Improvements planned as JSU takes over Miss. Veterans Stadium

Jackson, MS - Gone will be that ancient video board towering over the field and that puny broken one atop the opposite end zone. Upgrades are coming to those rickety elevators and that paint-chipped press box, too.

Jackson State fans will see a few noticeable differences at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium this fall, the first year the university is in control of the 60-year-old venue. Today, JSU takes ownership of the stadium from the Department of Finance and Administration for at least three years, according to a legislative bill passed in March. University officials said earlier this year they will pour $1.5 million to $3 million into the structure - most, if not all of those funds, coming from a legislative bond bill.



The worn press box will get a new paint job and the elevator to the press box and club levels will be renovated. But more importantly, JSU fans will see two new scoreboards when they enter the 60,000-seat stadium on Sept. 3 for the team's opener against Concordia College.

The stadium's outdated jumbotron is to be replaced with a massive virtual scoreboard that will more than double the size of the current video screen.



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JSU Football Receives Postseason Ban

Jackson State University head football coach
Rick Comegy is in final season of contract.

Nearly 90 percent, 16 of 18, of Jackson State University's athletic programs scored at or above the national average when the National Collegiate Athletic Association released its annual Academic Progress Rate (APR) report Tuesday, May 24. Two sports, football and baseball, failed to meet the standards.

Two JSU teams were nationally recognized for being in the top 10 percent, in regards to Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores and achievement. The women’s golf and tennis teams both received perfect APR scores of 1,000. Four other teams recorded scores of 970 and above: men’s tennis (970), volleyball (978), softball (982) and women’s cross country (994). Eight teams scored in the range 926-968: bowling (926), men’s indoor track (943), women’s indoor track (946), men’s outdoor track (946), men’s golf (946), soccer (963), women’s outdoor track (965) and men’s cross country (968). The women’s basketball team recorded a score of 917 and the men’s basketball team scored 906.

Football and baseball were the only two sports to fall below the national benchmark of 900. The football program scored 879 and the baseball team scored 888. The football team will be limited to 50.46 scholarships, 16 hours of practice time five days a week and a ban from post-season play (with the exception of the Southwestern Athletic Conference football championship game according to NCAA Bylaws). However, the final decision...

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NCAA grants Jackson State full waiver from academic penalties

Jackson State University has received good news from the organization that had threatened to level harsh penalties against the school's football program.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has agreed to waive, for now, penalties the team faced for poor academic performance, according to documents obtained by The Clarion-Ledger.

Without the waiver, JSU likely would have been banned from post-season participation this fall and faced other punishment, including the loss of scholarships and even expulsion from Division I, the NCAA's highest classification for athletics. JSU's football program is in trouble because it has routinely fallen below the NCAA's benchmark score of 900 for Academic Progress Rate (APR)...


Videographer: JSUTigers1877; JSU Day at the Capitol w/ the Sonic Boom of the South

NCAA gives Jackson State more time to improve football team's academics

JACKSON, Miss. — The NCAA has given Jackson State University more time to improve the football team's academic performance.

The Clarion-Ledger reports documents it obtained through a public records request shows Jackson State will not be banned from postseason play this season and will get a break on scholarship reductions. Earlier reports were the academic performance rate by JSU was below — for a third straight year — what the NCAA required.

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JSU football could face loss of NCAA membership

Coach Rick Comegy is in final year of contract

Jackson State University's football team will be banned from postseason play this fall and the athletic department's membership in the National Collegiate Athletic Association is likely to be restricted by 2012 if the NCAA does not grant the school's waiver request.

The team's Academic Progress Rate, a rolling, four-year figure that calculates academic performance, has fallen below a critical benchmark for the third straight year, according to documents obtained recently by The Clarion-Ledger through a public records request.

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JSU LATEST NCAA APR REPORT: CLICK HERE

JSU 2011 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Date Opponent / Event Location Time / Result
09/03/11 Concordia (Selma, AL) Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium 1:30 p.m. CT
09/10/11 vs. Tennessee State Memphis, TN 6:00 p.m. CT
09/17/11 at Southern Baton Rouge, LA TBA
09/24/11 vs. Alabama State Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium 4:00 p.m. CT
10/01/11 vs. Texas Southern Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium 4:00 p.m. CT
10/08/11 vs. Arkansas - Pine Bluff Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium 4:00 p.m. CT
10/15/11 at Mississippi Valley State Itta Bena, MS TBA
10/29/11 at Prairie View A&M Prairie View, TX TBA
11/05/11 vs. Grambling St. Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium 2:00 p.m. CT
11/12/11 at Alabama A&M Huntsville, AL TBA
11/19/11 vs. Alcorn State Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium 1:00 p.m. CT

Saturday spotlight shines on JSU special teams‎

JSU Coach Rick Comegy is looking to bounce back from a 3-8 season.

