Behind the Beak

Alba Conejero is a senior from Barcelona, Spain, on the women’s tennis team and one of Jacksonville State’s spring sports student-athletes who had their season cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. She talks about her decision to stay in Jacksonville over the summer, her video journal she is putting together and how she looks to spend her next academic year.

Head strength and conditioning coach Gavin Hallford, the former All-American and First Team All-Ohio Valley Conference kicker, joins Tyler Brown to talk in depth about the new Athletic Sports Performance Center, future plans for the space at Stephenson Hall and his excitement about the top-notch facility.

Former Gamecock volleyball standout Mackenzie Rombach, who was playing her rookie year with the ProWin Volleys TV Holz out of Saarbrücken, Saarland, Germany, joins Tyler Brown to discuss how her first pro season was cut short by COVID-19, getting back to the United States and what she's doing to stay busy during the pandemic.

Former Gamecock basketball star Jason Burnell, who is playing his rookie season with Pallacanestro Cantù of the Italian LBA, joins Tyler Brown to discuss the current situation in Italy, how he is riding out the COVID-19 pandemic and how his first year in professional basketball is going.

Athletic Director Greg Seitz joins Tyler Brown to talk about the state of athletics amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and Dr. Jeff Ryan, JSU Emergency Management, discusses the University’s response to the coronavirus threat.

Jim Case is entering his 19th season as Jacksonville State's head baseball coach. He has led the Gamecocks to seven Ohio Valley Conference titles since he arrived and has been named the league's coach of the year three times. His squad goes into the 2020 season looking to defend their 2019 OVC title. Case previews the upcoming year, shares how he began coaching and talks about the new Jim Case Stadium.

Head softball coach Jana McGinnis is a six-time Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year and is entering her 27th season at the helm at Jacksonville State. She previews the upcoming 2020 season, recounts her time as a student-athlete with the Gamecocks and talks about how much the sport of softball has grown since she began coaching.

Mackenzie Van Patten, currently a sophomore majoring in Marketing, is a member of the Jacksonville State rifle team. She gives listeners a crash course on the sport, shares how she got started in rifle and gives an update on the 2019-20 season.

Former baseball star Clay Whittemore is one of the most recent inductees into the JSU Athletic Hall of Fame. He became JSU's first Division I baseball All-American and helped lead the Gamecocks to two Ohio Valley Conference championships upon transferring to Jacksonville State after one year at Georgia. He's the ninth baseball player to be inducted into the hall, but the first from the Jim Case era.

On Oct. 25, 2019, Abbey Breit became the first volleyball student-athlete inducted into the JSU Athletic Hall of Fame. One of just three women to ever win multiple Ohio Valley Conference Female Athlete of the Year honors, she was a four-time first team All-OVC selection and three-time All-American. Breit was the OVC Player of the Year each of her final three seasons, a feat never before done in the conference at the time and only matched once since. Her school-record 1,897 career kills remains the fourth-most in OVC history, and her 1,342 digs are still sixth on JSU's career list.