With first public impression, Paul Jackson shows himself a match for Muschamp program
It took about five minute for new South Carolina football strength coach Paul Jackson to mention the “acute to chronic ratio of loading and stressors.”
This matters not because a layman or fan might understand it or know how it might help the Gamecocks end two years plagued by injuries. It says something because his new boss, Will Muschamp, is someone who likes to get technical, once delving into the finer points of Hail Mary defensive coverages in a news conference.
Almost every strength coach is highly technical, but Jackson gave off that impression in a big way Thursday when he spoke publicly for the first time as a Gamecocks staffer. Not that he didn’t also show the bursts of energy a strength coach must possess.
“I want to start off definitely thanking coach Muschamp for the opportunity, saying how fired up me and my wife really are to come to Columbia,” Jackson said. “Every day I’m around it, I’m getting more and more excited.
“To see the facilities, to get to know the coaching staff ... I’m just fired up and can’t wait to get to work on Monday.”
South Carolina’s process in replacing prior strength coach Jeff Dillman didn’t take long. The Gamecocks saw more than 20 players miss more than 100 total games last season. Late in the year Muschamp lamented a run of soft-tissue injuries, the kind he believes good training can prevent. Dillman was let go the day after the season ended.
And the head coach moved quickly.
“We were in the market pretty early in December,” Muschamp said. “Call around to people that you trust, do some research on some guys for three or four days and then brought several people in to interview.
“I’m just extremely impressed with (Jackson) and his presentation and some of the things that that he addressed in the interview.”
Jackson spent the past eight seasons at Ole Miss, working for Hugh Freeze and Matt Luke. Before that, he had stops as head strength coach at Southern Miss and Miami (Ohio) for one season, and was an assistant strength coach at LSU. He also worked at the Parisi Speed School in New Jersey.
Jackson said he’s already assembled three of his four staffers in a pair of his Ole Miss protégés Julian Whitehead and Anthony Henderson, plus former Texas State head strength coach Scott Salwasser.
Jackson’s background is in sprinting, and that stood out to Muschamp in the interview process. They’ll have to work together to build a plan that prevents some of the preventable issues the team has faced the past two seasons.
Jackson noted that time working in sprinting broadened his horizons, as most strength coaches come up through playing football and the weight room. He’ll pay special attention to players with injury history, he said, as past problems are the best indicator of future issues.
He also paid homage to the role of a strength coach beyond just weights and runs. He’ll echo Muschamp’s messages, but since he doesn’t recruit players or set playing time, there can be something different there.
“It lets you maybe have a big brother or uncle-type where they trust you more to maybe open up, a little freer to tell you things,” Jackson said. “And you can guide them where when it’s work time and we got our standards that we’re going to uphold, but if it’s just walking by them in the hallway and talking to them about whatever, it doesn’t have to be football.”
And the players have already started asking about a certain quirky point of pride on his résumé. He worked with former Ole Miss star D.K. Metcalf, who before the 2019 NFL Draft appeared to be a near-comically chiseled hulk of a man, even as a wide receiver.
Not ready to promise miracles of sharing Metcalf’s God-given frame, Jackson tells them, “You better start praying right now.”
And although Muschamp appreciates the technical and the depth of the sprinting expertise that changed his outlook on certain things, he’s also a man who appreciates the eye test.
His Gamecocks faced Jackson’s Rebels in 2017, a shootout South Carolina won in which at least seven Gamecocks get banged up.
“Worst field in the league, his guys stay healthy,” Muschamp said.
