TSU's new offense will stress run before pass

TSU head coach Rod Reed.















Mike Jones etched his name in Tennessee State's record books catching the ball, but he plans to re-energize the Tigers' offense emphasizing the run. Jones, a Division I-AA All-American in 1981 and 1982 who holds many of the school's receiving records, returned to TSU as offensive coordinator when former defensive coordinator Rod Reed replaced James Webster as head coach in December. The Tigers begin spring practice today with a chief objective to improve the offense, which ranked 97th (274.6 yards) in the Football Championship Series and failed to score more than one touchdown in four games.

Jones, who had 200 catches at TSU and 165 in six NFL seasons, said he learned to appreciate a quality running game during his coaching career, which included nine years in NFL Europe, a year at Liberty University, a stop in the XFL and last year in the CFL (Toronto). "Go back over my history in coaching and you'll see I probably ran it more than I threw it,'' Jones said. "I had some coaches with me in NFLEurope who felt the run game was very important and when I played (in the NFL) at Minnesota and New Orleans they ran it quite a bit. I developed an appetite for it as well."

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