What Charles Kelly had to say at Jax State Football Media Day

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. — Charles Kelly addressed the media Monday ahead of the start of fall camp, heading into his second season at Jacksonville State. The Gamecocks opened camp Wednesday. Kelly returns 50 lettermen after inheriting a roster of just 46 last year. He was joined by Taylor Housewright, in his first season as Jacksonville State's offensive coordinator after serving as tight ends coach last year, and second-year defensive coordinator Brian Williams, whose unit finished second in Conference USA in takeaways and third in total defense in 2025.

Here is what he had to say.

On the start of training camp

"I told our guys last night sitting in these seats, this is the best you will feel for the rest of the year right now. Because it is a long season. But we're excited about starting training camp. And in fall camp, that's exactly what it is. It's training camp. We are training our players to develop the skills and the tools that they will need throughout the season to play a challenging schedule."

On his five priorities for camp

"The number one thing that we're focused on is meeting the standards that we have set. Those standards and expectations — it starts with how we dress, with how we stretch, how we go from drill to drill. It's not just always about plays and schemes and those types of things."

"The second thing, we want to be able to find competitors. We want to find guys that will compete and that are able to compete at a high level. Those competitors have to be disciplined. You cannot play this game undisciplined. Talented players that are undisciplined are unusable."

"We've got to teach our guys the what, the how and the why. We got to teach them what to do. We got to teach them how to do it, which is the most important thing because how you do things determines everything. And then teaching them why it's important to do things a specific way."

"We got to teach game situations because that's where the games are won. Whether it be first and second down, whether it be third down, whether it be red zone, whether it be goal line. Think of how many games we won in two-minute situations last year."

"The fifth thing that we've got to do is we got to eliminate this outcome talk. All this hype and the things that go with the excitement is not about hype. It's not about outcomes. No, we got to eliminate that because in order to get better, you got to be able to focus on the process, what we call the grind. And we don't just use it as a saying. That's what we believe."

On the value of returning players

"It is always better when you bring guys back that have been through the system, that understand the expectations and the standards that we demand. We try to narrow things down. I try to make things very precise for our players."

On newcomers who have stood out

"Jonavan Carr, defensive back, has done a lot of good things. Ronnel Johnson came in from Missouri State. He's done some very good things. I think in that receiver room, there are some guys that have helped us from an ability standpoint and depth standpoint."

"There's some freshman that have done really good. Rollie Pinto has flashed at times. Mo [Maurice Winston] has flashed at running back. But besides those guys that transferred that went through spring, we haven't hit anybody yet. Football is not a contact sport. It is a collision sport. We have had no collisions yet. So guys play different when collisions start."

On having more continuity in year two

"It doesn't change the way we approach things. My philosophy is we go back to day one every day we start. Probably one of the greatest coaches that ever coached the game, John Wooden in basketball, his first practice was he taught people how to tie their shoes. That was their first practice because if you didn't know how to tie your shoes, then you got blisters on your feet. When you got blisters on your feet, you couldn't play as well as you could normally play. And he did it every year the same way."

"We got to go back to square one no matter who you have coming back. But when you have guys that come back in your program that have been there, they understand the standards of how things should be done. They know how we dress when we go on the field. They know how we approach stretch before practice because all that is important. If you don't do those things right, then you're going to get hurt. You're going to limit yourself in practice and then you limit your development because everything is about development."

"The worst thing that the older guys can do is become bored with the details. They have to learn to work through that, and that's a challenge to make yourself go back over and over. But when you do that, that's how you get to the upper part of development."

On standards and culture

"Every organization has standards and it's easy to put standards on a wall. It's easy to just say we do this or we do that. The hard thing is making sure that everybody in your building lives up to those standards. In order to do that, you have to confront people when they aren't meeting those standards."

"Everybody uses the word culture. 'We're building a culture. We're redoing the culture.' We don't talk about culture because if you hold your standards at a high level and everybody does those standards, culture is a result of that."

