'A grander scale:' Deion Sanders, Eddie George are on a mission to increase HBCU football exposure
Deion Sanders made the first move, then Eddie George.
The football coaches at Jackson State and Tennessee State have helped focus the microscope on their programs and others at historically Black college and universities in a way few might not have envisioned a year ago.
The former NFL All-Pros will face off for the first time as coaches Saturday (7 p.m. ET) when JSU (1-0) takes on TSU (0-1) in the Southern Heritage Classic at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, marking one of the most anticipated games in the event's history.
"This is another opportunity for us to showcase our talent, to showcase our coaches, the brand of our schools and show the pageantry and the tradition of HBCU football on a grander scale," George said this week.
George, the 1995 Heisman Trophy winner and former Tennessee Titans running back, brought immediate attention to a TSU program that had struggled in recent years.
He hired Hue Jackson, the former Cleveland Browns coach, as his offensive coordinator and brought in Brandon Fisher — the son of George's former Titans coach, Jeff Fisher — to amplify the name recognition reverberating from the Nashville-based program.
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The big names evoked memories of JSU's hiring of Sanders, the Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback whose "Prime Time" mantra gained national appeal long before his arrival in Jackson, Mississippi.
Sanders had long wanted to become a college football coach, having applied for the jobs at Arkansas and Florida State, his alma mater, before taking the job at JSU. George, whose post-playing career has included acting roles on Broadway, had no plans to become a coach before conversations with a slew of coaches, including Jeff Fisher and Sanders, helped change his mind.
"I'm not going to say it's a trend because you have to have the understanding, the love and the passion for it," Sanders said after George was hired in April. "So this is not like a fad what we're doing."
JSU contacted Sanders about the Tigers job on the heels of the 2020 summer filled with social justice initiatives. Since then, he has been a vocal advocate for "levelling the playing field" between HBCUs and Power Five programs, which often have bigger operating budgets, better facilities and have been able to attract the best Black high school athletes in country.
It's one reason why JSU, the program with the most Pro Football Hall of Fame alumni in Mississippi — four — went from being the home of Walter Payton to not having a player selected in an NFL Draft since 2008.
"The world we live in, there's still problems going on with racism and other conflicts," JSU defensive back Isaiah Bolden told the Clarion Ledger in November, after transferring from Florida State after Sanders' arrival. "Seeing the view of everything, even with the NBA bubble, they did their movement and stopped playing games. Us athletes, we know we have a bigger platform than we ever had before. I feel like me using my platform to make a change is the main thing I can do."
The difference is players now feel like their voices can be heard at HBCUs like never before. Already, Sanders has signed the highest-rated recruiting class in FCS and HBCU history.
"I consider him a mentor and a great friend, competitor," George said of Sanders. "So it's going to be awesome to put my product up against it on Saturday."
Sanders and George don't shy from the spotlight. The Jackson State-Florida A&M game, televised on ESPN2 on Sunday, outdrew games such as Oregon State-Purdue, according to HBCU GameDay. Tennessee State's first game brought in more viewers than Stanford-Kansas State and Nevada-California. The previous week, ESPN's "College Gameday" were on location for the MEAC/SWAC Challenge between Alcorn State and North Carolina Central. The show brought on George as a guest, and the game averaged one million viewers, per ESPN.
For Sanders, the progress is encouraging but not complete.
"I can't understand how we can play on ESPN, but I'm home after we land from a wonderful flight that we had back from Miami, and I'm looking at ESPN I'm looking on the ticker, and I'm trying to find out the score of Tennessee State-Grambling," Sanders said this week. "Why can't I see that? Where is that? So, we can play on your network, but you can't put us on the ticker? Let me know the scores, that don't cost any money, does it? You own the network. Give us that.
"We should be on the darn ticker. I'm seeing colleges I know we're more prominent than. People want to know our scores, too. So that's the kind of thing that upsets me. Thank God he's given me the platform. Thank God you get to see it develop."