This season to test Southern University fans, Mitchell

Baton Rouge, LA - Covered in sweat, physically spent and anxious to wrap up a long preseason, Southern football players gathered around Stump Mitchell near the 20-yard line on the south end of A.W. Mumford Stadium.

There, they took a knee. There, they listened as their 5-foot-8 coach delivered a fiery post-scrimmage speech — a speech intended to fire up the Jaguars for the week that lay ahead. This week, he told them, the season arrives. This week offers a chance for everyone to see how far they’ve come.

“These guys will be ready,” said Mitchell, whose team faces Tennessee State in Nashville, Tenn., at 6 p.m. Saturday, more than ready to forget about last year’s gruesome 2-9 record. “We’ve got some guys that are mature — more so than we had last year. And we’re just excited that (the season) is here.”

It is, without much doubt, a pivotal one for Mitchell, who enters the second year of a three-year contract.



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