On the process — the mountain climber analogy

"It's like a mountain climber. The guys that climb the tallest mountains in the world, if they look at the mountain top, they're going to slip, they're going to die. They look down. They look at taking one step at a time, and eventually they get to where they want to get to. You don't get to where you want to get to looking where you're going. You got to look step by step."

On Rollie Pinto and Maurice Winston

"Rollie's a great competitor. He flashes to me when I see him going through drills, when I see him in the weight room. I think it's too early to tell right now because we haven't gotten out there, not a lot of collisions. But you do see the intangibles that he brings with his discipline, his toughness, his competitiveness. We're looking for competitors and he's shown that in what we've done so far."

"Mo has a gift because he's extremely fast. The two things you can't coach is size and speed. And he has speed. He can really run. Now, how he processes everything — playing running back, there's a lot of other things that you got to do besides run and catch the football. You got to be able to pick up the blitz. You got to be able to recognize defenses. Things move a lot faster for these young players."

On the offensive line

"We did lose some starters, but we've got a few guys back that have started before. There are a lot of guys that have played a lot of football, maybe not necessarily been penciled in as a starter to begin with."

"The one thing I am excited about is we've got Luke back, our center. The two guys that touch the ball every play, you got both those guys back on offense — your center and your quarterback."

"Lance Johnson played a lot of football, extremely talented as a freshman. He's grown a lot in the offseason. Jeremiah Orr started at tackle. He's back from an injury. He looks really good. J.R. Jernigan played last year. Nate Smith played last year. They were in some critical games, critical situations. So I think we've got enough experience to bring those other guys along."

"The guys we brought in the portal — we brought guys that had production that have played. Amarii Atchison played at Mercer. He lined up and blocked the guys at Auburn in one of their last games last year. Cam Stancil played at Murray State last year, played a lot of football for them. The guys that we did bring in have experience, and I think that eliminates a little bit of that unknown."

On position battles

"I think about the corner position. We got Tre'Quon Fegans and Jaheim Jenkins coming back, but we've got some talented guys there that have really competed. JQ Brooks has done some really good things. Rodarion Jones, true freshman that we signed, he's done some really good things."

"There's some competition at the nickel position. Jonavan Carr has played that some. Shondell Harris has played. Kaden Cook. All those guys have done some really good things."

"Up front, Coach Garcia's got about 14 guys there. We'll find out who's going to get in that rotation. On the offensive side, our running back room is really deep. If you had to press me, all those guys are pretty even right now. All of them have redeeming qualities."

"The receiver position has had a lot of competition. That's when you feel good as a coach is when you go into the season and you got competition at those positions. Because if you can't compete in fall camp, no way you can compete during the season."

On 50 years of fall camps

"This is my 36th year in coaching. It's well over 50 years, 50 straight years that I've been to a fall training camp. My dad was a high school coach, so I've been going with him since I was 5 years old."

"When I was in college and fall camp, we practiced four times a day. People say, 'Now there's no way you did that.' I promise you we did it. We practiced four times a day with our first flex at 5:45 in the morning. We ended at 7:30. We went back at 11:00 and did a special teams practice. Did that for an hour — that was supposed to be a walkthrough. I don't ever remember any walking being involved. And then we practiced from 3:00 to 5:00 and then we went back out on the field at 8:00 and did 7-on-7 and pass rush for an hour."

"A lot of things are different nowadays. Our players have been here since the day after Memorial Day. They've spent time with Coach Wright all summer in the weight room conditioning. We gave them off last Thursday through Monday, and I come through the building and look out there and there's a different group out in the stadium working throughout the weekend. That's a good thing because success only comes before work in the dictionary. You got to be able to work."

Taylor Housewright — Offensive coordinator

Housewright begins his first season as Jacksonville State's offensive coordinator after serving as tight ends coach in 2025. Five offensive starters return.

