OT: Deion Sanders is the Man

Submitted by 1408 on October 17th, 2022 at 9:04 PM

Amazing 60 mins piece.  He is doing really impressive things at JSU.  He reminds me a little bit of Harbaugh - same enthusiasm, same approach, same drive. 

Sanders is also not hiding the fact that he will likely leave for the P5 (but not the NFL, interestingly enough):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz1YfvAw5Ow

Bo Harbaugh

October 17th, 2022 at 9:49 PM ^

He would make FSU a monster again.

With that recruiting base and his charisma and history, he'd have FSU competing with Clemson for playoff spots within 2 years.  Apparently their current HC is doing well and has rebuilt some of the culture there, but Deion would be a rockstar in Tallahassee 

Hail Harbo

October 17th, 2022 at 10:01 PM ^

I've got a better one.

Summer 2000, Louisville, Kentucky.  We took our Little League team to River Bat Stadium to watch the River Bats play.  At the time Deion Sanders was a member of the Cincinnati Reds AAA affiliate.  We got their early to watch BP along the LF foul line.  Sanders was in the OF shagging flys when one our players calls out, "Hey, Deion, sign my ball."  Sanders waves at one of the bat boys who brings out a bag of balls.  Sanders spent the next 15 minutes talking to the boys and signing baseballs for each of them.  He asked for nothing in return and received the undying admiration of each one of those 15 players.

NittanyFan

October 17th, 2022 at 9:40 PM ^

So Deion —- he got in an after game verbal dust up with the Alabama State coach the Saturday before this last one.

Which fine —- it’s an emotional game, that happens occasionally, I get it.  The thing that struck me about watching the video though: Deion was wearing a sweatshirt that said “Jackson State” on the front but said (in much larger font size) his INSTAGRAM HANDLE on the back!

That is what would concern me about hiring him for a higher profile role.  Even into his 50s now, he is still a narcissistic self promoter.  It’s too much about him.

m1817

October 18th, 2022 at 5:42 AM ^

Walter Payton, Lem Barney, and other Afro-American players of the time were not allowed to play on SEC teams like Alabama until 1971.

https://www.si.com/college/2022/04/17/alabama-first-black-football-players-john-mitchell-wilbur-jackson-honored

With the disparity in funding, facilities, and NIL opportunities, it is unlikely that HBCU teams will ever be able to compete with Power 5 teams.  

NittanyFan

October 17th, 2022 at 10:00 PM ^

Sure - I do, for the most part, believe in the theory of “any publicity is good publicity.”  I get why Jackson State hired him.

Part of that post game chatter I referred to was Deion and Eddie Robinson JR (the ASU coach) arguing about who was “more SWAC.”  Robinson was clearly hinting that Deion doesn’t care about JSU, the SWAC or historically black college football nearly as much as he cares about Deion.

And when the person you’re talking about is coaching while wearing clothing with his IG handle on it - well, I don’t think Robinson was completely wrong.

MGlobules

October 18th, 2022 at 5:29 AM ^

This is an over-simple take. His son plays there--he's a fine, fine quarterback. Deion has nurtured the kid, the team, the school, its facilities, over half a decade now. Yes, he's an egotist, but that's work and dedication, too. And a fair lot of smarts. Probably, some publicist told him to wear the shirt. I cringe at the kind of self-promotion that I see some of my daughter's teen athlete friends engage in; it's an alien--to me--world. But Sanders didn't invent Instagram, or Instagram self-promotion.

A very well-prepared JSU squad beat the tar out of Robinson's team, front, back, and sideways--I watched enough of the game to know. Robinson was feeling a little bit punked. 

Sopwith

October 17th, 2022 at 11:38 PM ^

I never liked him, but I saw that 60 Minutes piece and I have to admit I'm very surprised. He's much more old school about coaching than I ever would have guessed. I saw another clip where he's dead-set opposed to things like players having cell phones at practice and wearing pants that are falling off hahaha, he sounds like he's turned into a 50+ year old "get off my lawn" guy.

I kinda like him now. He's done immense work for that school. He's going to get a P5 shot soonish.

BlueMk1690

October 18th, 2022 at 12:55 AM ^

The question I have is whether he has matured enough to teach kids things beyond self-promotion. It's one thing to recruit like a god based on your NFL fame and public persona, and give snazzy interviews and project 'swagger', another thing to make these kids better football players and professionals.

I'm not even going to say that he needs to make them better people, but nobody is ready at 17 to be a NFL player without eating some humble pie and learning, learning, learning. I could see a matured version of Deion doing that, but some of his antics make you wonder just how matured he really is.