Rich Rodriguez at home in Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. (WBRC) - Rich Rodriguez made a splash in Alabama becoming the new leader of the JSU football team this off season.

Now the former power-five coach is gearing up for fall camp.

At media day Tuesday he said he doesn’t have too much of a life outside of football, but he’s enjoying his spare time in East Alabama.

Coach Rodriguez is getting acclimated to life in Jacksonville leading the Gamecocks football team. It wasn’t hard, though, he grew up in a small town in West Virginia so moving to Gamecock country just felt like home.

Give Rodriguez some hard working football players and he is happy anywhere.

But he highly endorses the lifestyle in Calhoun County.

He’s settled in and built a fence for his two Pomeranians, but mainly Rodriguez likes Jacksonville for the simpler things.

“No traffic, I mean not counting the two stop lights, no wait at the restaurants, go in any night of the week,” Rodriguez said. “No lines at the grocery store... who likes grocery shopping, I’m like I do for some reason. You can buy like 30 things and it not cost you an arm and a leg, you know you get all that variety... so we got a couple nice grocery stores.”

Fall camp starts Wednesday so expect more of him checking out plays instead of checking out the latest produce. He’s excited for the Gamecocks final season at the FCS level.

JSU gets things started on the grid iron August 27 in Montgomery at the Crampton Bowl against Stephen F. Austin.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE WBRC FOX6 NEWS APP

Subscribe to our WBRC newsletter and receive the latest local news and weather straight to your email.

Copyright 2022 WBRC. All rights reserved.