It’s been a few days now since Prairie View ended its magical football season in disappointment and also in controversy.
After holding a 21-0 lead at halftime, the Panthers came just short of the Black college football national championship when South Carolina State converted a two-point conversion in the fourth overtime of the Celebration Bowl thriller. Many believed the receiver didn’t cross the goal line before going out of bounds on the final play that allowed the Bulldogs to escape with a 40-38 victory in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
But as anguishing as the loss was for the Prairie View fan base and alumni, first-year coach Tremaine Jackson didn’t lose much sleep in defeat.
“I was over it the next morning to be quite honest,” Jackson said to the Defender. “I’m not one of them guys who goes into a slump when you lose. I hate losing more than anybody, but nothing is going to change the outcome of the game. I’m not about to sit up here and be depressed and get my blood pressure all high.
“What I will say about the game is, we had every opportunity to win the game.”
And just like that, Jackson is already turning the page on a historic season in which the Panthers won the SWAC West title, the SWAC Championship, played in the Celebration Bowl for the first time, and won 10 games. He has had meetings with the 30 seniors who are departing and a few non-starters who are jumping into the transfer portal.
Now Jackson’s focus is on retooling and restocking the program with the transfer portal set to open in January. He is also ready to turn his attention to how Prairie View can better support the football program if it wants to remain on its current trajectory.
“The season was a success because we built men. That’s the number one thing we came here to do, and we won championships, and we got all kinds of classic trophies. These guys know what it takes to be a winner.”
Tremaine Jackson
And to be clear, Jackson is talking about name, image and likeness (NIL) money and revenue sharing for his players to match what is going on in the landscape of where he is competing.
“Now what has to happen is our institution has to continue to get better from a support standpoint,” said Jackson, whose place-kicker missed a field goal in regulation and in overtime, either of which could have been the difference in the outcome of the Celebration Bowl. “We can’t say because we got to this point with what we have that we are good. We’re not good. We’re deficient.
“South Carolina State pays their players. Prairie View A&M doesn’t. We beat people who paid players but at the end of the day, our kicker is free. Their kicker is on $800 a month.”
All season long, there was talk about some Prairie View players making money, but now it’s coming out that that wasn’t the case. Jackson and his staff overcame the lack of money this season, defeating funded FCS programs like Northwestern State and Jackson State while coming close in losses to the University of Texas Rio-Grande Valley and Alabama State.
So far, they’re holding onto their top performers with eligibility like 1,100-yard receiver Jyzaiah Rockwell and productive freshman running back Chase Bingmon, but will that be the case as FBS schools begin their annual pillaging of the SWAC and other HBCU leagues with six-figure paydays?
“You get what you pay for. My grandma taught me that at three years old,” Jackson said. “So we’ve got to continuously get better. But I’m proud of the way our guys adhere to what it is that we do, and they played up.”
Jackson is also excited about the program’s future. He came into the program early this year, promising that in his first year, the Panthers would win the SWAC West and SWAC Championship. Then he serenaded his players about making it to Atlanta, and he challenged them to get there.
And now that Jackson has made good on his promises, he has the attention of his recruiting audience. He has already signed 26 players this month and anticipates having 60 new players on the roster by the time the 10-day portal window closes Jan. 16.
“I knew he would do a great job here. I had no doubt. That’s why I hired the man.”
Anton Goff, Athletic director on Tremaine Jackson
“When you are 10-4 and just played in the national championship and won the SWAC, you are a little bit more attractive than being 5-7, and the coach is fired,” said Jackson, referencing the program’s ending record this season compared to the state of the program he inherited. “We’ve got to make sure we are ready for the attraction. People are already reaching out, but we can’t say anything to them because the portal is not open.”
But when it does open, Jackson has a message that is sure to make his SWAC brethren a little uncomfortable this offseason. Let’s just say SWAC Media Day next summer might be a little tense.
“If you have already played in the SWAC and you are one of the best players in the SWAC, then we want you here at Prairie View,” Jackson said. “If you have already been in our league, I don’t care if you went to TSU, Grambling, or whatever, if you want a chance to win the national championship – I think right now we have proven that we can do that, and we have those opportunities, so we want you here. You need to transfer here.”
