{"id":19272,"date":"2021-02-20T21:25:09","date_gmt":"2021-02-21T03:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=19272"},"modified":"2021-02-20T21:25:09","modified_gmt":"2021-02-21T03:25:09","slug":"hbcu-gameday-coach-prime-nfl-hall-of-fame-sensation-deion-sanders-era-begins-in-jackson-mississippi-amid-high-expectations-national-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=19272","title":{"rendered":"HBCU Gameday, \u2018Coach Prime\u2019 (NFL HALL OF FAME SENSATION, “DEION SANDERS”) era begins in Jackson, Mississippi, amid high expectations, national spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Deion Sanders and Jackson State primed to open their season Sunday<\/h1>\n

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\u2018Coach Prime\u2019 era begins in Jackson, Mississippi, amid high expectations, national spotlight<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Deion<\/strong>
Jackson State football coach Deion Sanders (right) confers with quarterback Jalon Jones (left) during a scrimmage in Jackson, Mississippi, on Feb. 13. This is Sanders\u2019 first college head-coaching position.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n
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@DeionSanders<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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This is not your grandfather\u2019s Jackson State football team.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But new Tigers head football coach Deion \u201cCoach Prime\u201d Sanders wishes it were.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Those were the days when the best NFL prospects came from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) \u2013 when Jackson State sent guys such as Walter Payton to the Chicago Bears, Lem Barney to the Detroit Lions and Harold Jackson to the Los Angeles Rams.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the years before full integration, Black colleges were the only places a promising Black player could go to reach his full potential in sports. In this new world order \u2013 prompted by a mix of renewed social activism amid the Black Lives Matter movement and a more critical look at the inequities of the multibillion-dollar college sports complex \u2013 top-flight Black players are now looking seriously at HBCUs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, who better to lead this movement than Sanders, the only man to professionally hit a home run and get a touchdown in the same seven-day period (1989); the only person to suit up on the same day for two professional teams (1992) (Note: He did not actually play in the baseball game); and the only person to play in a Super Bowl and a World Series.<\/strong><\/p>\n