Jackson State began the process of fine-tuning its kicking game at the team's second fall practice Saturday, coach Rick Comegy said. "We got some good kicking stuff done, special teams work," Comegy said. "We emphasized trying to get our punt protection. Second and third (string) guys got work." The special teams' spotlight, though, shines on the two new kickers. Eric Perri and punter Brett Bennett, both All-SWAC members, are gone.

Jabril Smith, a sophomore and former Callaway player who redshirted last year, is likely to replace Perri. Smith handled kickoff duties for the Tigers as a true freshman in 2008, averaging 50 yards a boot. Transfer Reed Gallagher is set to replace Bennett. Gallagher punted at Coahoma Community College last year. "Both are kicking well," Comegy said. "I'm looking for both to have a good year."

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APR punishment leaves Tigers short on practice time

Jackson State football players will get a slight reprieve in practice time this fall, but that's not necessarily a good thing. Because of the program's low Academic Progress Rate, Jackson State will be restricted to 16 hours of practice a week - four fewer hours than the NCAA normally allows. Fall practice begins at 3 p.m. today, and putting together a plan to work within the 16-hour framework could be an issue for coach Rick Comegy and his staff - especially since the team is installing a new offense.

"We're going to get the best out of those 16 hours. We know what we want to get it in," Comegy said. "We don't like it, but it fits. We can make it fit." Along with practice time, JSU was penalized with a reduction in scholarships. The program was restricted to offering 23.7 scholarships during February's signing class. Football Championship Subdivision teams are allowed to offer 30 scholarships per signing class.

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JSU Tigers ready to make amends for 3-8 season‎

When he signed with the Jackson State football team in 2006, Antonio Colston had heard the stories about Tigers fans - how some go to games just for the halftime shows. "I knew that a lot of fans come strictly for the band," Colston, a senior offensive lineman from Mobile, said in an interview last week. "I never knew it was so strong until we started losing."

Marked by a season-ending loss to in-state rival Alcorn State and poor attendance figures, last year's 3-8 record came with something else: embarrassment for players. "It really hurt my heart," safety Kerry Hoskins said last week. "We were a better team than that."

Players were not allowed to talk to reporters Wednesday, the first day they reported for fall camp in preparation for the Sept. 4 season opener against Delta State. Ninety players reported to campus, said school spokesman Wesley Peterson. Coach Rick Comegy, who was also not available for interviews, spoke through the spokesman.

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Pro Bowler Returns Home to Jackson State for Redemption

Jimmy Smith is rich - and proud of it. Jimmy Smith is arrogant - and proud of it. Jimmy Smith is on probation - and not proud of it. But he's not ashamed of it, either. The former Callaway High School and Jackson State receiver, who earned the nickname J-Smooth during a 12-year NFL career that included five trips to the Pro Bowl, has come home to Jackson with redemption on his mind.

"I've learned how to be happy," Smith said. "I learned to manage my life. Earlier, I couldn't. That's what got me into trouble, got me arrested. Fortunately, I had the right people in my life, my mom, my dad, a lot of influential people ... who knew that wasn't who Jimmy Smith was. "Now I'm able to live and tell about it."

Smith, 41, was arrested on April 22, 2009 in Jacksonville, Fla., and charged with possession of cocaine. Already on probation for a 2008 DUI, Smith pleaded guilty in November to the cocaine charge but escaped jail. Instead, he was fined and sentenced to 18 additional months of probation, and six months of house arrest.

"It's a chapter of my life I'm anxious to close," Smith said. "It definitely was a good learning experience for me. I don't look at it as something bad. I look as it as a component that I can now share with others that may be in that situation. "I've turned all my focus into developing youths, mentoring and raising my own kids."

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Jackson State: McDonald on spot in Spring

Dedric McDonald spoke with an assuredness Saturday that just wasn't there last year. The Jackson State quarterback was concise but also expounded on his thoughts when needed. Interviews and a lot of other things weren't so smooth in 2009 for the then-redshirt freshman. But McDonald swears that's changing as Jackson State begins spring practices today.

JSU quarterback Dedrick McDonald fumbles the ball against Alcorn State last season.

A lot has to change for McDonald if he plans to hold onto his job as the No. 1 quarterback when JSU starts the season against Delta State on Sept. 4. The Tigers went 3-7 with a horrid offense that ranked No. 9 in the SWAC (13.9 points a game) and subpar contributions from the quarterback position. Tray Rutland and McDonald were constantly flip-flopped in and out of the lineup as coach Rick Comegy searched for a playmaker. Neither ever separated himself as the duo combined to throw twice as many interceptions (12) as touchdowns (6).

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