TC Taylor keeps winning in the post-Deion Sanders era

On By Littum

TC Taylor got back to his cell phone sometime Saturday after hoisting another SWAC championship trophy at the Mississippi Veterans Memorial Coliseum. There was a text message waiting for the Jackson State football coach.

It was from Deion Sandersthe former Jackson State coach who won two SWAC championships of his own before bolting to Colorado after the 2022 season. He congratulated Taylor, who was promoted after Sanders left, on another SWAC championship for JSU.

“He’s always supported me,” Taylor told the Clarion Ledger on Tuesday. “That’s why it was good to hear from him. After that game, he just said I have to win this one this weekend.”

Jackson State (11-2) is back in the Celebration Bowl for the third time in four seasons when it plays South Carolina State (9-2) on Saturday (11 a.m., ABC) at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta with the Black National championship on the line.

Sanders played twice with JSU, but never won. Some thought the Tigers would regress when he left, but the 46-year-old Taylor has them able to accomplish what Sanders couldn’t.

How TC Taylor kept Jackson State as winners in the SWAC

Taylor was the offensive coordinator under Sanders. He describes the list he inherited as “pretty bare.” It was hit from a quantity and quality point of view.

Travis Hunter, a Heisman Trophy finalist this season, transferred to Colorado with Sanders. So did star quarterback Shedeur Sanders, his older brother, Shilo, and leading rusher Sy’Veon Wilkerson. SWAC Freshman of the Year Kevin Coleman Jr. moved to Louisville. Assistant coaches also followed Deion Sanders to Colorado. Taylor estimates there were about 40-50 players left on the roster after the mass departures.

Taylor’s first order of business as coach was to install his culture, a task especially necessary with so many new players. A coach who began in 2005 after playing at Jackson State from 1998-2001, Taylor said he picked up different tips along the way from his stops at Coahoma Community College, Texas Southern and North Carolina Central. He said he also called other coaches he knew in the sport for advice.

“I believe what I believe,” Taylor said. “I wanted our football team to be physical. I wanted a dominant defense and I wanted to be able to play offense and be able to run the football.”

The Tigers went a respectable 7-4 in Taylor’s first season. This season, they are the SWAC champions, winners of nine straight games and have a top 10 offense and defense in the FCS.

Taylor, who was named the SWAC Coach of the Year, said he realized during the offseason that this team was special.

“When we got them in the spring and summer, you could just see them come together,” he said. “We knew we were capable. But for me, like the head coach and the manager, it was my job to get everyone to come together and believe in each other, play for each other.”

Why Jackson State can win, what it would mean

Jackson State spent time this week watching videos of national championship celebrations. Teams like Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson were featured.

The Tigers, of course, hope they’ll be the ones celebrating with helmets tossed in the air, hugs from players and coaches and plenty of confetti snow angels.

“Just seeing the atmosphere and how it feels, the fun that everybody had when they won, I wanted them to see that,” Taylor said. “(Associate head) coach Otis (Riddley) laid it out today for the team. We want to have that feeling come this weekend around 4:30-5 and bring the trophy back to Jackson.”

This Jackson State team doesn’t have the national superstars of Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, but it does have a handful of outstanding players. Eleven players were selected to the All-SWAC first and second teams, one of the best in the conference. Running back Irv Mulligan won SWAC Offensive Player of the Year and another running back, Travis Terrell Jr., won SWAC Freshman of the Year.

Starting quarterback Jacobian Morgan suffered an injury in the second quarter of the SWAC championship game and did not return. The Tigers trailed by seven points when Zy McDonald was inserted. He proved to be a spark as JSU scored 24 unanswered points for the 41-13 victory. McDonald also left late in the game with an injury, so Cam’Ron McCoy also played quarterback.

MORE: TC Taylor leads Jackson State to SWAC title after ‘closet was bare’. He might pass Deion Sanders next

Taylor did not have an update on Morgan, but said McDonald left the game with cramps. He also did not mention who would be the starter in the Celebration Bowl.

“I’ve been very successful in my career,” Taylor said. “I’ve won a lot of conference championships, won conference championships here. But this would be the icing on the cake.”

Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at [email protected] and follow him at X @sklarsam_.