On this group

"I feel like we have a group of great kids who care a lot. They understand how to work, which ultimately comes from our head coach. I don't think you'd be able to make it here if you didn't know how to work, which makes it fun as a coach."

On his path to coaching

"Right out of college, I had an opportunity to play. Didn't last very long. I ended up in Charlotte, North Carolina, coaching quarterbacks at a prep school. Entry level job. The day before fall camp, the coach fired me because he decided he wanted to coach quarterbacks himself."

"I'm in Charlotte trying to figure out what to do. I ended up working at a kickboxing gym and managing a restaurant. I had no idea what I was doing. Then halfway through the 2013 season, I got a call from a mentor of mine at Miami of Ohio who got the interim head coaching job. Called me Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. and said he might get the job. Called me at noon, called my dad, and said, 'This is your chance to get in.' I think they were in week seven of the season."

"I packed my car, left, drove to Oxford, Ohio, and the next morning I was at practice. Six days later we were in New England Patriots Stadium playing UMass and I'm trying to make substitutions. I don't know anybody's name. Did that for six weeks and then ended up back in my parents' basement because everybody got fired again. So, it was a good start. I stuck with it. Ended up getting a job there a month later as a graduate assistant."

On Caden Creel's development

"The first time you play quarterback for anybody, you're swimming a little bit and you're out there playing off pure instinct, and we all know he's got that. From there, it's a starting point. We've got that out of the way."

"This offseason, I've challenged him to learn to be a quarterback. We know he's an athlete and can do all those things, and that's part of his game. But there's a time and place when you need to scramble, when you need to make a throw, take one under the chin, when you need to throw it away, and in some instances when you need to take a sack."

"That's playing the game of quarterback and it takes guys a long time. I think there's only been a few that have mastered it. Guys like Tom Brady and Drew Brees. But it's a position of making mistakes and not making the same mistake twice. Ultimately, finalizing his craft and how to move the football consistently and with his skill set is where we've been working."

On having Lucas Mrachkovskiy back at center

"I've always looked at it — people talk about the tackle position being the most important in the NFL, but I think in college the center position is. In the NFL, it's a passing game. In college, you're running the ball. You're doing a little bit of everything. So the center's kind of got to be the quarterback of the crew up front. Having experience there helps."

"A lot of things around college football have changed with NIL and recruiting and media and all those things, but the game of football hasn't. It's about the O-line and the physicality. You look at these teams across the country that surprise you that no one knew were going to be good — the people that get the credit are the quarterback and the skilled players, but I bet if you went and did a dive, up front is where they're really dominating."

On what separates Kelly as a head coach

"He's got a ton of experience. He's a true head coach. He's not a defensive guy and offensive guy. He's a CEO of this program and he's our heartbeat. He's an amazing man and leader. I've worked for a lot of them in my young career and I respect the heck out of him. He truly cares about the kids and ultimately keeping the main thing the main thing — winning football games and doing it the right way."

"Whenever you're an assistant and your values align with the head coach from a recruiting standpoint and in this case a physicality standpoint, it makes it easy to go to work every day."

Brian Williams — Defensive coordinator

Williams enters his second season as the defensive coordinator. Jacksonville State returned seven starters on defense from a group that was second in Conference USA in takeaways and third in total defense.

On the development of this group

"The group that's back this year — we've really done a fantastic job of developing. These guys have really committed themselves to improving. You see the growth and how far they've come from last year to this year. That just makes this season so exciting for us and the beginning of training camp. The biggest thing is the development of these guys on and off the field."

On the benefit of year two in his system

"When you're in the second year of implementing a system and developing a group, it's the cohesiveness. You have more individuals involved that understand the reasons why we do what we do, how we do it, why we do it. When you can bring the type of people that you see up here on this panel, as well as some of the other guys that we have back, it creates a better environment of teaching, of learning. You see these guys grow as leaders as well, and they're allowed to because they know what's expected of them."

