Deion Sanders Responds To Comments Made By Nick Saban Regarding Jackson State

Alabama coach Nick Saban made headlines on Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon while discussing the current landscape of Name, Image and Likeness in college athletics. During an event on Wednesday night, Saban took aim at Texas A&M, but also Jackson State, which is led by Deion Sanders. During a nine-minute filibuster on NIL, Saban claimed that Jackson State had signed former five-star Travis Hunter to a $1 Million Dollar deal to entice him to play for Sanders in Mississippi. Well, just like Jimbo Fisher, Deion didn't appreciate the Alabama coach bringing up his name while trying to make a case for NIL regulation. “We have a rule right now that says you cannot use NIL to entice a player to come to your school. Hell, read about it in the paper, I mean Jackson State paid a guy a million dollars last year that was a really good Division-1 player to come to their school and it was in the paper and they bragged about it. Nobody did anything about it." Speaking to andscape, Sanders mentioned that Saban and himself need to have a public conversation on the topic since the Alabama coach made his comments to an audience on Wednesday night.

“I haven’t talked to Coach Saban. I’m sure he’s tried to call. We need to talk publicly — not privately. What you said was public. That doesn’t require a conversation. Let’s talk publicly and let everybody hear the conversation," Sanders said.

“You can’t do that publicly and call privately. No, no, no. I still love him. I admire him. I respect him," he added. "He’s the magna cum laude of college football and that’s what it’s going to be because he’s earned that. But he took a left when he should’ve stayed right. I’m sure he’ll get back on course. I ain’t tripping.”

Speaking of five-star Travis Hunter, Sanders was quick to point out that Hunter was not making anywhere near that amount and was not chasing money in the NIL process.

“I don’t make a million. Travis ain’t built like that. Travis ain’t chasing a dollar. Travis is chasing greatness. Travis and his family don’t get down like that,” Sanders said. “They never came to us in search of the bag. They’re not built like that. This kid wants to be great."

“He wants my hands on him. He wants me to mold him," Sanders noted. "He wants me to be his navigational system through life. He wants to be that dude.”