Jax State Football Program (9/23/23 - Eastern Mich.)

burgess-snow field at jsu stadium

guest code of conduct

Jacksonville State University promotes good sportsmanship by student-athletes, coaches and spectators. Fans will conduct themselves with good sportsmanship to reflect the high standards of honor and dignity that characterize Jacksonville State University. Anyone associated with an athletic program or event should reflect respect, fairness, civility, responsibility, and courtesy to others. Profanity, vulgar cheers, intimidating actions, intoxication, belligerent or abusive behaviors will not be tolerated. Fans attending JSU football games are expected to stay off the playing field, including after the game, and will not throw objects onto the field.

Positive support of the player’s coaches, and officials is strongly encouraged. Jacksonville State University expects positive behavior exhibited towards our visiting guests at every contest. Please treat others with courtesy and respect. Any violation of this Code of Conduct subjects you to removal from the stadium and forfeit of future event tickets.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Gamecock Gameday 2023

2023 Homecoming King and Queen

Mikah Morris and Ashanthe Gathers were crowned Homecoming King and Queen on Thursday evening on the Quad. Mikah is a junior majoring in exercise science and wellness hailing from Daphne, Ala., while Gathers is a broadcast communication senior from Villa Rica, Ga.

2023 Jax State Football

2023 Gamecock Cheerleaders

Front Row L to R - Anna Purnell (LaGrange, GA), Aivery Darnell - Captain (Alexandria, AL), Kandyce Rogers (Athens, AL)

Middle Row L to R - Ryann VanHoozer (Madison, AL), Allie Condy (Southside, AL), Madison Coleman (Cartersville, GA), Lilly Tidwell (Jasper, AL), Lynlee Jackson (Franklin, TN), Kaci Boyd (Southside, AL), Kaelyn Fletcher (Rome, GA), AnnaKate Freeland (Anniston, AL), Makenna Case (Trenton, GA)

Back Row L to R - John David Lombard (Boaz, AL), Charleigh Sharpe (Moody, AL), Aniija Williams (Auburn, AL), Mack Hughes ( Ardmore, AL), Kaitlyn Willis - Captain (Jacksonville, AL), Stefon Kirby (Weaver, AL), Reygan White (Oxford, AL), Jeriah Freeman (Alexander City, AL) Jackson Burns (Attalla, AL),

Head Cheer Coach Brett Langston

about today’s game

Jacksonville State vs. Eastern Michigan Sept. 23, 2023 - Burgess-Snow Field

RICH RODRIGUEZ CHRIS CREIGHTON

Jacksonville State

Location: ......................................Jacksonville, Ala.

Population:.............................................. 12,548

Founded: ..............................................................1883

Enrollment:.........................................................9,238

Affiliation: ...............................................NCAA Div. I

Conference: Conference USA

Colors: Red & White

Nickname: Gamecocks

President: Dr. Don C. Killingsworth

Athletic Director: .................................. Greg Seitz

Web Site: .............................. JaxStateSports.com

Rich Rodriguez has a 174-122-2 overall record as a head coach and has been named conference coach of the year five times in three different leagues. He begins the 2023 season ranked eighth among active FBS head coaches in career wins and 13th among all active Division I head coaches.

The author of one of college football’s most prolific offensive schemes, Rodriguez has over 30 years of collegiate coaching experience and 25 as a head coach, experience necessary to lead Jacksonville State as it transitions into FBS for the 2023 season.

The Gamecocks posted a 9-2 record and a perfect 5-0 mark in ASUN Conference play en route to the conference title to wrap up the school’s FCS Era. Rodriguez’s immediate results once arriving in Jacksonville prepared Jax State for the jump to Conference USA for the 2023 season.

Named the 37th head football coach at Eastern Michigan University on Dec. 11, 2013, Creighton and his staff have made tremendous strides in changing the culture and mindset surrounding the program.

During his 25-plus year head coaching career, the 54-year-old Creighton has accumulated eight conference titles and an all-time record of 185-107 (.634 winning percentage). He is the only coach in EMU history to lead the program to multiple bowl appearances with the 2016 Bahamas Bowl, the 2018 Camellia Bowl, the 2019 Quick Lane Bowl, the 2021 LendingTree Bowl, and the 2022 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Voted a finalist for the 2016 American Football Coaches Awards’ first-ever Comeback Coach of the Year, Creighton led EMU in to the program’s first winning season since 1995 and its first bowl appearance since 1987.

Eastern Michigan

Location: Ypsilanti, Mich.

Population: 20,100

Founded: 1819

Enrollment:...................................................... 14,048

Affiliation: ...............................................NCAA Div. I

Conference:.................................... Mid-American

Colors: ......................................... Green and White

Nickname: ........................................................ Eagles

President: Dr. James M. Smith

Athletic Director: Scott Wetherbee

Web Site: EMUeagles.com

Gamecock Gameday 2023

President Don C. Killingsworth, Ed. D

Welcome to Burgess-Snow Field, home of the Jax State Gamecocks! It is an honor to host today’s game.

This is an exciting time for Jax State Athletics, as we are entering our inaugural season in Conference USA. Our football program has a long history of success, including 25 conference championships, 21 NCAA playoff appearances and a national championship. Now, under the leadership of legendary Coach Rich Rodriguez, we are beginning a new era as members of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

To invest in the training of our student-athletes and improve the fan experience, we are constructing the Loring and Debbie White Football Complex on the west side of JSU Stadium. Replacing our former field house, the two-level facility will feature state-of-the-art training equipment and technology, hydrotherapy, offices, meeting rooms and a central player concourse that will allow athletes to move

efficiently through the building to maximize valuable training time. New game-day suites and a Football Hall of Fame will round out the project, which we anticipate will be completed by next football season.

