WATCH: Jackson State HC Deion Sanders allowed his players to fight each other during spring practice session
Deion Sanders has made plenty of headlines as head coach of the Jackson State football team. He has completely transformed the football program at the HBCU. He led the team to an 11-1 season, won the Eddie Robinson Award, given to the best coach in the FCS, broke the attendance record for FCS schools, and even managed to flip the nation's top recruit from Florida State to come and play in Alabama, but not for the Tide.
Sanders is bringing swag, and an approach that the college game has been longing for, and his unconventional methods made headlines again when a pair of the team's linemen were filmed slugging it out at practice.
Sanders himself said:
"Every football team, they fight! I'm a little different. Everybody wanna break it up real quick...get it out ya man."
Coach Sanders let his players get this scuffle out of their system, and by the looks of things, it did everyone some good.
He brings them back in to shake it out before moving on with the rest of the practice. The helmets stayed on, so the risk of players getting injured was relatively low.
Deion Sanders is going to continue to innovate
Prime Time has realized that to compete at the college level, you need the best recruits, and you get the best recruits by being the most excellent coach.
You can't be cool in the absence of success. The team still needs to win, but it certainly doesn't hurt when you have rappers like Young Dolph coming by to celebrate your wins.
Young Dolph stopped by the locker room after Jackson State’s homecoming win back in October 2021 and celebrated with the Deion Sanders’ coached team. https://t.co/RNrL6ZOHb1
Whether he is allowing his kids to brawl on the field or hosting post-practice freestyle rap competitions, Deion Sanders has hit the sweet spot on how to market his program to the younger generation.
Many coaches in the old guard will have to stand up and notice more top recruits start to eschew their chances at the Alabama and Georgia's of the world for Jackson State and programs that adopt a similar mentality and approach.