On the defensive line and Jawaun Campbell

"I think the identity of that group will be very similar to last year relative to our approach. Jawaun's up here again for us this year and arguably he was probably playing the best football on our entire team last year, especially defensively, before he went down with his injury. We're very fortunate to have him back this season."

"The identity will be one in which we work towards every day — being physical at the point of attack, controlling the line of scrimmage, allowing our linebackers and our second-level players to run freely and make plays. But at the same time, they better do it in a hurry because we got guys like Jawaun that are able to get off blocks and make plays for themselves. We want to be the reason we're able to be dominant as a defense based off how our defensive line plays."

On the linebacker group

"You saw the development take place with them last year throughout the season. Games that we really played at a high level, a lot of it was because of the way they played — the contributions that they made in terms of being able to get us lined up, being able to adjust to things on the fly. That's what you ask your linebackers to do."

"You saw Mac Sanders grow up as a freshman coming in his first year. Walker O'Steen, Myles Butler — those guys did a fantastic job. That's a testament to Coach Davis and the work that he's done in developing that group."

On the secondary

"It looks really good. You have a lot of cohesiveness back there. When you're able to watch Caleb Nix and Tre'Quon Fegans and Marc Woods and Jaheim Jenkins communicate to each other, and then the group that's on the field next kind of mimics what they see them doing, it makes you feel good."

"We felt like we gave up some explosive plays last year in the secondary, but they were all very growing pains-like. Our guys have experienced those things now, and sometimes the best teacher is experience. We experienced things that we don't want to experience this year, and I think that shows in our approach, our work ethic. We're excited about what that's going to look like for us this year."

On the staff's development work

"The reason we feel so strongly about what we were able to do this year defensively is because of the development of our entire unit. The work that Coach Quincy's done in the safety room, Coach Rohan with the corners — these guys have developed our room. Coach Xavier Garcia did a great job of developing the D-line room, and most of them left because of it. Our linebackers are really going to lead the way in terms of our leadership, bringing the information from the coaching staff to the rest of the unit on the field."

Player quotes

Caden Creel on his development

"The mentality and stuff just comes from every day at practice with these guys. They saw the stuff that I did in practice even when I wasn't the starter, and then I finally got my name called and the work just never stopped. The confidence just comes from the reps at practice and my confidence in my teammates to just go out there and do their job and me to put the ball in the right place so that we can succeed."

Deondre Johnson on his breakout — No. 1 in the country in yards per catch

"That Middle Tennessee game was up and downs. I actually got benched the first half. So just like Caden said, when my number got called at that time, I had to just go out there and make plays, make sure that I was out there levelheaded and confident and play my game."

Lucas Mrachkovskiy on his growth from first snap to last

"A tremendous amount. To be honest, I was a little nervous going in at UCF. First time I ever snapped the ball in a football game. So that was the first time in college, too. Was crazy. I saw a lot of growth. Watching film, you see it."

Jawaun Campbell on the defensive line

"We have Khurtiss Perry returning. So me and KP, we're trying to lead our group. We got some new guys that came in through the portal and they all buy in. I love the way we're looking. We're looking great."

Tre'Quon Fegans on where he developed the most

"Off the field. Practice, building those habits to staying consistent. Coaches just honing in on the small details."

Caleb Nix on the takeaway mentality

"On our defense, we have four pillars, four things we live by, and one of them is ball-out mentality. I think that's just at every level — from safeties, from corners, every position. We put an emphasis every day at practice. We put an emphasis each game to go get the ball. Takeaways are big. If you can win the turnover margin, if you can win the takeaways, then you have a great chance of winning the game."

"As you get more reps throughout the season, it comes down to making opportunities and taking advantage of every opportunity that you get."

Mac Sanders on stepping in as a freshman

"It helped a lot, honestly. Practice, fall camp helped me a lot, too. Going against the guys — it feels like a game of speed out there. Being able to watch the older guys go through the work and do what they did, it helped me. Really, the coaches just trusting in me and sending me out there — they believed in me. That helped me a lot."