Week 0 win a ‘picture-perfect’ debut for Deion Sanders’ Jackson State replacement
Deion Sanders’ replacement at Jackson State, T.C. Taylor, had what The Clarion-Ledger’s Jacob Shames called a “picture-perfect” debut as head coach of the Tigers on August 26 in a 37-7 victory over South Carolina State.
“Jackson State football’s 37-7 win over South Carolina State in Saturday’s MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Atlanta was a picture-perfect first game for new coach T.C. Taylor, who took over after Deion Sanders departed for Colorado in December,” Shames wrote.
Shedeur Sanders’ replacement, Jason Brown, a transfer with prior experience at Virginia Tech and South Carolina, went 25/29 through the air; good for three touchdowns and 356 yards in his Jackson State debut. Running backs Irv Mulligan and J.D. Martin went for 135 yards on the ground. The defense held up its end of the bargain too, ceding just 201 yards of total offense and 3.9 yards per play; and 126 yards of total offense and 3.1 yards per play before a garbage-time touchdown from the Bulldogs to get on the board.
Deion Sanders’ replacement, T.C. Taylor, speaks on Jackson State’s Week 0 win and the team’s future
Taylor was high on his team’s dominant statement win, not getting too high on the specific performance but feeling excited about the foundation built on Jackson State’s electric first showing without Coach Prime.
“We still got a long way to go,” Taylor said. “This is just the beginning for this football team. I’m very excited about where this football team is headed, though.
“We talk about those guys in the MEAC being a physical football team and we came out and set the tone. We knew we had a fast football team that could fly around, but we wanted to see how physical we could be.”
A big talking point moving forward will be juxtaposing JSU’s record with Colorado’s, and inevitably, the talking point of “Did Coach Prime leave Jackson too soon?” will be brought up by ESPN, FOX Sports, CBS Sports, or all three.
But Taylor is running his own show now in Mississippi’s capital city, and Sanders has his own program to build in Boulder. Let each carve out his own destiny without being tied to another coach across the country in a different college football subdivision.