With a new school year around the corner comes a brand new college football season. Although there will always be certain schools that remain powerhouses year after year (I'm looking at you, Alabama), other schools work very hard during the offseason reorganizing their rosters and coaching staff to climb to the top. Two schools that I have high hopes for in the upcoming 2022 season are the University of Arizona and Jackson State University programs.
In the (Ari)Zone(a)
The University of Arizona's football program has been a letdown over the past few years without any bowl appearances and only one win in the last two seasons. But the program is heading into year two of the Jed Fisch era and with that in mind, any changes that he has started to make will be clearly cemented into the program this coming season. On top of a clearer game plan, the Wildcats are bringing in the 24th ranked recruiting class in the nation. Now the program is not going to fix itself overnight and they still may not have a winning season next year, but I think that they will show huge improvements and set themselves up for big things in the future.
Related: Rate the University of Arizona
Star Power at JSU
The next big school on the rise is Jackson State University–they too made a huge coaching change by bringing on NFL legend Deion Sanders to be their head coach in 2020. With someone of such great prowess comes a line of followers. They made history for HBCUs and managed to get the number one recruit in the nation in cornerback Travis Hunter. They had success outside of Hunter by also bringing on some 4 star recruits and had a lot of success with the transfer portal this offseason. I think that with their bolstered talent and the knowledge of the game that Coach Sanders has, Jackson State University is going to shock the world in the 2022 season.
Related: Rate Jackson State University
Although watching Alabama football destroy their opponents can be fun at times, I would like to see some schools outside of the SEC give them a run for their money. It takes time to build up a team and for it to be successful, and Arizona and Jackson State have started that process to develop and improve their teams. It is time to see schools like them turn the tables in college football.
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* Originally published on August 19, 2022, by Royce Linder
