Jacksonville St Jaguars 2025 College Football Preview
Posted June 9, 2025
2024 Recap
Record – 9-5
ATS – 7-7
Wow. That was a thrilling ride for Gamecocks fans!
The season got off to a horrid start as Jacksonville St lost their first three games and allowed 47 (!) PPG in the process. Things turned around the following week as they mopped the floor with Southern Miss (W 44-7) and followed that up by ripping off SEVEN consecutive wins to open CUSA play. They dropped a game they didn’t need vs Western Kentucky to end the regular season and then faced the Hilltoppers again the following week in the conference title game. They absolutely WHOOPED some Topper AZZ in that game (W 52-12) and emerged as CUSA champs. The Gamecocks fought hard in the Cure Bowl vs Ohio but lost by a FG to the scrappy Bobcats from the MAC.
Former HC Rich Rodriguez is off to West Virginia and let’s see what new HC Charles Kelly has to work with in 2025.
Jacksonville St Jaguars 2025 Outlook
OFFENSE
It was all about the ground attack in 2024 as the Gamecocks moved like a TREMENDOUS MACHINE rumbling for 251 YPG (#3 FBS) on route to the conference championship. There’s bad news to report as Jacksonville St loses superstar RB Tre Stewart (1,638, 25 TD!) as well as QB Tyler Huff who rushed for over 1,300 yards (!) LY with 15 TDs. They’ll be making a transition to a pass-oriented offense under new OC Clint Trickett and the battle for the starting QB position will be between Gavin Wimsatt who’s floated around since 2021 (Kentucky, Rutgers) and Cade Cunningham (Memphis/Marshall; 0 career attempts). Wimsatt has shown more skill with his legs than his arm (has never exceeded 50% completions in a season, 17-21 TD to INT) so we’re a bit skeptical of how dangerous the THROW GAME will be in 2025. Two of the top-three WRs return for duty but they’ll be without #1 WR Cam Vaughn who led the Cocks in receptions and receiving yards by a wide margin LY. The RB room will probably be led by TCU transfer Cam Cook (460, 9 TD LY) and former backup Andrew Paul so they should be ok at this position. Only one starter returns up front and it’s anyone’s guess how they’ll perform given the lack of starting experience and the switch to a different offensive philosophy.
DEFENSE
The Gamecocks did just enough on defense to hold things together whilst their offense led the charge (#4 CUSA run D, #5 pass efficiency D) and their best attribute was probably the ability to take the ball away (24 turnovers forced, #2 CUSA). Jacksonville St will have to remodel themselves on this side of the football after losing their top-seven (!) tacklers and their top-two sack producers in J-Rock Swain and Reginald Hughes. The defensive line has some size but we’re not sure they’ve got any difference makers from a pass rush perspective. The LB unit is getting retooled and the hope is that Georgia Tech transfer Jacob Cruz can lead the group along with some holdovers and other transfer portal talent. It’s a KICK in the JACOBS to lose their killer safety combo (and top-two tacklers) in Fred Perry and Antonio Carter and Jacksonville St will be relying heavily on transfer portal specimens to come in and do the job. Players to keep an eye on include CB Tryin Taylor (Memphis) and DB Tre’Quon Fegans.
SPECIAL TEAMS
RUH ROH.
The Gamecocks came in at #123 in the Phil Steele special teams rankings LY but they still managed to win CUSA. They’ll be introducing a new punter this year but at least they bring back PK Garrison Rippa who was pretty decent in 2024 (14/19 FG, 9/11 from 40+). The return game could definitely use some help.
Schedule Analysis
Overall – The opening game has the potential to be a SENSELESS SLAUGHTER (at UCF) and they’ve got a yuuuge game with Liberty (H) the following week. They don’t get a break in conference play as they must face each of the other three BIG ‘UNS. On a positive note, they could get on a roll in the 2nd half of the campaign as they’ve got a soft stretch of five games before they finish with Western Kentucky (H).
Potential ATS Trouble Spot – at Georgia Southern (Sept 13)
Georgia Southern promises to be one of the premier teams in the FUN BELT and note that this game follows the two nasty ones noted above (UCF, Liberty). How much will they have left in the tank for this one?
Season Win Total
Market consensus June 9
Over 6.5 +130
Under 6.5 -160
MEGALOCKS says:
No leanage.
We could only recommend the ‘under’ at this market price but there are several winnable games on the docket and that makes it tough to pull the trigger.
MEGAmazing Tidbits
The Gamecocks have two conference titles to their credit over the L3Y. They won the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2022 before joining the FBS and took down the CUSA crown in 2024.
Before joining the ranks of the FBS, Jacksonville St had an impressive mark of 6-2 in bowl games including a 2-1 record in the PAPER BOWL, and who can forget the win in the 1955 REFRIGERATOR BOWL over Rhode Island?
Just a friendly reminder that Jacksonville St University is located in ALABAMA and not Florida. Jacksonville, Alabama is also one of the few college towns that hasn’t fallen under the specter of communism, and that should be celebrated.
MEGALOCKS Forecast:
It’s gonna be extremely difficult to follow up the wonderful 2024 campaign, particularly when the roster is undergoing a major overhaul, and don’t forget that ace HC Rich Rodriguez has left town to go back to West Virginia. There are still several talented pieces aboard but there are many more questions than answers. We’ll call for the Gamecocks to bag a minor bowl bid with six or seven wins.