At JSU, the Gamecocks aren’t the only reason fans pack the stadium. Our campus is the proud home of the world-renowned Marching Southerners – the 2022 recipient of the prestigious Sudler Trophy from the John Phillip Sousa Foundation. The Southerners are under the direction of Dr. Kenneth Bodiford, who is celebrating his 30th season with the band this fall. Next summer, they are traveling to Normandy to perform in ceremonies honoring the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Be sure to stay in your seat at halftime to enjoy a performance by this outstanding band.

Thank you for joining us for today’s game. No matter which team you support, we hope you have a great experience on the Friendliest Campus in the South.

Go Gamecocks and Blow Southerners!

Don C. Killingsworth, Jr., Ed.D. President

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Director of Athletics at Jacksonville State University

greg seitz

Greg Seitz was named Director of Athletics at Jacksonville State on February 26, 2016 after more than two decades of service to the University.

Seitz, who is in his 31st year in the athletic department at JSU, served as interim Athletic Director for 14 months, marking his third term as the interim Athletic Director for the Gamecock athletic department.

In Seitz’s seven-plus years at the helm, the Gamecocks have seen unprecedented success on the field and in the classroom. The 2015-16 season saw JSU’s highest ever finish in the men’s Capital One Cup at No. 18, ranking the Gamecocks in the top 20 athletic departments among 347 NCAA Division I athletic programs. The 2016-17 season also saw JSU finish in the top 40 at No. 39, tied with Louisville, Harvard and South Carolina and 35 spots ahead of the next Ohio Valley Conference program.

The 2015 football season saw the football team post it’s first-ever No. 1 ranking in school history, and earn the No. 1 National seed in the FCS Playoffs before advancing to JSU’s first Division I National Championship Game appearance. The Gamecocks set more than 50 school records and ranked in the top three in attendance at the FCS level after hosting three-straight home playoff games.

The Gamecocks won a JSU and Ohio Valley Conference-record five consecutive league titles and won a league-record 36-straight OVC games from 2014 to 2018, the second-longest conference win streak in FCS history. The Gamecocks were the only Division I program to win its conference title outright during those five seasons.

In the classroom, the Gamecock student-athletes posted a record 3.31 GPA for the 2019-20 academic year, the highest cumulative GPA in school history. The Spring 2020 semester guided the year to its record-breaking mark with an impressive 3.47 GPA for the term. It marked the eighth-straight year the student-athletes achieved at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA. Additionally, all 17 sports at Jax State posted a team grade point average higher than a 3.0. Prior to 2019-20, a 3.26 cumulative grade-point average in 2017-18 and a 3.20 in 2018-19 were the two highest cumulative GPAs in program history.

Seitz has been with Jax State since 1993, when he began working as assistant sports information director. In 1999, he became Sports Information Director and was promoted to Associate Athletic Director in 2002, before being promoted to Senior Associate Athletic Director in 2011.

During his term as interim and Athletic Director, Seitz has been instrumental in many of the facility upgrades at Jacksonville State, including renovations at Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium, Pete Mathews Coliseum, the Riley Green Athletic Sports Performance Center. Seitz was involved in the design and addition to the football stadium in 2010, and is now guiding the stadium’s second major renovation, which will include a new football operations center and locker room.

In 2017, Seitz announced an extension of a 14-year partnership between JSU Athletics and Adidas, securing the Portland, Ore., based company as the Gamecocks’ official athletic apparel and footwear brand.

Also during 2017, Seitz and the Board of Trustees announced plans to install new state-of-the-art high definition video boards in Burgess-Snow Field, Rudy Abbott Field and University Field, while also placing new scoreboards at the JSU Soccer Field and the JSU Tennis Courts. That project went one step further in 2019, when a pair of video boards were installed inside Pete Mathews Coliseum.

The videoboard additions at The Pete was just one part of a major coliseum renovation project following the 2018 EF-3 tornado that hit campus and the surrounding Jacksonville community. Seitz brought the athletic department’s administrative home to Pete Mathews Coliseum as part of the renovation, creating new office space throughout the third floor of the facility. The transition paved the way for a new main athletic ticket office in the coliseum lobby, updated basketball, soccer and volleyball locker rooms, and the installation of a full-size practice court on the east end of the building.

Under his guidance, Jax State athletics transitioned into the ASUN Conference in 2021, to better align with the evolving college landscape, and soon after accepted an invitation to join Conference USA beginning in 2023. The move takes the Gamecocks’ football program up to the highest level of college football.

Among his notable hires since taking over as AD, Seitz landed Rich Rodriguez to lead JSU’s efforts into FBS and Conference USA. One of his first hires was men’s basketball’s Ray Harper, who has since led the Gamecocks to their first two Div. I NCAA Tournaments.

Seitz has served on the NCAA Men’s Final Four Media Coordinator team for the last 12 years and is currently a member of the NCAA Championships Financial Working Group that was formed in 2019. He was named to the NCAA FCS Football Committee in 2016 and served as the chair of that committee in 2019. In addition, he served as a member of the NCAA Football Oversight Committee in 2019-20 and is as a site representative for the NCAA during the Division I Baseball Regionals and Super Regionals.

He has worked numerous NCAA Championships and Alabama High School Athletic Association events over the last 30 years. In 2002, he became the first SID elected as President of the Alabama Sports Writers Association and currently serves as the organization’s secretary and treasurer.

2023 Jax State Individual Stats

2023 Jacksonville State University Football Overall Statistics (as of Sep 9, 2023)

2023 Jacksonville State University Football Overall Statistics (as of Sep 9, 2023)

Gamecock Gameday 2023

You deserve compassionate care.

Personalized healthcare when you need it most

Your questions and concerns about your health matter. Ascension St. Vincent‘s care teams are here to empower you and your family by listening, respecting your experiences, and creating a care plan that works for you. You deserve to be seen and heard. That‘s why our doors are always open to provide health and healing, for the whole you — body, mind and spirit. To us, you are more than a patient. And together, we are a community.

