitioning on plays as well as the receivers on offense, we'll be fine."

Despite having some many new elements to the program - coaching staff, players, schemes, etc. – the two-time defending Southwestern Athletic Conference Champions have transitioned well in the opening week of camp in the Taylor era.
 
"The flow of practice is going great right now," Taylor said. "The thing I like about this football team is we're defeating the heat.  We had a couple of guys go down early in camp which you expect, but these last couple of practices, guys have really focused in and locked in on what we're trying to get accomplished."

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