Cowboys icon Deion Sanders calls out Nick Saban after recruiting attack
By Adam Weinrib
Though Alabama head coach/center of the universe Nick Saban’s public attacks on Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher captured much of the attention this week, Cowboys icon Deion Sanders was also hit with an off-hand comment about the way he’s transformed recruiting at Jackson State, an HBCU that’s now on the up and up.
Saban’s comments framing himself as the “only good recruiter” in a world of coaches armed with cash (a laughable assertion) found an audience in Fisher, who held a press conference meant to expose Alabama’s head man for the many small holes in his “God-like” reputation in Tuscaloosa.
Additionally, Fisher noted that Saban was talking specifically to local business owners and boosters in an effort to make it seem as if his community was falling behind in the noble pursuit of flashing cash at recruits. He wasn’t admonishing his competitors as much as he was staring at his teammates like Carlos Beltran coming to the Astros locker room, begging them to step it up.
While Fisher vocally retorted, Sanders took to the media to address Saban’s assertion that he paid No. 1 recruit Travis Hunter $1 million to sway his commitment from Florida State to Jackson State.
No, Prime has not spoken to Saban on the phone. Ideally, he will not have to after saying his piece.
I said what I said, now God Bless & let’s dominate Today! https://t.co/kYmdfZvekQ
— COACH PRIME (@DeionSanders) May 20, 2022
Cowboys’ Deion Sanders has no time for Nick Saban’s NIL takes
Quoth Sanders:
"“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 told Andscape on Thursday.“You can’t do that publicly and call privately. No, no, no. I still love him. I admire him. I respect him. 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.”"
I am … not sure he tried to call, Prime. But other than that, spot on.
Sanders and Hunter, the recruit in question, even shared a laugh on Twitter over the assertion that his commitment was changed by something as brazen as a $1 million, unprompted bag drop.
https://twitter.com/DeionSanders/status/1527303966287048709?s=20&t=j3nRRjEC9BecJ4bDR1iQ5Q
On top of everything else about this unsavory cycle, it’s unfathomable that Saban could live in such a glass house and still throw out routes. “Recruiting” has never been as straightforward as a conversation and handshake. The “art” of recruiting has very little to do with which naturally charismatic coach can make someone’s mom faint. For Saban to prop up some old-school vision of recruiting that never really existed (and one he certainly doesn’t practice) just to diminish Sanders, Fisher and Co. is disingenuous at best and damaging at worst.
The ex-Cowboys legend creating a powerhouse at Jackson State would be far more interesting than Saban signing up every 6-7 7th grader in Alabama and the surrounding states en route to yet another title game appearance (loss) anyway.
