An electrifying and poignant insider account of the Fall 22 season at
Jackson State University, where NFL legend Deion Sanders coached the
team to a near-perfect season, and along the way, attracted the nation's
top recruit, ushered in an HBCU resurgence, and revived the spirit of a
small, Southern town.
"We have to win on the field. We have to win in the classroom. We have
to win in the community. We have to win at home for our families. Then
we have to win as men. The thing we're trying to do is not just about
football here at Jackson State. We gotta win at every category of life
and not only that, but we have to dominate."--Deion Sanders aka Coach
Prime
Back in the day, Jackson State University boasted one of the finest
football programs in the nation. It was the home of NFL Hall of Famer
Walter Payton and a top pick for the country's best and brightest
student-athletes. But over the years, powerhouse teams and conferences
came calling, and Jackson State and other historically black colleges
and universities, or HBCUs, became a lot less attractive. Their
facilities weren't as sophisticated, their boosters and alumni not as
moneyed, their television coverage not on the major networks--if there
was coverage at all. For gifted student-athletes, HBCUs no longer
offered a road to the pros.
Enter Deion Sanders, one of the most iconic and spectacular football
players in NFL history.
Moved by the national racial reckoning of 2020, when he had one son in
college and another about to start, Sanders made an unconventional
decision. He became head coach of the Jackson State Tigers in Jackson,
Mississippi. Some celebrated Sanders' move to an HBCU; others were
confused. Why a small Black school in a poor Black town where they have
to fight for clean water? For Sanders, that was the point.
In his two full seasons as head coach at JSU, Sanders brought new,
positive energy to HBCUs by attracting five-star recruits, a new donor
class, higher game attendance, hope and economic influx into the
surrounding town, and a loving, steadfast commitment to teaching young
athletes to become amazing men.
Now, with access that no other reporter was granted, sports journalist
Jean-Jacques Taylor takes readers inside one full season of JSU Tigers
football to show the heart, mind, and dominance of America's most daring
football coach and his team of would-be champions.
