Alabama NewsCenter 2021 football preview: Jacksonville State University
Quarterback Zerrick Cooper returns to lead the Jacksonville State Gamecocks offense for the fall 2021 season. (Jacksonville State Athletics)
The 2020-21 college football season varied from one team to the next.
Because of COVID-19, some teams played in the fall and some in the spring. Jacksonville State did both, playing four games in the fall before playing nine in the spring, including a run to the quarterfinals of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Playoffs.
But while coach John Grass’ Gamecocks had two playing seasons, they have gone about a year without an offseason.
“It’s about developing kids,” Grass said. “We’ve got guys going into their third year and the incoming freshmen this past year who haven’t been through a complete offseason. We sit there and we put on 15, 20 pounds a kid during our traditional offseason. Those kids have lost that because COVID got them the first time and we shut down in the middle of an offseason.”
That means players missed out on building the body mass needed to be ready for the rigors of the next slate of gridiron foes.
“I don’t know how that’s going to affect us down the line because you stole those two offseasons from those players,” Grass said. “But I think our guys have handled it pretty well. We kind of hammered them pretty hard during spring, as far as what we did weight room-wise, and kind of caught up a little bit on that.
“But as far as the mental-physical fatigue, I don’t think we’ve got that right now,” the coach said. “I think our guys are fresh, they’re hungry, they’re ready to play.”
Grass said it seems as though his team just finished playing the other day. Like the fall and spring playing seasons during the pandemic, there’s no playbook for navigating the varied protocols and conditions.
“But I thought we made some wise choices in how we handled our guys,” Grass said. “We feel like they’re fresh and ready to go. They’re kind of rejuvenated, and I hope I’ll still be saying those same things halfway through or toward the end of this season. I think it’s mostly positive things taken out of playing in the fall and spring.”
Jacksonville State’s first two football games will be in front of a national television audience.
The 2021 Montgomery Kickoff will be played Wednesday, Sept. 1, against UAB at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery and televised on ESPN. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m.
Ten days later, the Gamecocks will take on Florida State on the ACC Network. That Sept. 11 matchup will kick off at 7 p.m. Central.
The Montgomery Kickoff will mark the first meeting between the two in-state foes since 2005 and will be the first meeting between the two on a neutral field. The Blazers lead the all-time series 3-2 and have won the past three meetings.
Coach John Grass believes his Jacksonville State Gamecocks are fresh, hungry and ready for football despite missing two offseasons and the conditioning that normally comes with them. (Matt Reynolds / JSU Athletics)
“I say what every other team in the country is going to be saying,” Grass said. “We’ve got a good team coming back and we’ve pretty much got the same team. The COVID year didn’t count, so everybody’s gotten 18 to 20 starters back on almost every team.”
That makes 2021 a different college football year, one that largely mirrors the most recent season with veteran teams taking the field.
“There’s gonna be a lot of good teams out there,” the coach said. “You can look down our schedule and you will see that. UAB’s got probably 21, 22 starters coming back out for their roster. Florida State’s added a bunch to theirs, but they’ve got everybody coming back. Sam Houston will have everybody coming back off of a national championship team.
“It’s gonna be some really, really good football is what I take away from that,” Grass continued. “You’re gonna have some veteran teams going head-to-head and it’s gonna make for an interesting fall, I think, for everybody, for every level.”
The Gamecocks will experience one obvious difference. After 18 years in the Ohio Valley Conference, they begin a new relationship this fall as members of the ASUN Conference.
That, said Grass, is exciting.
“Starting a new conference and being a part of that is gonna be a great journey and a great partnership,” he said.
JSU’s tenure in the OVC produced some of the school’s most decorated years across its 17 athletic programs. Since joining the conference in 2003-04, JSU solidified itself as the preeminent athletic program by winning 81 OVC championships, seven more than the next most-successful OVC school during that span.
JSU has seen 15 of its 17 programs bring home titles and combine for 54 trips to NCAA postseason play. Gamecocks football waved goodbye to the Ohio Valley Conference with its ninth league title as it beat No. 17 Murray State 28-14 in the OVC Championship Game.
During the spring, the ASUN announced its plans to add FCS football to the league list of sponsored sports for the first time in the conference’s 43-year history. Along with JSU, the ASUN welcomes newcomers Eastern Kentucky and Central Arkansas to help current league members North Alabama and Kennesaw State in growing the football footprint.
The conference now has 12 members covering Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
Alabama NewsCenter is posting season previews for all 15 college football programs in Alabama. Read about West Alabama, Tuskegee, Samford, Alabama A&M, Birmingham-Southern, North Alabama, Troy, South Alabama, Miles, Huntingdon and Alabama State. Look for football previews on UAB, Auburn and Alabama next week.
