Jason Phillips is NSU’s fourth offensive coordinator in 4 years, but head coach Dawson Odums thinks he got ‘a really good one’

In his four years at the helm, Norfolk State football coach Dawson Odums has had four different offensive coordinators.

In his first season in 2021, B.T. Sherman ran the offense. In 2022, it was Ryan Meyers. Last season, it was Ray Pickering. After Pickering left for a job with Buffalo in January, Odums found himself looking for yet another offensive coordinator.

“It’s affected our team progression — it’s just been constant change, trying to find the right pieces of the puzzle,” Odums said. “… It’s been fortunate and misfortune, but at the end of the day, I think we got a really good one. And I believe in him and I know he’s going to do an outstanding job.”

This time, he turned to an old SWAC rival to fill the void, hiring Jason Phillips from Alcorn State.

“I’d been at Alcorn for a long time,” Phillips said. “… I’d been somewhere for a long time, had a lot of success, and it just felt like we needed some new paint on some new walls and that kind of deal. Obviously, we played a lot against Coach Odums in the past when he was at Southern and kinda knew each other. He had an opportunity … I think it was perfect for us. Perfect timing, and we’re very fired up and excited to be here.”

Phillips spent the past five seasons at Alcorn and helped lead the Braves to back-to-back SWAC titles in 2018 and 2019. He started his tenure with Alcorn as the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2018 to 2022 and finished it as the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2023.

Last season, Alcorn was No. 6 in the SWAC in total offense, averaging 349.2 yards per game. Its passing game also finished No. 6 at 208.7 yards per game.

“He has a great, great system that he knows,” Odums said. “He knows the weaknesses of it. He knows it inside out. He knows how to put people in…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/jason-phillips-nsu-fourth-offensive-192800331.html

Author : Virginian Pilot

Publish date : 2024-08-14 19:28:00

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