The spring season for Grambling State could only be described as misery.
The Tigers went 0-4 (all losses in SWAC play) including a 49-7 defeat at the hands of Southern in the Bayou Classic.
Along the way, Grambling lost its starting quarterback to the transfer portal, had two changes at offensive coordinator, and sustained a COVID-19 outbreak that ravaged the roster.
How can Grambling bounce back from the program’s worst season since 2013?
By developing collective amnesia.
And just simply move on.
“The first thing we do is forget about it,” Grambling head coach Broderick Fobbs said during SWAC Media Day. “We don’t really talk about it because we’ve learned what we needed to learn from it. We’ve gotten out of it what we needed to get out of it.”
The Tigers — historically among the annual favorites to win the SWAC West — were picked to finish third behind division newcomer Alcorn State and rival Southern in the league’s preseason rankings.
Junior Elijah Walker, the projected starter for Grambling, said he’s used the failures of the spring as motivation to excel in the fall.
“I took it very personally,” Walker said. “Knowing who we are, it just made us more hungry. We’ve been doing workouts this summer, and I feel like already we’re better as a team.”
Also read: Grambling State to name California junior college coach next offensive coordinator
Grambling hopes to have finally found some stability on offense after Eric Marty was named offensive coordinator in the offseason.
The unit only averaged 16.5 points per game, which was second-worst in the conference to Mississippi Valley State.
The early returns, Fobbs said, indicate that the group is more physical under Marty’s guidance than a season ago when they were battered by opponents most weeks.
The Tigers will definitely have its work cut out for them what now is a deeper, stronger conference after realignment.
But Fobbs says consistency will be the key for a fall resurgence.
“It’s going to take us doing what we’ve done,” he said in reference to the familiar principles that have carried Grambling to success.” The parity in this league now … there is no such thing as being a top-heavy league anymore.
“We have to come play every week.”