If you’ve been a part of the CUSA family for years, we’re proud to have you here. If you’re new to us, welcome. No matter when you got here, know this: You’re part of more than a college athletics conference. Every school, every town, every alumni and fan is an essential part of who CUSA is today, and equally important in taking us to the next level. With unstoppable energy, there are no limits on us.

So hop on, because we’re heading up.

From THE BOOTH: Mike Parris and Ray Hammett call The Action

Catch

Globally, Gamecock fans can follow the calls through JaxStateSports.com or internet streams such as TuneIn Radio.

Montgomery

Meet

the gamecock coaches

HEAD COACH RICH RODRIGUEZ

Second season

In looking for a head coach that will lead the Jacksonville State football program to Football’s Bowl Subdivision, the Gamecocks found an experienced winner from the game’s highest level in Rich Rodriguez.

Athletics Director Greg Seitz formally introduced Rodriguez as the program’s 28th head coach in November of 2021 at a press conference on the fifth floor of JSU Stadium, and his first season was one to remember.

The Gamecocks posted a 9-2 record and a perfect 5-0 mark in ASUN Conference play en route to the conference title to wrap up the school’s FCS Era. Rodriguez’s immediate results once arriving in Jacksonville prepared Jax State for the jump to Conference USA for the 2023 season.

Rodriguez has a 172-121-2 overall record as a head coach and has been named conference coach of the year five times in three different leagues. He begins the 2023 season ranked eighth among active FBS head coaches in career wins and 13th among all active Division I head coaches.

The author of one of college football’s most prolific offensive schemes, Rodriguez has over 30 years of collegiate coaching experience and 25 as a head coach, experience necessary to lead Jacksonville State as it transitions into FBS for the 2023 season.

Jacksonville State is Rodriguez’s fourth FBS head coaching job after stints at West Virginia (2001-07), Michigan (2008-10) and Arizona (2012-17). He led WVU to three 10-win seasons and was named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 2014 after leading the Wildcats to their first 10-win season in over 15 years.

His most previous stop was as the associate head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks Coach at the University of Louisiana Monroe, where Rodriguez was new head coach Terry Bowden’s choice to lead the Warhawks’ offense in rebuilding after ULM suffered a winless campaign in 2020. The Warhawks improved in every offensive category in 2021. He was the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss in 2019.

Gamecock Gameday 2023

In his six seasons at Arizona, Rodriguez led the Wildcats to a 43-35 record and to five bowl games. They won the 2014 Pac-12 South Division title and advanced to the Fiesta Bowl, finishing the season with a 10-4 record, one of just three 10-win seasons in the program’s history. He was named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year at season’s end.

His first four seasons at Arizona saw 33 wins by the Wildcats, the most in school history over a four-year period. The Wildcats also defeated a Top10 team and advanced to a bowl game in each of those four seasons, the only time either of those feats have happened in school history, as well.

Rodriguez helped establish the Wildcats as one of the most explosive offensive programs in the Pac-12. During his tenure, Arizona tied or set more than 100 offensive school records and all-time leaders were set for career rushing and all-purpose yardage.

Before going to Arizona, Rodriguez spent three seasons at Michigan, where he tutored a young quarterback in Denard Robinson. As a sophomore in 2010, Robinson set the single-season Division I FBS record for rushing yards by a quarterback and became the first player in NCAA history to both pass and rush for 1,500 yards on his way to earning firstteam All-America honors.

Rodriguez was 60-26 in seven seasons at West Virginia, where he won the Big East Conference championship four times (2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007) and was named the Big East’s Coach of the Year in 2003 and 2005. The Mountaineers made two appearances in the Bowl Championship Series - the 2005 Sugar Bowl with a victory over Georgia for an 11-1 record and a victory over Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl to finish 10-2 shortly after Rodriguez had left for Michigan.

Before accepting the position at West Virginia, Rodriguez was Tommy Bowden’s offensive coordinator and associate head coach at Clemson in 1999 and 2000, when the Tigers recorded a 15-9 record over two seasons. He went to Clemson from Tulane, where he was Bowden’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 1997 and 1998. He led the Green Wave to a 19-4 mark, including an undefeated 12-0 season, Conference USA Championship and Liberty Bowl victory in 1998.

Bowden hired Rodriguez at Tulane after a seven-year stint as the head coach at NAIA Glenville State in Glenville, West Virginia. His Glenville State teams won or shared four consecutive West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles and he was named WVIAC Coach of the Year in 1993 and 1994, as well as the NAIA Coach of the Year after leading his team to a national runner-up finish.

His head coaching career started earlier than most in 1998, when Salem College made the 24-year-old Rodriguez the youngest head coach in college football after he’d served the previous two seasons as an assistant at the school.

A 1986 graduate of West Virginia and native of Grant Town, West Virginia, Rodriguez started at defensive back as a walk-on in 1981 and became a three-year letterwinner as a defensive back for the Mountaineers from 1982-84.

Rodriguez and his wife Rita have two children, Raquel and Rhett.

Gamecock Gameday 2023

ROD SMITH

Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks

Rod Smith, whose relationship with head coach Rich Rodriguez goes back many years, enters his second season as the Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach at Jacksonville State in 2023.

Rodriguez announced the hiring of longtime coach Smith as his new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach on June 12, 2022, returning Smith to the sidelines with Rodriguez, who he played for in college and has worked with at four previous stops. He brings over 25 years of coaching experience to Jax State, over 20 of those years at the FBS level, and has coached in 11 bowl games.

