SWAC Media Day 2026: Marshall Faulk, Andrew Body Lead Full Slate

Marshall Faulk and all 12 SWAC head coaches headline Football Media Day on July 15 in Birmingham, where the league reveals its 2026 predicted order of finish.

SWAC MEDIA DAY 2026 | HBCU Legends

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Southwestern Athletic Conference has set its full field for the 2026 SWAC Football Media Day, locking in all 12 head coaches and two student-athletes from each program. The annual event kicks off July 15 at the Sheraton Birmingham.

WHAT TO EXPECT AT THE SWAC FOOTBALL MEDIA DAY

Media Day will officially kick off the SWAC football calendar. At the beginning of the event, the conference’s athletic directors and SIDs will unveil the predicted order of finish for 2026. HBCU legends and ESPN announcers Tiffany Greene and Jay Walker will conduct one-on-one interviews on a live broadcast.

Next, the coaches, administrators, and players, as well as Commissioner Dr. Charles McClelland, will be available to the media for in-depth conversations.

Marshall Faulk | Jan 31, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Indianaplis Colts former running back Marshall Faulk on the red carpet prior to the NFL Honors award ceremony at Symphony Hall. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Southern Jaguars’ table figures to draw the heaviest traffic this year with the addition of new head coach Marshall Faulk. He’ll make his first major appearance at media day as a SWAC head coach, roughly seven months after the Pro Football Hall of Famer left a Colorado assistant job to replace Terrence Graves in Baton Rouge. Faulk inherits a Jaguars team that finished 2-10 last season and has framed his rebuild around discipline.

Last season’s Coach of the Year, Tremaine Jackson, will be a focal point for the media. He led Prairie View A&M to the SWAC Championship in his first season at the helm. The Panthers are smarting from the four-overtime epic 40-38 loss to South Carolina State at the 2025 Cricket Celebration Bowl. Jackson delivers plenty of quotes and one-liners that will fill most reporters’ notebooks as PV looks to defend its SWAC title.

The Coaches - Tremaine Jackson and TC Taylor | HBCU Legends

Former HBCU national championship head coach TC Taylor will make his third appearance as the Tigers’ leader with quarterback Jared Lockhart and defensive back Kam Sallis.  

SWAC East contenders, Coach Eddie Robinson Jr. and Alabama State, will appear with dual-threat senior quarterback Andrew Body and defensive back Ta’Shawn Sims. Body is expected to be the preseason favorite for the SWAC Offensive Player of the Year honor.  

Nov. 22, 2025; Coach Cris Dishman on the sidelines versus Alabama A&M at Shell Energy Stadium. | Credit: Kyle T. Mosley, HBCU Legends

PIVOTAL YEAR FOR 3 COACHES

Three SWAC head coaches are entering pivotal seasons.  

First, Grambling State’s Mickey Joseph arrives on steadier ground. The Tigers locked in his future with an extension through 2027 after a 7-5 finish, the program’s first winning season since 2019. That progress raises the question of whether Grambling can move back toward a SWAC title it has not claimed since 2017.

Texas Southern will lean on signal-caller Cam’Ron McCoy under Cris Dishman, who finally got the Tigers to a winning season in over 20 years. Still, can Dishman continue TSU’s upward trajectory this season and shock many with its first SWAC title since the Johnnie Cole days?

The Golden Lions are 9-26 over the past three seasons under Coach Alonzo Hampton.  UAPB must make a positive turn with a winning record, showing remarkable improvement in 2026.  

A lack of progress by any of the three programs could force athletic department leaders to alter the current coaching staffs. That possibility would be unfortunate for Grambling State and Texas Southern, both of which are trending in the right direction.

Alabama State University quarterback Andrew Body works with athletes during Prospect Camp on the ASU campus in Montgomery, Ala., on Saturday morning June 13, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

QB-HEAVY ROTATION

Body, Lockhart, and McCoy may be three of the more well-known conference quarterbacks.  More player invitations lean toward quarterbacks and defensive backs, the positions that most often swing SWAC results.  

The predicted order of finish gives the day its first measurable storyline. Voted by league coaches and sports information directors, the poll sets an early pecking order before camps open and frames the questions each coach answers at the podium.

SWAC Media Day Attendees

Alabama A&M

• Cornelious Brown IV, quarterback
• Jeremiah Hudson-Davis, defensive back
• Sam Shade, head coach

Alabama State

• Andrew Body, quarterback
• Ta’Shawn Sims, defensive back
• Eddie Robinson Jr., head coach

Alcorn State

• Jaylon Tolbert, quarterback
• Eric Thomas, defensive lineman
• Cedric Thomas, head coach

Bethune-Cookman

• Christian Loving, offensive lineman
• Stephen Sparrow, linebacker
• Raymond Woodie, head coach

Florida A&M

• Isaiah Knowles, quarterback
• Antonio Camon, defensive lineman
• Quinn Gray, head coach

Grambling State

• Alexander Vigil, offensive lineman
• Marcellius Johnson, linebacker
• Mickey Joseph, head coach

Jackson State

• Jared Lockhart, quarterback
• Kam Sallis, defensive back
• T.C. Taylor, head coach

Mississippi Valley State

• Josh Brown, quarterback
• Jamari Stokes, defensive back
• Terrell Buckley, head coach

Prairie View A&M

• Rodny Ojo, wide receiver
• Molik Mason, defensive lineman
• Tremaine Jackson, head coach

Southern

• Herman Brister, defensive back
• Cameron Jefferson, wide receiver
• Marshall Faulk, head coach

Texas Southern

• Cam’Ron McCoy, quarterback
• MJ Hinson, defensive back
• Cris Dishman, head coach

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

• Jordan Jackson, wide receiver
• Danarius Hilliard, linebacker
• Alonzo Hampton, head coach

Training camps open within weeks of the Birmingham gathering, and the answers coaches give July 15 will shape how each program is measured this fall.

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