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Know The Foe: Jackson State

Know The Foe: Jackson State

Football Sep 16
By ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist Paul Letlow

Led by rock star coach Deion Sanders and bringing in a busload of big-time transfers, Jackson State makes for a buzzy – and worrisome – home-opening ULM opponent.

"I think the fact that Coach Sanders went there and the appeal he's had for the portal transfers, their team would remind me of any Group of Five team out there," ULM coach Terry Bowden said. "The infusion of talent they got out of the portals was extraordinary for the FCS level of play and the number of players they got. They'll be a very, very talented football team.

"Maybe more talented than us."

ULM (0-1) has never played Jackson State, which competes in the Southwestern Athletic Conference along with Grambling State and Southern University. The Tigers (2-0) come in riding high after defeating Tennessee State, 38-16, in last Saturday's Southern Heritage Classic at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.

"We're going to find out who some players really are this week," Sanders said during the SWAC media conference call, "because we're going to have a real formidable opponent that we're supposed to lose to by all accounts. We're not supposed to be in this game, right? We're getting paid to get beat, right?"

"It's going to be a great challenge for us in this first home game of ours," Bowden said. "We know what we've got to face and what we've got to do."

Kickoff at Malone Stadium is 7:05 p.m.

JSU freshman quarterback Shedeur Sanders, son of the head coach, connected on 30-of-40 passes for 362 yards and three touchdowns and completed passes to nine different receivers in the TSU win. Warren "Nugget" Newman delivered an 81-yard punt return for a score

"They've got weapons all over the field," Bowden said. "That's Coach Sanders' son at quarterback – 75 percent completions, 291 yards per game, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Doing everything right as a freshman quarterback and they like to throw the ball. They've got three or four receivers that they'll go to mostly, but they'll mix it around and throw it to a lot of people.

"I know (Josh) Lanier, who transferred from Alabama, is a very good receiver. Of course, Warren Newman and Trevonte Rucker are all three catching a lot of balls."

Bowden described Sanders as a drop-back quarterback, who can run. Bowden noted that JSU hasn't rushed much through two games, averaging just 56.5 yards on the ground.

"But (Peyton) Pickett their tailback averages about four and a half yards a carry," he said. "They have decided not to run it much in those two games. We'll be interested to see how that will work against us."

ULM surrendered 419 yards through the air in a season-opening loss at Kentucky.

"I imagine with the way that Kentucky threw it on us, there will be a good chance we better be ready for a passing attack against us," Bowden said.

The JSU defense is saturated with impact transfers and recruits.

JSU held TSU to 264 total yards, including just 70 yards rushing. Florida transfer James Houston made 10 tackles, five tackles for loss and four and a half sacks. SWAC Defensive Player of the Week Aubrey Miller Jr., a Missouri transfer, finished with 10 tackles and two sacks.

Safety Shilo Sanders left South Carolina to join his father and brother at Jackson State while defensive lineman Antwan Owens played the past four seasons at Georgia Tech. Defensive end KaTron Evans, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound four-star prospect previously signed with Tennessee, but was granted his release in April after the program fired former coach Jeremy Pruitt.

"Those are really good players," Bowden said. "You go back and look at their time at these schools and they played a lot of football there. They've really elevated their talent level with guys that can play for any of our Group of Five schools."

Warhawk Connections: A legendary college and professional star at cornerback, "Coach Prime" played for Bowden's father Bobby Bowden at Florida State and spoke at his private family funeral service in Birmingham, Alabama, last month.

"He was very close with my father," Bowden said of Sanders. "If he's not the best player he ever had, he's in that group of two or three.

"I think there's a great relationship with the Bowden family, with my mother and my father more than me."

In assembling his staff last spring, Sanders hired former ULM running back and assistant coach Alan Ricard as his special teams coordinator. Ricard coached running backs at ULM from 2016-19 and played fullback from 1995-99. After playing in the NFL for nine seasons, Ricard returned to ULM as a student assistant coach in 2013. While in Monroe, he completed his undergraduate degree in criminal justice.

Cornerback Kev'Ric Wiggins, now listed on the JSU roster, began his collegiate career at ULM where he played in 13 games from 2019-20, including two starting assignments.
 
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