Taylor Constructing Mercer Football For Historic Run

MACON – Make no mistake about it, Joel Taylor has even bigger things in mind for the Mercer football program as it prepares to make a run toward a third-straight Southern Conference championship in 2026.

Taylor made his intentions crystal clear when he was announced as the program's 22^nd head coach on Dec. 11, 2025. Now, after taking his new team through its first spring workouts, the enthusiastic mentor continues to double down on his lofty goal.

"The ultimate goal is for this program to win a national championship, and the only way that you do that is we have to build calluses - we have to harden our body and we have to harden our mind," Taylor said. "I want to build this program to have long term success. It all starts with the standard that we set for ourselves.

"We want to be elite in everything that we do. That's our standard."

Less than 24 hours after he was named the first African-American head coach in the 52-season history of the storied program, Taylor was already camped out in his office at Five Star Stadium alongside his goldendoodle, Frankie, putting the blueprint together. It started with roster evaluation, including the re-recruitment of players already donning the Orange & Black, and quickly turned to the construction of his coaching staff.

The pillars of his staff included offensive coordinator Austin Davis and defensive coordinator Tripp Weaver who were both on the sideline beside him when he led West Georgia to an 8-win campaign in 2025 that included victories over Southern Conference foes Samford and East Tennessee State, as well as a road throttling of then-No. 22 Nicholls.

"I want people on my staff that are smarter than me and ones that are going to work hard and are self-motivated," Taylor said. "I think we have a really good staff, and I think that's where it will all start for this program. I am super excited about the teaching and learning that's already happening. They are high-energy coaches, and they bring that energy to the office every day."

The replenishment of a depleted roster was no easy task. Due to the effects of graduation and the transfer portal, the Bears parted ways with more than half of their 2025 roster, including seven starters on offense and eight more starters on the defensive side of the ball. The list of departures included the national freshman of the year in quarterback Braden Atkinson, as well as the national defensive player of the year Andrew Zock who had just wrapped up his sophomore campaign at MU.

Undeterred, Taylor and his staff went to work, identifying, recruiting and eventually adding 45 players to the roster in early February, including 31 transfers. The transfer crop is composed of players from 17 different collegiate institutions, including a dozen scholar-athletes that followed Taylor to Macon from West Georgia.

"It all came down to going out and bringing in the best players at the time," Taylor said. "I think that we were able to bring in some really solid players, but I think that we still have a ways to go. Building a team takes time and a collective effort. We have to be diligent in our process and use every second until kickoff of the first game. Our goal is to be the toughest, more-disciplined team and out-compete our opponents."

The culture of the program has been on full display throughout the spring semester, beginning with organized team activities (OTAs) in January which was comprised mostly of strength and conditioning efforts, but team-building activities such as team gatherings and accountability programs were also at the forefront of the efforts as well. The Bears opened up their 15-session spring practice season in late February and culminated those efforts in early April with the annual spring game at Five Star Stadium.

Taylor has seen a heap of growth in his program over the last four months, but he is not quite ready to take on the 2026 season just yet. Recruiting and OTA efforts will continue into the summer months, and he is confident that the end result will be exactly what he envisioned when the Bears take the field again for competition in August.

"We are all about building the foundation right now – the standards, the scheme and the culture. We are still growing," Taylor said. "The next phase is the construction phase – we start putting together all of the things that we have learned and start building the house. The next phase is the showcase phase where everybody gets a chance to see what we have built and, hopefully, our kids are defending what they have learned and what they have lived. Hopefully, at the end, it's the championship phase.

"ATTACK, for us, means all of the things that we can control – attitude, toughness, togetherness, accountability, character and knowledge. We have to have a sense of urgency and we have to be intentional about what we are doing and where we are going. I have never seen or been a part of accomplishing anything great by being cool."

Taylor Constructing Mercer Football For Historic Run

Players Mentioned

Braden Atkinson

Andrew Zock

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