His first season at Jax State was a successful one that saw Smith’s offense put up big numbers behind veteran quarterback Zion Webb. The Gamecocks went 9-2 and a perfect 5-0 in conference play en route to the ASUN Championship. The Gamecocks posted the fifth-best rushing offense and the No. 10 scoring offense in the nation, resulting in Smith being named the 2022 Graphite Award Winner for the ASUN, honoring the top play callers in each Division I conference.

He played quarterback for Rodriguez at Glenville State from 1993-96 before starting his coaching career in 1997. Smith would later work for Rodriguez as the quarterbacks coach at West Virginia in 2007, the quarterbacks coach at Michigan from 2008-10 and as the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Arizona from 2012-17.

From Arizona, he went to Illinois and was the Illini’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2018-2020 and served as their acting head coach at the end of that 2020 campaign. His was an analyst at Virginia in 2021 and comes to the Gamecocks from Penn State, where has most recently served as an analyst.

While at Illinois, Smith led the Illini to the 2019 RedBox Bowl, their first in five seasons, after leading an impressive turnaround with the offense in his first season at UI in 2018. That 2018 team made the biggest improvement in the

Second Season

nation in rushing, averaging over 137 yards more per game than the year before in 2017. The Illini averaged 243 yards rushing per game in 2018, second in the Big Ten.

While with Rodriguez at Arizona, Smith helped establish one of the nation’s best offenses and set several single-game and single-season records. In 2017, the Wildcats averaged over 41 pointer per game (5th nationally), 309 rushing yards, 180 passing yards and 489 total yards (12th nationally).

While with Rodriguez at Michigan and West Virginia, he helped develop two of the top quarterbacks to ever hold the reigns in Rodriguez’ offense. Denard Robinson was the 2010 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year after Pat White won his second-straight Big East Offensive Player of the Year Award in 2017.

Smith, a 1997 graduate of Glenville State, was an All-American and team captain for Rodriguez. The Franklin, W.Va., native would later earn his master’s degree  from Urbana University in Ohio in 2000.

Gamecock Gameday 2023

ZAC ALLEY

Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers

defense in 2021 and saw the Warhawks improve in the national rankings in 11 of the 14 defensive categories from 2020 to 2021.

Prior to ULM, Alley was Bryan Harsin’s co-special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach at Boise State. In two seasons, he led the Broncos to a 17-4 record and a 13-game win streak in Mountain West Conference play. In 2020, FootballScoop.com named Alley one of its Special Teams Coordinators of the Year.

Second Season

He previously worked for four years (2015-18) under Dabo Swinney as a graduate assistant at Clemson, his alma mater. Alley spent his entire postgraduate career on the defensive side of the football, where he worked primarily with the defensive tackles and linebackers. During his tenure, Clemson won two National Championships, four Atlantic Coast Conference titles and compiled a combined record of 55-4 (.932).

Alley also had a defensive coaching internship with the National Football League’s Carolina Panthers.

Zac Alley enters his second season as Jax State’s Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers coach after a very successful first season on the job and gives the Gamecocks one of the top young minds in collegiate coaching.

Alley took over the Gamecocks’ defense in 2022 after serving as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at ULM in 2021. In that first season, Alley guided a stingy Jax State defense that led the Gamecocks to a 9-2 record and a perfect 5-0 conference mark en route to the ASUN Conference Championship. Led by linebackers Stevonte Tullis and Markail Benton, the 2022 Gamecock defense led the nation with 15 fumbles recovered and boasted the 11th-ranked red zone defense in the nation.

Alley was the youngest defensive coordinator in the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision when he took over at ULM in 2021 at the age of 28. A member of 247Sports’ “30 Under 30” list, Alley joined the Warhawks after a winless season in 2020 and helped lead them to four wins and back into contention in the Sun Belt Conference.

He turned what was the 125th-ranked rushing defense in FBS in 2020 into the 69th-ranked rush

He started working as a student assistant in the Clemson Football Office as a freshman in 2011 and spent four years in that capacity while earning his bachelor’s degree in business management in December 2014. Alley completed his master’s in human resource development from Clemson in August 2017.

Alley graduated from Charlotte (N.C.) Country Day School, where he played linebacker and offensive line.

Gamecock Gameday 2023

Meet the gamecock coaches

PAT KIRKLAND

Special Teams Coordinator/Bandits

ous all-region and All-America selections. He had players earn Mountain East Conference Player of the Year honors on both offense and defense, with the latest one coming in 2021 when running back Tyreik McAllister was named the MEC’s Offensive Player of the Yar.

Second Season

Pat Kirkland enters his second season as head coach Rich Rodriguez’s Special Teams Coordinator and Bandits coach in 2023. He joined the Gamecocks in 2022, bringing a wealth of experience from all aspects of collegiate coaching.

His move to Jacksonville translated into immediate success, helping the Gamecocks to a 9-2 record, including a perfect 5-0 conference record and the 2022 ASUN Conference Championship. His Bandits room was led by J-Rock Swain, who earned First Team All-ASUN honors and helped the Gamecocks lead the country in fumbles recovered and to the 12th-best Red Zone Defense in the nation.

His Special Teams units were also difference makers for Jax State in 2022, ranking fourth nationally in net punting, 10th in kickoff returns and seventh in blocked punts. Alen Karajic broke the school records for scoring in a game by a kicker and for consecutive field goals made during the year, as well.

Kirkland’s prior experience includes 10 years of head coaching experience at the University of Charleston in Charleston, W.Va., where he coached the Golden Eagles to a 70-41 record and was the runner-up in the Mountain East Conference six times. His 2021 team went 8-2.

In his time at Charleston, he coached 42 FirstTeam All-Conference players, as well as numer-

His 2015 team at Charleston finished 10-1 and No. 15 in the nation after earning a spot in the NCAA Division II Playoffs. That team was also second nationally in total defense leading to Kirkland earning the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year Award at season’s end.

