Jags look to stay alive in the West

 
The Texas Southern Tigers made plans to visit ‘Virgil Island’ this Saturday, hoping to spoil homecoming night in Baton Rouge.
When they arrive, cornerback Virgil Williams will greet them, filled with an ‘electric’ football talent known around the Southwestern Athletic Conference as a impact player.
“If the season was to end, right now there’s no doubt Virgil Williams would be our most valuable player,” interim head coach Dawson Odums said.
According to Odums, Williams is electric and he expects him to perform at high levels after playing in as many as 24 games for the Jaguars.
Williams enters Saturday’s game against the Tigers as the team’s leading tackler (36) and leads the SWAC in punt return average (12.0).
“Coach Biagi really pushes the special teams,” Williams told reporters before Tuesday’s practice.
Before trotting onto the practice field, Williams told reporters that he credits the other ten guys present on the field as they set up blocks while he ran around them.
Williams, whose No.7 jersey is sought out before every kickoff, also wears the nickname ‘Virgil Island’ similar to All-pro NFL cornerback Darrelle Revis.
Like the Jets, the Jaguars need Williams to play well like he has done in his past three seasons.
He’s become one of the best, most dangerous and his impact has been crucial in a division led by Arkansas Pine-Bluff. 
The Tigers sixth rank scoring offense and pass offense will, again, look to arrive at Mumford Stadium in search for a needed win.
“Anybody would feel disrespected if you scheduled them for homecoming,” offensive lineman Chris Browne said, a senior who’s playing in his final homecoming game at Southern.
“Our job is to punch them in the mouth first. They have good talented players on their team so we have to respect our opponent. We can’t do what we did last week,” Browne said.
TSU has lost its previous five games, being outscored by their opponents 216-61, which the Shreveport native Williams sees as an opportunity for the Tigers to spoil SU’s homecoming.
“I think that they are going to have the mentality we had last year,” Williams said of the Jaguars 4-7 2011 season.
He pointed out that it was key that the Jaguars compete through all quarters, after being outscored by opponents 127-87 in all five games so far, which include a 21-0 fourth-quarter rally that allowed Jackson State to pull within seven points in a 28-21 win as time expired.
The 5′ 9″ 180-pound cornerback told reporters that he felt the defense should force more turnovers and score points, as they returned to practice this week, looking to improve after suffering a 20-17 against Alcorn State last weekend.
“We expect the offense to score just like they are expecting us to get stops,” Williams said. Speaking to the defense, as defensive captain Williams said, “We also expect, as ourselves (defense) to score points even if the offense can’t get it going.”
Williams is one of the Jaguars’ primary playmakers, which he displayed against the Braves last weekend when he returned a punt 50 yards for a score that tied the game as time expired in the third quarter.  
“I plan to get plenty more, he said.
Since 2009, the Tigers have held a 3-0 edge beginning under then head coach Pete Richardson, who SU fired prior to hiring Stump Mitchell, who also was relieved of his duties as head coach this season.
“That’s a football team that’s found some life since coach Odums has taken over,” TSU head coach Darrell Asberry said during the SWAC’s Monday media teleconference.
Asberry looks forward to traveling back to his hometown of Baton Rouge, where the Tigers last defeated SU 54-7 en route to the 2010 conference title.
The team was lead that year by head coach Johnnie Cole, whom the university fired in spring 2011 as they awaited an NCCA report that detailed major rule violations regarding recruiting, unethical conduct, TSU athletic director Charles McClelland told reporters at the time.  
The Tigers will again suffer postseason bans beginning in 2013, the NCAA found a lack of institutional control and outlined problems through 13 sports over a seven year period.
Other penalties include probation, scholarship limitations and vacating of all team records from 2006-10 in all sports, which include the Tigers 2010 Southwestern Athletic Conference football title, which was the program’s first football title since 1968.
The Jaguars faced similar penalties, becoming the first school to face postseason suspension bans in two programs – men’s basketball and football, citing APR problems.
“They made a coaching change,” Odums said. “Anytime you make a coaching change, it takes the kids a little while to adapt to what you’re trying to get done.”