Who is Jackson State's New Offensive Coordinator?
Who is the Jackson State Tigers' new offensive coordinator? Brett Bartolone is the new offensive mastermind for the 2021 SWAC champions. Head coach Deion Sanders posted an Instagram video of the Tigers football team during offseason workouts.
"You can expect us to score a lot of points. We're going to be prepared, and to put it quite simply, we're going to do stuff that the defense doesn't like to do. We're going to play fast, we're going to play super confident and we're going to attack the defense," said Bartolone in Coach Sanders' video.
Bartolone's introduction to the JSU faithful was subtle and in some terms, not unexpected. Coach Prime referred to changes to correct issues on the team that may have prevented them from closing out the season with a win in the Celebration Bowl.
Bartolone, a native of La Habra, CA, was a wide receiver at Washington State University under head coach Mike Leach from 2012-15. The 5-10 wideout had 17 game appearances with 63 receptions for 488 yards and four touchdowns. Also, he recorded returning six punts and two kickoffs as a freshman for the Cougars.
A shoulder injury derailed his playing career during his sophomore campaign. He quickly shifted his focus to coaching with the Cougars and strategized with the offensive staff and slot receivers with halftime analysis of defensive coverages. Bartolone joined the St. Lawrence University football team's coaching staff in 2017.
Carleton College in Minnesota hired Bartolone as its assistant football coach/offensive coordinator to take over for Rob Davenport in July 2018.
He left the University of Nevada as their Offensive Analyst under coordinator Matt Mumme. Mumme coached the Air Raid offensive with gunslinger quarterback Carson Strong. The Nevada signal-caller led the FBS's fourth-ranked passing attack that scored 36.7 points per game. Strong totaled 4,186 yards, completed 70 percent of his passes, and threw 36 touchdowns to 8 interceptions in 2021.
Shedeur Sanders was the 2021 Jerry Rice Award recipient as the top freshman in the FCS. He guided the Jackson State offense with precision as a freshman, but at times was under duress from attacking defenses. The young Sanders completed almost 66% of his passes for 3,231 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions in thirteen starts.
Jackson State had a potent offensive squad last season in averaging 27.5 points per contest.
Bartolone's familiarity with the Air Raid offense at Washington State and Nevada should mold Sanders into a highly dynamic quarterback. Expect the Tigers offense to evolve to face competitive teams in the SWAC.
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