Kirkland spent five seasons at West Virginia, where he worked under Rodriguez. He spent time on both sides of the ball, with the majority coming on defense. He led the Mountaineers to a win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl as the defensive secondary coach and led WVU to the Gator Bowl as the fullbacks and tight ends coach.

He also spent time as WVU’s Director of Recruiting.

Before his time at WVU, Kirkland was the Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator at Glenville State, where his defense was consistently one of the best in the nation.

A native of Akron, Ohio, Kirkland also spent two years as the secondary coach at Muskingum University in which he had four all-conference players in the secondary.

He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Muskingum College where he was a first-team all-conference defensive back after leading the conference in interceptions.

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RICK TRICKETT

Assistant Coach/Offensive Line

lege football’s top programs. Trickett has been coaching collegiately since 1976, when he started his career as an assistant at West Virginia. He Coached the Mountaineers offensive line until 1979, when he went to Southern Illinois for the next two seasons. Over the past 46 years, Trickett has also coached the offensive lines at Southern Miss (1982-84), New Mexico (1985), Memphis (198688), Mississippi State (1989-92), Auburn (1993-98), LSU (2000), West Virginia (2001-06), Florida State (2007-17) and his alma mater Glenville State (1999, 2019-21).

Second Season

all-conference honors – at Florida State in 2012 and 2013, while he placed four on all-conference squads at West Virginia in 2005 and again in 2006.

Rick Trickett begins his second season as the Gamecocks’ Offensive Line Coach, continuing a longstanding relationship with Jax State Head Coach Rich Rodriguez.

One of the most decorated coaches in his profession, Trickett has been developing offensive linemen for success in college football and preparing them for the next level for over 45 years. When Rodriguez was putting together his first staff at Jax State in 2022, Trickett was an easy decision to lead the Gamecocks’ offensive front.

His debut season in charge of the Gamecock offensive line produced immediate results. The Gamecocks put together a 9-2 record that included a perfect 5-0 mark in ASUN Conference play and the conference title at seasons end.

The Gamecock offense was a big reason for that success, and the offensive front paved the way for the fifth-best rushing offense and the 10thbest scoring offense in the nation. Center Treylen Brown was a First-Team All-ASUN Conference selection after moving from guard in the first game and anchoring the line the rest of the season

Trickett was an addition to Rodriguez’s staff that brings decades of experience with some of col-

He has served as the Assistant Head Coach at LSU, WVU, FSU and Glenville State, and during his career, more than 35 of his linemen have gone on to play in the NFL and more than 40 have earned all-conference honors. Twice he had all five of his starting linemen earn

His unit established FSU as one of the top offensive programs in the nation and paved the way for the most prolific offense in the nation in 2013, when FSU set school and ACC records for single-season total offense, points per game, and yards per play as well as the national record for points while leading the nation in touchdowns. The Seminoles ended that season with a 14-0 record and captured the BCS National Championship.

Gamecock Gameday 2023

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RYAN GARRETT

Assistant Coach/Wide Receivers

He started his coaching career at Ole Miss, where he began as a student assistant and eventually served as an offensive graduate assistant that worked with the Rebels’ quarterbacks under Rodriguez in 2019. That season, the Rebels ranked third in Total Offense in the SEC behind only Alabama and LSU with 445.3 yards per game.

Second Season

Ryan Garrett enters his second season as head coach Rich Rodriguez’s wide receivers coach at Jax State in 2023. He was one of the Gamecocks’ head coach’s first hires at Jax State, coming with Rodriguez from ULM, where he served as a graduate assistant for the 2021 season.

Garrett’s first season at Jax State in 2022 was one with a great deal of results. He helped guide the Gamecocks to a 9-2 record that included a perfect 5-0 mark in conference play and the 2022 ASUN Conference title.

The Gamecocks boasted one of the most efficient offenses in the nation and ranked fifth in the country in yards per reception and 10th nationally in scoring offense. Fourteen different Gamecocks caught at least one pass in 2022, while nine of those found the endzone at least once.

At ULM, Garrett helped the Warhawks and head coach Terry Bowden lay the foundation for a turnaround of their program after they took over a team that had gone winless the season before. ULM turned the tables in 2021, improving by four games and returning to the mix in the Sun Belt Conference.

Prior to joining the Warhawks, Garrett spent the 2020 season as the pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach at West Virginia State. His one season at WVSU was cut short due to COVID-19.

Garrett graduated from North Henderson High School (Hendersonville, N.C.) where he was selected captain of the football team and was named All-Conference at the wide receiver position. He played college football at Emory & Henry College (Emory, Va.) for one year before transferring to Ole Miss and switching over to coaching.

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WILLIAM GREEN

Assistant Coach/Defensive Line

league titles in 2017-18 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision those same two seasons.

Prior to being hired as JSU’s defensive line coach in 2017, Green was a graduate assistant for his alma mater, Florida, in 2016 after serving as a graduate assistant the Gamecocks under Todd Bates, who is now the co-defensive coordinator at Oklahoma, in 2014 and 2015.

Second Season

William Green begins his second season as Rich Rodriguez’s Defensive Line Coach at Jacksonville State and his sixth overall with the Gamecocks after a four-year stop earlier in his career.

Rodriguez brought a familiar face to him and to Jax State on staff when he hired former Gamecock assistant William Green, who also coached with him at ULM.

His return to Jax State saw immediate success, as the Gamecocks posted a 9-2 record in 2022 that included a perfect 5-0 record in ASUN play and a conference championship. His defensive line played a huge role in the nation’s 12th-best Red Zone Defense, as well as a stingy unit that led the nation with 15 fumble recoveries.

