Jackson State has traveled 2,055 miles and played a football game in four different cities to open the 2023 season.
But not one of them has been at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium yet.
That will change Saturday when the Tigers play their first regular season home game since Oct. 29, 2022, when they host Bethune-Cookman.
To say Jackson State head coach T.C. Taylor has been looking forward to finally playing at home is an understatement.
“I’ve been thinking about this since last December when I was named head coach,” said Taylor earlier this week.
The last time JSU was at Veterans Memorial Stadium, Deion Sanders was the head coach. Shedeur Sanders was the quarterback, and Travis Hunter was playing both ways for the Tigers in the SWAC championship clincher against Southern last December on a bittersweet day for the football program.
Minutes after the Tigers hoisted the conference championship trophy, Sanders whisked the team out of the stadium and back to campus to announce that he would be the next head coach at Colorado.
A lot has changed in the 292 days since that night. The program is vastly different than before. But the support of the fanbase and city has remained strong, as evidenced by a large contingent of Jackson State fans for games in Atlanta, Miami, Baton Rouge, and San Marcos, Texas.
“The atmosphere is going to be crazy. I look forward to the fans and just seeing all the red up in there,” said Taylor. “The entire city of Jackson is buzzing for this weekend. When that time comes, I’m going to come out with some juice, though. I’m really looking forward to it, but when we get to that point, our football team has to be ready. We gotta be ready to play a complete football game this weekend.”
