Deion Sanders Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders discusses what the Tigers need to work on and what they will face with Alcorn in their upcoming game during a news conference at JSU in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. Tcl Deion Sanders

Ever since Deion Sanders left Jackson State to take the head coach job with the Colorado Buffaloes, there’s been no shortage of opinions on how he handled it. But what do his former players at JSU think about him?

Zion Olojede of Complex Sports spoke with a few of Sander’s former players at Jackson State and asked them directly how they felt about him leaving after three years. They were pretty unanimous in supporting him and thanking him for everything he’d done for them and the program.

“I don’t understand why people don’t see the positive,” senior wide receiver Isaiah Bolden says. “Coach Prime came out of his pocket to built a great HBCU locker room… He did what he said he was going to do. He put HBCUs on the map in my opinion.”

Defensive end Jason Mercier added that everyone knew it was a matter of time before Coach Prime took a bigger offer.

“The way I looked at it was this has been going on forever,” said Mercier. “I just felt like this was big deal to Black folk but to PWIs, these changes have been going on forever. Like myself, I came to JSU from a coaching change. I already knew what it was already. All I know is when I heard he did get the job, I was happy for him. That’s big.”

Linebacker Jurriente Davis added that he understands why people freaked out, but it was ultimately a good thing for the school.

“Social media gon’ be social media at the end of the day. People gon’ bash you,” said Davis. “I look at it like this, if you don’t got nobody talking about you, you ain’t doing something right. It’s a lot of people like Shannon Sharpe and Stephen A. Smith, they all talking about it. I just know it’s pros and cons to everything. We knew as the team the world was gonna blow up. I know the culture is shocked right now especially Jackson State culture. Some people look at it like a hit to the face but some people look at it like a good thing. Even being here from January, he’s changed the culture a lot. A lot of people might look over that as far as the locker room. He used his whole salary to put that money into the locker room. Coach Prime didn’t use Jackson State, he had to elevate. If Coach Prime left 10 years from now, people would probably still bash him.”

[Complex]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.