Green returned to Jax State after helping current Defensive Coordinator Zac Alley guide the ULM defense in 2020, when his defensive line unit set the tone for a rushing defense that improved 56 spots in the FBS national rankings from 2020 before he joined the staff. His unit was also strong when it counted, holding opposing offenses to a .353 success rate on fourth downs, the eighthbest mark in the nation.

Prior to going to ULM, Green coached the Gamecocks’ defensive line and was also their run game coordinator. In four seasons, JSU went 28-13 (.683), including an 18-6 record (.750) in Ohio Valley Conference games, won back-to-back

Green’s first season saw the Gamecock defense dominate the opposition as one of the best units in the nation. The 2017 unit ranked second nationally in total defense, third in run defense, sixth in scoring defense and fifth in pass efficiency defense. The front line played in its opponent’s backfield for much of the year, leading the OVC and ranking eighth nationally in tackles for loss.

Randy Robinson grabbed All-OVC honors on the defensive line in Green’s first season, one that saw his defense lead JSU to a 10-2 record and the No. 3 national seed in the FCS Playoffs. It was the third-straight year that JSU had earned a top three seed in the playoffs, while the Gamecocks’ 8-0 record in OVC play led to their fourthstraight league title and extended the longest active conference win streak in Division I football to 32 games.

Green’s second season saw similar success, with Robinson grabbing All-America honors and All-OVC honors once more. He wasn’t alone, as fellow tackle Connor Christian also grabbed All-OVC accolades up front. JSU led the OVC and ranked seventh nationally in tackles for loss and was 15th in FCS in total defense. The defensive front set the tone for a unit that ranked second nationally in third-down conversion defense and led the Gamecocks to their OVC-record fifth-straight conference title.

Green played for the Gators from 2008-11, seeing action in 53 games. He recorded 53 tackles, 11 for a loss, 2.5

sacks and a career-best 21 tackles in his senior season. He was a member of Florida’s National Championship team as a freshman in 2008.

Green prepped at Spain Park High School in Hoover, where he was an All-American linebacker and defensive end for John Grass and the Jaguars in 2007.

Green was also a first team all-state selection and named to the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Super 12 Team in a senior season that saw him register 114 tackles, four sacks and a fumble recovery in SPHS’s AHSAA Class 6A runner-up season before signing with Florida.

Following his playing days at Florida, Green went to training camp with the Cleveland Browns and then played in the Arena Football League.

Gamecock Gameday 2023

KELVIN SIGLER

Assistant Coach/Safeties

All-America honors, while safety Traco Williams, linebacker Zack Woodard and defensive end DJ Coleman joined Bridges on the All-OVC defense.

Sixth Season

Kelvin Sigler is entering his sixth season on staff at Jacksonville State and the second as the Safeties Coach under head coach Rich Rodriguez.

As Rodriguez was filling his first staff at Jax State prior to the 2022 season, he announced that he would be re-hiring Sigler as a defensive assistant with the Gamecocks. Sigler spent the previous four seasons as the Gamecocks’ Associate Head Coach and coaching their safeties. He served as the team’s Defensive Coordinator for the final three years of that stint.

His first season under Rodriguez was a successful one, as he helped lead the Gamecocks to a 9-2 record that included a perfect 5-0 record in conference play and the 2022 ASUN Conference Championship. His safeties group helped a defensive unit that was 15th in the nation in takeaways and first nationally in fumbles recovered.

When Sigler joined the JSU staff in the spring of 2018, he brought years of experience from multiple levels with him and that has carried over into a successful tenure with the Gamecocks.

His first season in 2018 was an impressive one, with both of his starting safeties grabbing All-Ohio Valley Conference honors and the Gamecocks winning an OVC-record fifth-straight conference title. In his second season, Bridges again earned

His third season with the Gamecocks, his defense led the OVC in Total Defense and Rushing Defense and was a driving force in JSU winning its sixth OVC title in seven years and earning the No. 4 National Seed in the FCS Playoffs. The Gamecocks held a school-record nine-straight opponents under 100 yards rushing at one point during the season. His 2021 defense was second nationally with defensive touchdowns, second only to Montana’s six.

Sigler came from South Alabama, where he spent two seasons as the Jaguars’ cornerbacks coach after a three-year stint at Northern Illinois. Prior to NIU, Sigler was on the 2012 defensive staff at Alabama, where he helped the Crimson Tide to a 13-1 record and a 42-14 win over Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship Game.

He went to Alabama after serving four seasons as the head coach at Blount High School in Prichard, Ala., where he led the Leopards to four-straight playoff appearances and the school’s first 10-win season since 1998 in 2011. He also served as a high school coach at Bob Jones and Greensboro High Schools.

Sigler lettered for four years at Alabama from 1995-98. During his career, Sigler intercepted six passes, led the team in tackles as a junior and was one of five permanent team captains his senior year.

ROD MCDOWELL

Assistant Coach/Running Backs

Second Season

Rod McDowell begins his second season as Jacksonville State’s Running Backs Coach under Head Coach Rich Rodriguez and looks to continue the success his unit enjoyed in his first season in 2022.

That first season saw McDowell’s running backs help the Gamecocks post a 9-2 record, a perfect 5-0 mark in ASUN Conference play and the conference’s title. The Gamecock running game was a huge part of that success, ranking fifth nationally in rushing yards per game and 10th in the country in scoring offense.

McDowell’s three top backs shared the load for Jax State in 2022, with newcomer Anwar Lewis racking up a team-high 818 yards with eight scores. Returners Matt LaRoche and Ron Wiggins ran for 627 and 461 yards, respectively, while Lewis (7.1) and Wiggins (7.7) averaged over seven yards per rush.

McDowell joined Rodriguez’s staff as the running backs coach in 2022 after serving in the same role at ULM during the 2021 season. At ULM, he took over a running backs unit that averaged less than 80 yards per game the season before he arrived and added over 50 yards per game to that average in his first season in 2021.

