Deion Sanders has had his name floated around as a potential head coach for many Power Five and FBS programs, but he’s currently the head coach at Jackson State.
Despite Jackson State being a member of the FCS, Sanders is pushing for his program to be involved in a higher-level bowl.
“Why can’t that be us? I’m just saying, why can’t it be us?” Sanders asked on Monday’s SWAC media conference. “You’ve got teams that are virtually 6-5 going to a bowl game. Ain’t nobody going to see them play. Ain’t nobody turning the channel to witness the foolishness. But you have us that travels deep, travels heavy.
Jackson State is currently 9-0, ranked fifth in the FCS and leads the subdivision in attendance by a long shot.
“Not only that, you have us as a people that when – not if – when one of our schools get selected by one of these wonderful Fortune 500 companies that are the title sponsor to a bowl game. We will support collectively.”
This isn’t the first time Deion Sanders has made overtures to have his Jackson State program considered to play in a Pre-New Years Day Bowl. He made similar statements back in 2020 after being hired as a college head coach for the first time.
Jackson State is one win away from going back to the SWAC title game. The winner of that game will play the winner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta. Sanders has already stated he has no desire to play in the FCS playoffs, but bowl games do have some allure for him.
“This is after the Celebration Bowl. That’s the goal. Let’s get that out of the way. This is after that. This is a pre-New Year’s Day Bowl game that we would love to have an opportunity to play in.”
Sanders said he would like to see other HBCUs, such as FAMU, get that chance as well.
“Say Pepsi has a bowl game, whatever, wouldn’t you want it to be us – because of what we bring to the table. Especially if it’s pre-New Year’s Day. And then there’s also a purse that comes with that game that we would love to have. That can help us as a program tremendously. But not only that, give our kids some exposure and expose them to other things in life where they get to go somewhere for three or four days in another city and just have a wonderful time as well.”