Deion Sanders Says Jackson State ‘Not Ready’ to Face Alabama: ‘Give Me Another Year’

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Jackson State football head coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders said during SWAC Media Day (h/t Mike Rodak of al.com) that his team is not ready to play Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide, although he appears open to it down the road as his program develops.

“He’s not gonna play us right now,” Sanders said at SWAC media day in Birmingham. “We’re not ready to that. We’re not into sacrificing our kids to get a check. He got to give me another year.”

The question to Sanders regarding Alabama was in response to Saban fielding a question at SEC media days regarding whether he’d be open to playing in-state HBCUs Alabama State and Alabama A&M, per Touchdown Alabama.

“I think I certainly can see,” Saban said. “We’ve tried to be very supportive. Miss Terry is on the Board of Trustees at Stillman College. I’ve always been an advocate of playing in-state schools because I think it sort of helps them raise their level and their ability to compete, which obviously if you do that, you also contribute to how successful the players in those organizations can be, So I would be very much in favor of that.”

Sanders’ Jackson State Tigers were one of the best HBCU football teams in 2021. They went 11-2, won the SWAC and made the Celebration Bowl, where the Tigers fell to South Carolina State.

This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis.

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