McDowell went to ULM in 2021 from his alma mater Clemson, where he spent the 2019 season as an offensive graduate assistant before serving in an offensive player development role in 2020. In his two years on the Clemson staff, he led the Tigers to a combined record of 24-3 (.889), including a 16-1 record (.941) in Atlantic Coast Conference games, back-to-back ACC Championships, consecutive trips to the College Football Playoff and No. 2 and No. 3 rankings in the final polls, respectively.

A four-year letterman from 2010-13, McDowell accounted for 1,983 career all-purpose yards and 14 touchdowns. As a senior in 2013, he rushed for 1,023 yards and five TDs while earning AllACC Third-Team honors.

A native of Sumter, South Carolina, McDowell graduated from Clemson with a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 2013.

TERRY JEFFERSON

Assistant Coach/Cornerbacks

He amassed 217 tackles over his career at FAMU and led the Rattlers in interceptions in 2016 and 2017.

The Miami native earned his degree in Exercise Science from Florida A&M in 2018 and then earned his Master’s in Sport Management from FAMU in 2019.

Jefferson also had a storied prep career, starting for four years for Booker T Washington High School in Miami, who he helped guide to a No. 1 national ranking during his career.

First Season

Terry Jefferson begins his first season on Head Coach Rich Rodriguez’s staff at Jacksonville State and will coach the Gamecocks’ Cornerbacks in 2023.

Jefferson joined the Gamecocks in the Spring of 2023 after serving over three years at the University of Miami. He worked with the Hurricane’s defensive backs in 2022 after two seasons helping Miami’s recruiting and personnel efforts. He also assisted with Miami’s Football Operations.

During his time in Miami, the Hurricanes enjoyed early success. They posted an 803 record in 2020 that included a 7-2 mark in ACC play and earned an appearance in the Cheez-It Bowl.

Jefferson played his college football at Florida A&M in Tallahassee, where he was a team captain and a three-time All-MEAC selection and an All-American for the Rattlers. He earned thirdteam honors in 2016 and 2018 before earning his way onto the All-MEAC First Team in 2019, when he was also a BOXTOROW All-American.

Gamecock Gameday 2023

MICHAEL NYSEWANDER

Assistant Coach/Tight Ends and Inside Receivers

First Season

Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry during his time in Tuscaloosa.

Following his playing career, Nysewander signed with the Kansas City Chiefs as a rookie free agent.

He started his coaching career at Samford, where he was the Bulldogs’ running backs coach before joining Kiffin’s support staff at Florida Atlantic in 2017. He would later follow Kiffin to Ole Miss.

Michael Nysewander is in his first season as the Tight Ends and Inside Receivers Coach on Rich Rodriguez’s staff at Jax State.

Nysewander joined the Gamecocks after the Spring of 2023 and looks to make in immediate impression after bringing experience from all levels of the game to Jacksonville with him.

He joined the Gamecocks after spending three seasons at Ole Miss, where he served as head coach Lane Kiffin’s Senior Analyst. During those three seasons, the Rebels went to three bowl games, including the Sugar Bowl and a 10-win campaign in 2021.

A native of Brimingham, Alabama, Nysewander is a 2015 graduate of the University of Alabama and received his degree in communication studies. While with the Crimson Tide, he was an H-Back/Tight End and helped head coach Nick Saban’s program to three National Championships and SEC Championships. Kiffin was his offensive coordinator at Alabama from 2014-16.

Wearing the number 46 on his Alabama jersey, he earned the nickname “Highway 46” for his knack to open lanes for running backs like

HOMECOMING 2023 - Alumni of the year

Alumnus of the Year

Mike Suco (‘90)

Mike Suco is President and CEO of Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, Inc. (UNITED), the second largest privately held Coca-Cola bottler in North America and the third largest Coca-Cola bottler in the United States. Coca-Cola UNITED has more than 50 facilities throughout the southeast in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, and employs more than 10,000 associates.

Mike grew up in Jacksonville, Alabama, where his family moved after immigrating from Cuba to the United States in 1962. His grandfather was a professor at Miles College in Birmingham and his mother was a professor at Jacksonville State University for 43 years.

After graduating from Jacksonville State University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Mike joined The Ernest and Julio Gallo Winery in 1991. He began in the company’s distributor network in Ft. Myers, Florida as a front-line merchandiser and salesperson, and progressed to district sales manager, field marketing manager, area manager, and state manager over his fiveyear tenure.

Mike has a long history of community engagement, both in Birmingham and Atlanta, including leadership and board affiliations with Oglethorpe University, Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Georgia Beverage Association, Hispanic Business Council, Fiesta Hispanic Cultural Festival, YMCA of Greater Birmingham, The Boy Scouts of America and Petroleum and Convenience Marketers of Alabama.

Mike enjoys competing in marathons, triathlons and playing golf. He and his wife Shelley have two children, Bella and Michael Jr., and reside in Birmingham.

Alumna of the Year

Susie Pinkard (‘86)

Susie Pinkard is a 1986 JSU Graduate. While at JSU Susie was a JSU Ballerina, a member of Zeta Tau Alpha, Kappa Sigma Little Sister and ROTC Sponsor. She currently serves on the JSU Foundation Board as a member of the Investment Advisory Committee and as a Board of Advisory member of the College of Business & Industry. Susie loves spending time as a guest speaker on the JSU campus, helping students prepare for their business careers.

Susie is a retired Agency Vice President from State Farm Insurance and Financial Services where she served for 32 years. Susie spends time in Brookhaven GA where she resides as well as Orange Beach AL, her home town. Susie is currently writing the book Stainless Steel Butterfly which is scheduled to release in January 2024. She has two adult children Charlie and Suanne and met her late husband Chuck here at JSU. She started the JSU Chuck Pinkard Memorial Golf Scholarship to honor and remember him and provide financial opportunities for a JSU golfer.

