Few things are more important to Deion Sanders than keeping his word, and he did just that on Monday in South Carolina.
The Jackson State head coach was recently in Hilton Head, South Carolina and sent out a tweet that he was in the area and looking for talent.
“Can somebody tell me where the inner city is in Hilton Head, South Carolina?” Sanders tweeted on Sunday. “I’m looking for talent everywhere.”
Hilton Head High School head coach B.J. Payne saw the tweet and responded to Sanders, inviting him to come give his program a look.
“I’m in the stadium, standing in middle of a storm waiting for you to…as the kids say… pull up. Let’s goooo,” Payne tweeted.
Sanders responded to Payne’s invitation shortly thereafter.
“Love ya coach! We will meet 1 day and I will pull up on Ya!” Sanders responded. “God bless u and your kids.”
Getting a response was nice, but Sanders took it a step further and actually showed up to pay Payne a visit. Payne got emotional as seeing Sanders unearthed a treasured memory from his past.
“When we literally had nothing, my dad drove me to 3 Rivers Stadium. He spent his last dime for me to watch Deion Sanders, I ran in when gates opened just to watch him warmup. I patterned my pregame warm up to follow what I saw that day. Life comes full circle. Respect. Salute.”
Earlier this month, Sanders talked about the difficulties FCS and HBCU coaches often have getting to see the best available players from high school coaches. If Sanders himself was having any trouble, it’s likely his goodwill visit helped his individual cause for sure.