How the T.C. Taylor era began for Jackson State football

The torch has finally been passed as Jackson State football moves on from the Deion Sanders regime.

For T.C. Taylor, who was hired to replace Sanders in December, it seemed like this day would never come. Tuesday was the first step toward accomplishing his goal of unfinished business: winning a Black national championship.

The first-year coach wished the chilly weather had been milder but knows those days will come. Taylor addressed what he liked about his team after its first spring practice.

“It felt good,” Taylor said about his first practice as head coach. “I talked about the players champing at the bit, but I have been champing at the bit also. To finally get out there and be able to run the whole show and direct the whole show felt good.”

Taylor said the players moved around pretty well and had explosive plays on both sides of the ball during practice.

“Guys we are expecting some good things out of did some good stuff out there today,” Taylor said. “We just have to continue to build on that and we laid down a good foundation as far as today on the football field. It is Day One, and we have to continue to build and grow this football team with a lot of new faces.”

Taylor said the quarterbacks looked good. One of the main things he wanted to see was how the quarterbacks handled the huddle.

“I thought they did an excellent job of that -- getting the other 10 guys lined up," he said. "Jason Brown, Zy McDonald and Phillip Short, all three made some big throws for us today. All three of them competed. We told them this is a wide-open job for all three of you guys, and all of them stepped up and played pretty good today.”

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Taylor said he also was impressed with the play of the defensive line, which features 2022 All-SWAC first-team selection Nyles Gaddy.

The team displayed tempo and energy, which Taylor said he was pleased to see.

Jackson State will have its spring game at 3 p.m. on April 15 at Mississippi Veteran Memorial Stadium.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson State football: T.C. Taylors on first practice as head coach