Jacksonville State head coach Charles Kelly isn’t interested in style points, only results.
Charles Kelly’s message stays simple as Jacksonville State keeps climbing originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
It wasn’t perfect. Charles Kelly will be the first to admit that. But for the ninth straight home game, Jacksonville State played with the purpose he’s been preaching since the day he arrived, toughness, patience, and belief in one another.
“Well, first of all, again, like I said last time, it was unbelievable,” Kelly said after the 38–25 win over Delaware. “Our crowd here, our students, our band, our alumni, all the ex-players, we’ve got a home-field advantage. We do. And that was very exciting.”
The Gamecocks’ advantage showed in the trenches. Jacksonville State outgained Delaware 255 to 34 on the ground, winning the battle up front while holding the ball for over 32 minutes. Kelly said it all started with mindset.
“We knew our strength was our defensive line,” he said. “If you can rush the football and keep people from rushing the football, you’re going to have a chance to win more games than you lose.”
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The message before kickoff was directod “Just do your job,” Kelly said. “When you do your job and you don’t worry about the results, good things are going to happen.”
Cam Cook led the way with 117 yards and three touchdowns, and quarterback Caden Creel added 173 total yards before exiting with a hyperextended elbow. Kelly said the injury isn’t expected to sideline him long.
“We don’t think it’ll be a very long time,” he said. “He actually got in the huddle acting like he was going to go back in, and I said, ‘No, we’re not going to do that.’ That was precautionary.”
When Gavin Wimsatt entered, Kelly didn’t feel the need for a speech. “I didn’t say one word to Gavin before he went out there,” he said. “He didn’t need a rah-rah speech from me. He knew what to do. I just told him later how proud I was of him.”
The defense produced the game’s signature moment midway through the second quarter with a 45-yard fumble return touchdown by Caleb Nix, the younger brother of Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix. For Kelly, the play carried special significance.
“His dad Patrick played when I coached at Auburn,” Kelly said. “I told Caleb this has nothing to do with our relationship, it’s because he’s a really good football player. He’s earned everything.”
Delaware’s 422 passing yards didn’t change Kelly’s satisfaction with his team’s resolve “We relaxed a little bit at the end,” he said. “But it’s a lot better correcting those mistakes after you win than on the other end of it.”
Now 4–3 and sitting alone atop the Conference USA standings, Kelly’s message hasn’t changed, and probably never will “We’ve just got to keep on doing our job,” he said. “That’s who we are.”
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