MGCCC football taking championship mindset into 2022

2019 doesn’t feel all that long ago, but such is the nature of JUCO football, Mississippi Gulf Coast doesn’t have a single player from that national championship team heading into 2022.

But the Bulldogs still have fifth-year Head Coach Jack Wright, who holds the all-time school record for winning percentage with an overall record of 31-5.

Seven of those wins came last season, but losing out to Jones and Hinds in a three-way tie for first in the MACCC South.

Gulf Coast sending 16 players from that team onto the next level and now returning 36 guys that have never played a down of college football.

One of the veteran guys coming back for a third year, Picayune alum Cam Thomas who was third in the nation in rushing yards per game last year and says the standard is the standard. Thomas said, “Try to keep it around, try to keep the legacy going, try to keep the same vibes as 2019 year, we try to keep them here still.”

Coach Wright said, “It is the standard. We have high expectations. But I think what it does is it allows you – in certain situations – to say, how did we do that back when we were successful? Or, how did that group of players act in this situation, back two-to-three years ago when we were having that success? And you try to guide the guys to do something similar to that. Every team has its own personality, and they’re not always going to be exactly the same as anybody else. But you kind of have a measuring stick.”

The Bulldogs kick off their 2022 season at Northwest Mississippi at 7 p.m. Thursday.