For more about this year’s Homecoming Award Winners and all things Jax State 2023 Homecoming, visit jsu.edu/homecoming

Young Alumn of the Year

Megan Treglown (‘13, ‘16)

Megan Treglown was born and raised in Plainville, Georgia and now resides in Rome, GA. She received her Bachelor’s in Communication, concentration in Public Relations, in 2013 and a Master’s in Public Administration in 2016. During Megan’s time at JSU she was Marching Ballerina and served on their leadership team. She was also a Residence Life Coordinator for the Office of Housing and Residence Life at JSU during her Masters program. Megan is the Founder and CEO of MegTreg Collective- a social media and marketing agency. Prior to this, she spent the last five years with the Office of Downtown Development in the City of Rome, GA, serving as the Downtown Marketing & Special Events Manager. She was in Rome Floyd Chamber’s Leadership Rome Class 36, as well as graduated from the Georgia Academy for Economic Development in 2019.

Currently she also serves on the Heart of the Community Board as Secretary, is the Publicity Chair and Follies Chair of Junior Service League of Rome, and serves on the Greater Rome JSU Alumni Board. Recently, Megan was selected as a celebrity for the Rome Celebrity Dance Challenge which raises funds for the Northwest Georgia Sexual Assault Center. She is also very involved with the Marching Ballerinas, especially on Southerner’s Reunion weekend, leading the secret pal initiative which has alum partnered with Ballerinas the current line.

In her free time, Megan enjoys spending time with her dog, Skye, and cat, Stormy, and exploring downtown Rome and connecting with her community there.

Gamecock Gameday 2023

2023 Jax State Football

2023 Athletic Training staff

Head Athletic Trainer Mike Polascik

Football Support Staff

Jared Pullen Equipment

Cody Spoon Dir. of Player Personnel

Cole Dial Dir. of FB Operations

Raquel Rodriguez Creative Content

Ty Arlesic Recruiting Asst.

Walker French Offensive Quality Control

Patrick McCain Operations/Personnel

Dusty Rutledge Chief of Staff

Garrett Hirsch Dir. On-Campus Recruiting

Blake McCall Strength

Troymaine Pope Offensive Quality Control

Randy Pippen Senior Analyst

Landon Cornett Offensive Quality Control

Ja’Cquez Williams Defensive G.A.

James Edwards Defensive G.A.

Henry Weinreich Defensive Analyst Luke Cassity Defensive Quality Control

Derek Dressler Offensive Analyst

Benjamin Hall Video

Sam McLain Defensive G.A

Thomas Futch Offensive G.A

Bo Babich Asst. Strength Coach

Thayne Bukowski Dir. Skill and Development

Isaac Miller Administrative G.A.

Chris Wallace Asst. Strength and Cond.

2023 marks Dr. Kenneth G. Bodiford’s 30th season at the helm of the Jacksonville State University Marching Southerners. Standing on the shoulders of the band’s Founding Fathers and the nearly 40 years of tradition that preceded him, Dr. Bodiford alongside his staff (Mr. Clint Gillespie, Dr. Jeremy Stovall, Mr. Rodney Bailey, and Mrs. Noelle Stovall) have built a legacy of artistry and excellence that has taken the Marching Southerners from the familiar foothills of Jacksonville, Ala., across the United States and to the other side of the world. From the islands of Hawaii to the lights of New York City…from the streets of London and Rome and to Paris in 2024…to multiple appearances at Bands of America Regionals and Nationals…to winning the coveted Sudler Trophy in 2022…it has, indeed, been an incredible journey.

Bookended by Matthew Wilder and David Zippel’s “Reflection,” the 2023 production, REFLECTION, is comprised of material chosen by the results of a vote of the Southerners members, fans, and family of their favorite content from the shows of Dr. Bodiford’s tenure. You’ll hear “Firebird,” “Fly to Paradise,” “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, “Over the Rainbow,” “I’ll Fly Away,” and “Malaguena” re-imagined for a thrilling and emotional trip down memory lane!

GAMECOCK Athletic ADMINISTRATION and personnel

Gamecock Gameday 2023

Julia Grissom Administrative Assistant

Beverly Barnwell Academics

Misty Ray Assistant AD/Compliance

Josh Underwood Associate AD/Media Relations

Tracy Broom Assistant AD/Academics/SWA

Mike Parris Broadcasting

Doug Phillips Ticket Office

Lori McFall Executive Secretary to the AD

Noah Lewis Account Exec., JSU Sports Properties

Bryant Powers General Manager, JSU Sports Properties

Tony Schmidt Assistant Sports Information Director

Dr. Greg Bonds Senior Associate AD

David Smith Graphic Designer

Patrick Williams Public Address Announcer

Ataska Winsett Student Athlete Development

Brandon Phillips Photographer

Greg Seitz Director of Athletics

Dr. Jan Case Faculty Athletic Rep.

Ray Hammett Broadcasting

Derrick Baer Coordinator of Athletic Ops.

Roshard Cargill Coliseum Sports Facility Cord.

Donna Callan MGR of Athletic Marketing and Promotions

Tee Neely Compliance

Mark Jones Athletic Operations Assistant Ricky Rutledge Coordinator of Athletic Facilities

Nathan Roberts Academics

Kyle Raughton Production Specialist

Logan Maddox Assistant Sports Information Director

Daniel Porter Assistant SID / Secondary Football

Committed to playing with a purpose.

We’re all about that gameday energy. At Alabama Power, we share your passion for the team—and your pride for where we live. We love big wins, but celebrate all victories that push our state forward. For over 100 years, we’ve been committed to proving what we accomplish together, on and off the field, makes us stronger. It’s Power for a Better Alabama. We proudly support the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. alabamapower.com © 2023 Alabama Power Company