The two-time defending Southwestern Athletic Conference Champion Jackson State football team concluded training camp Saturday morning at the Walter Payton Center.

The crisp, energized practice marked the official end of training camp, as first-year head coach T.C. Taylor prepares JSU for the Cricket MEAC-SWAC Challenge Kickoff against South Carolina State August 26 at 6:30 p.m. on ABC. For the second consecutive Saturday, officials were at practice keeping a keen eye on the proceedings as Taylor summarized camp.

"We've got a good football team," Taylor said. "On both sides of the ball and special teams, we've got some people that can really do some things to help this program going forward. We talked about closing with a bang today. Yesterday, we pulled back a little bit at practice before loading up and going to the movies as a team, and we said we wanted to come back and finish this thing up the right way today. They came out and competed, with a solid hour and a half practice with referees, and there weren't a lot of flags on the ground. That's what you want to see when you have the refs on site, so that lets us know we're doing things right."

Since the first fall practice on July 26, Taylor has seen his team continue to grow, with the biggest area coming in the chemistry of the
program.

"You're talking about chemistry for us as a coaching staff in identifying guys that can help us win football games, and I think we did that for the most part," Taylor said. "This group has really come together as a football team. Anytime you get in training camp, you've got offense versus defense every day, so it can get lethargic a little bit, but these guys really understood it. They came and brought it every day. We got better as a football team each and every day."

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