There’s no easing into the first day of spring football if you’re at Southern now that a former Deion Sanders’ assistant stepped in as head coach. The Jaguars were beginning a rebuild after a rough 2025 season with a new coach, new roster, and new expectations. Standing on a chilly, windy afternoon just outside Mumford Stadium in Baton Rouge, Marshall Faulk made one thing clear before the first rep even started. If anyone thought their spot was guaranteed, they could walk out the door.

“We got a lot of competition going on,” Marshall Faulk told the media on the first day of practice. “I expressed to the guys, I said, ‘Listen, if you are coming in here because of your Hudl film and you think you deserve to start, then you’re in the wrong place. You can leave right now.”

Marshall Faulk made it clear that reputation and hype means nothing at Southern. He doubled down on what matters if you want to see the field.

“It’s going to be all about competition,” he said. “And regardless if the player is a freshman or senior, the better players are going to play for us. And not just better on the field, in the classroom as well, and in the community.”

If you can see, Faulk is describing a great human being who understands accountability. And if that word sounds familiar, it’s because the Hall of Fame RB spent the 2025 season working under one of the loudest culture builders in college football. He served as Colorado RBs coach for one season under Deion Sanders who called on his NFL friend to help fix the Buffs’ struggling ground game.

While Marshall Faulk answered the call, the results weren’t the expected numbers. In 2025, Colorado improved to 1,356 rushing yards from 847 the previous season. Still, the team struggled overall as they averaged only 125.6 rushing yards per game and finished 3-9. But for the assistant coach, the experience served a bigger purpose as it gave him a crash course in coaching which he’s now taking to Southern.

The Jaguars are starting over after a brutal 2-10 season that cost head coach Terrence Graves his job. A roster overhaul followed and several staff members were also replaced. When Marshall Faulk arrived, the program was already in rebuild mode which is how he preferred it. Back when he was introduced on December 1, he admitted the main decision to leave Colorado was about challenge.

“I could have stayed at Colorado,” he said during his introductory press conference. “I was comfortable. But I’ve never done well in life when comfortable. And I’m not gonna lie to you. This is uncomfortable and I like it.”

Marshall Faulk built a career pushing limits with this mindset. The former star of the St. Louis Rams was the engine behind the NFL’s most explosive offense during the early 2000s. He won the 2000 NFL MVP, earned seven All-Pro selections, and helped power “The Greatest Show on Turf” to a Super Bowl title. Over a 12-year career with the Rams and the Indianapolis Colts, he piled up 12,279 rushing yards. And now, he’s starting from scratch again. 

Marshall Faulk refers to current Southern situation as ‘gumbo’

As Marshall Faulk puts it himself, he’s a rookie as a head coach and didn’t mind spilling the pressure he’s facing. 

“I didn’t even sleep last night,” he admitted before the first practice. “I kept waking up. And finally I was like, ‘You’re a head coach. You have your first practice tomorrow.’ So I’m excited.”

There’s excitement in that statement. But there’s also honesty. Marshall Faulk knows this job is new territory. He’ll lean on mentors and experience but the decisions are his now. The rebuild at Southern is about replacing much of their coaching staff and evaluating a roster full of inherited players, new recruits, and walk-ons. He sees it as a mix that still needs to come together.

“We got some guys we inherited,” he said. “We got some guys that we recruited. We got some walk-ons as well. And what we’re going to do is we’re just going to mix it all together. It’s a pot of gumbo right here… And hopefully, it tastes as good as gumbo does.”

Marshall Faulk’s plan is to build the culture first, let competition sort out the depth chart, and trust the process even when the results take time. Southern believed in that vision when they signed him on a three-year contract worth $1.2 million. According to reports from HBCU Gameday, the Jaguars had been interested in him since 2021 but the timing never lined up until now.

Now it has and the tone has already been set. Day one of the Faulk era didn’t feature promises or soft speeches. It was a strong message and that’s compete or leave.