Mercer looking to build on momentum from historic 2024 season

MACON, Georgia – (41NBC/WMGT) – Mercer football made history in 2024 with one of its best seasons ever. Under first-year head coach Mike Jacobs, the Bears finished 11-3 overall and 7-1 in Southern Conference play, clinching their first-ever SoCon championship.

The Bears climbed into the top 10 of the national FCS polls for the first time, earning a spot as high as seventh in the coaches poll.

Mercer capped its regular season with a dominant 49-23 win over Furman to secure the title, then advanced to the FCS playoff quarterfinals, where they fell to powerhouse North Dakota State.

It was a statement year for the program, proving the Bears can compete at the national level and setting the stage for even bigger things ahead in 2025.

Now in his second year, Jacobs is starting the year strong in the FCS Kickoff Classic in downtown Montgomery, Alabama, in a Week 0 matchup against UC Davis.

“I want us to play Mercer-style football, right? Like we talked about the other day, about having an identity other coaches watch the film of us each week,” Jacobs said. “We want to be known as a team that’s really physical first and foremost, right? And that we’re well coached, we’re disciplined. You don’t see a ton of penalties, and then that we play elite special teams.

“And I think in a game of this caliber early in the season, especially, no different than when you play this caliber again late in the season, it’s going to probably come down to a handful of plays. And so, you know, it’s our discipline, such where we don’t beat ourselves early in the year.

“We have summer accountability groups that can earn points by doing different things that aren’t just football or sport related, and I think just giving them those opportunities to both find natural leadership amongst the group, and then forcing them into situations where they have to lead or have to be competitive in whatever it is, it’s always the best.

“We’ve had a tremendous training camp, a good mix of faces that have been around for quite some time, some of them maybe are just coming into starting roles, but they’ve been here and understand how we function and what’s expected. And then we have several new faces that have been added, both freshman-wise and through the transfer portal, to kind of fill in the gaps. And so the competition has been great.

“We’re looking forward to finally getting to hit somebody else, right? With three weeks in and kind of tired of practicing against one another, we’re ready to go put it on the line this weekend at 7 p.m. Eastern.”