Southern picked to win division as Dooley brings excitement to Jaguars

It is a good time to be a fan of Southern Jaguars football.

Eric Dooley has Southern fans excited and why not?

Dooley was an assistant coach with the Jaguars under Pete Richardson from 1997-2010 when the program experienced mostly good fortune and results. Those were golden days for the blue and gold including HBCU National championship seasons in 1997 and 2003.

Additionally, Southern won four SWAC titles in that time frame.

Dooley arrived at Southern in December, following the 2021 season.

Dooley was the head coach at Prairie View A&M, where he led his team to the SWAC Western Division championship last season. That included a 48-21 win over Southern in Baton Rouge.

Dooley’s Prairie View teams were ranked national in several offensive and defensive categories.

Dooley’s experience, particularly in the SWAC, is a huge plus as he also served previously as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Arkansas-Pine Bluff and spent four years at Grambling as offensive coordinator.

Dooley has been able to sell his successes and previous successes at Southern to his current players. The culture change is clear to those who observe the Jaguar program.

To put things in perspective of how much respect Dooley gets, Southern, coming off a disappointing 4-7 season, including 3-5 in the SWAC, has been picked to win the SWAC Western Division by league coaches and sports information directors.

The Jaguars received 11 first place votes and 111 total points, edging out Alcorn State, who received five first place votes and 110 points. Prairie View, Dooley’s former program, was picked third with 82 points with Grambling fourth with 77 points.

Deion Sanders has his Jackson State team picked to win the East.

Southern has three players on the preseason all-conference team, including center Dallas Black of McMain and a pair of defensive linemen in tackle Jason Dumas of St. James, who followed Dooley from Prairie View, and end Jordan Lewis.

In addition, guard Brian Williams and tackle Jeremiah Stafford were second-team choices, signifying the strength of the Southern offensive line.

There is excitement with the infusion of transfer quarterback Besean McCray into the program.

A redshirt sophomore, McCray has outstanding speed and is good enough in the passing game as well to present a dual threat.

Last season at Hinds Community College, McCray (5-10, 180) completed 164 of 285 passes (57.5%) for 1,910 yards with eight touchdowns and nine interceptions. McCray also rushed 103 times for 294 yards and five touchdowns.

The season opens September 3 at home at Mumford Stadium against Florida Memorial.

The excitement ramps up when Southern has an opportunity to stay in town and make the very short drive to Tiger Stadium to take on LSU, with its first-year coach in Brian Kelly, on September 10.

The momentum continues into week three when the Jaguars travel to Arlington to play Texas Southern at Globe Life Park, home of the Texas Rangers, in the SWAC opener for both teams.

Another game to point to is October 8 at Prairie View as Dooley returns to face his former team.

On October 29, Southern faces conference power Jackson State in Jackson.

Then, there is always the finale to look forward to with great anticipation as the Jaguars battle Grambling in the Bayou Classic at Caesars Superdome at 1 p.m.

The Tigers won a 29-26 thriller last Novemeber to end the season for the Jaguars.

With a new coach, a new approach and a new quarterback, the prospects for Southern are quite good, exciting, heading into the 2022 season.