Charged up! Pre-season ends, game time begins for high-powered Jaguar offense

The road to glory is not paved with gold but with adversity. Southern University football is used to adversity, and in the preseason their aim was to overcome it whether it was the heat or NCAA approval.
The goal for the season is very simple; make it to the Southwestern Athletic Championship and win it all. Accomplishing this would mean the Jaguars third trip to Houston to vie for the title.
In the SWAC, simplicity isn’t a luxury.
Between now and Sept. 5, Southern has to finish their core training before facing Louisiana Tech.
“We have to take it one game at a time,” said SU football Head Coach, Dawson Odums.
Southern believes they have a weapon with which to negate any potential threats; their well-oiled offense.
“We have a well-rounded offense and we’ve been working on the deep ball all summer. The quarterback has the hard job and all I have to do is back him up,” said veteran, Mike Jones.
Jones has a history of remaining vigilant into the new seasons. In last season’s Bayou Classic, he caught three passes for 130 yards, including touchdowns of 45 and 55 yards as Southern won 52-45 to win its second consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference West division title.
Jones said that he has a better connection with Howard since last season.
“It’s simple, he puts it out there and I go get it,” finished Jones.
Besides him as a threat, Randall Menard is back from a toe injury that sat him out last season. Justin Morgan is noticed that he will receive more touches on the football this season and is open.
“He’s very versatile,” said Odums. “He’s probably one of the most talented guys on the team. He’s compact. He’s got explosive speed. He can play the slot receiver, he can play the outside receiver, he can play running back.”
Lenard Tillery’s top run last season was at approximately 1,000 rushing yards and then Tyre’ Brackens and Jamarkcus Jarvis left in the offseason.
Willie Quinn sits in at the number one slot as receiver since last season he was the opposing threat in his catches as well as his dual role in kick returns.
Anthony Moseley returns to his spot after a season on leave as the senior offensive lineman and edges to not disappoint the team.
Last but not least, sophomore Austin Howard rises out of the gates of being a freshman and now embraced his title as quarterback.
Howard completed 168 of 325 passes for 2,334 yards and 17 touchdowns with only eight interceptions in the previous season. He also rushed for 201 yards and four touchdowns.
Howard spoke on his past experience with, “I’ve been starting and doing this football thing since 6 years old, 7 years old,” Howard said. “It really wasn’t a big deal to me. I knew if I had the opportunity I was going to take full advantage of it.”
And taken advantage he has.
Odums bounces out of the gate and speaks well on Howard.
“I think Austin is the better quarterback and his ability is second to none. He plays fast and he can be as good as anybody. When you coach him against good opponents, he comes down to earth,” said Odums.