Head Coach: Charles Kelly is in his first season as the head coach of the Gamecocks. This is his first head coaching job but he comes with a ton of experience as a DC. He worked with a wide variety of head coaches including Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher and Deion Sanders. He’s known as an old school coach who loves ball and will focus on recruiting players that are ready for the same. Jax State clearly liked the culture Rich Rod established and made a hire that will keep that going, I love when a program has a clear plan.
Program Outlook: It’s hard to believe, but Jacksonville State has only been in FBS for 2 years so far! It’s been an incredible run already, they’ve yet to miss a bowl and already have a conference championship to their name. They are thriving at this level, but now their goal will be to maintain it under new leadership. Alabama may refuse to acknowledge other programs in the state, but it’s very apparent you don’t have to just be a SEC program to have success in this state. 3 of the 4 non-SEC programs in Alabama have won a conference championship in the last 5 years, so clearly it’s a great place to be.
How does the 2025 Roster look?: Jax State ranks 135th in the country returning 27% of their production per Punt and Rally’s returning production rankings. To say this is an overhaul is an understatement. Key players include a few that do return, the Gamecocks return their 2nd and 3rd receivers from last year in Michael Pettway and Brock Rechsteiner. But who is going to throw the ball to them? Gavin Wimsatt flashed some ability at Rutgers, but it was mostly his running ability and this is expected to be an efficiency based pass attack. The other QBs in the race haven’t taken a snap, Caden Creel and Cade Cunningham are the top options there. At RB TCU transfer Cam Cook was an instant impact pickup. The defensive side of the ball will be led by defensive lineman Jawaun Campbell who was a menace as a freshman last year. The Gamecocks also have size with 600lbs of BIGGER MEATIER MEN filling up the inside of the Dline. The rest of the defense did a lot of portal shuffling with players leaving via the portal but they also brought a lot of guys in. There’s a lot of possibilities here with this much change.
Screenshot from FBSchedules.com
2025 Schedule Thoughts: The Gamecocks schedule isn’t super favorable considering the situation. They open with UCF, plus have road games at Georgia Southern and Southern Miss to headline the non-conference. Murray State struggled at the FCS level last year so they at least have this game to help a bit. The thing I hate the most about Jax State’s CUSA schedule is they play their biggest contender, Liberty right away, not a lot of time to get these new parts in order. Jax State overall plays a lot of the better teams in the conference, but they get relative newcomers in Delaware and Kennesaw State to help a bit.
Final Thoughts: This season can go many directions for Jax State. I’m uncomfortable with how much roster turnover they had but this is a winning program and I like the coaching staff they assembled so there’s reason for optimism. It’s going to be critical to get all the new parts in order quickly because if they don’t, they could easily stare at a 1-4 start. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them win the conference again either.
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