As Jackson State amps up for 'College GameDay,' will Deion Sanders' 'not SWAC' critics be silenced?
JACKSON, Miss. — The screams will start before dawn.
Drums will thump in the morning darkness. Taunts will be made. Grills will start to smoke. Clever homemade posters will be held aloft. On campus, face-painted fans will have stayed up all night.
Later in the day, the sights and sounds will resonate across America, and across the Southwestern Athletic Conference, a decades-long nerve center for Black college football. From southwest Texas to central Florida, and through the heart of Mississippi's capital city.
"College GameDay," ESPN's Saturday morning show featuring a new college football city each week, will be in Jackson featuring an HBCU campus for just the second time. This Saturday, when Jackson State hosts Southern University, the SWAC will have more swag than ever.
"It is a step in a movement that we hope won't pass," said Ronald Mason Jr., the former president of Jackson State and the Southern University System. He's currently the president of the University of the District of Columbia.
"Jackson is a great city with good people. I think they've been underserved for a long time."
This weekend, The City with Soul won't be overlooked. For a few hours, it will be a college football town, weeks after a late August flood drew national attention to the city's ongoing water crisis, further complicating the region's high crime rate and infrastructure nightmares.
Thanks to a Pro Football Hall of Famer who is equally charismatic and caring, confident and cocky, controversial and a champion. Coach Deion Sanders, whose Tigers (7-0, 4-0 SWAC) enter this epic matchup at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium undefeated and nationally ranked among Football Championship Subdivision schools, is the lightning rod that has garnered corporate support from American Airlines and Pepsi, a $1 million donation from Diddy, enjoyed national exposure during interviews on "60 Minutes" and "Good Morning America" and hosted Rick Ross, "P-Valley" actors and Snoop Dogg at football games.
To some, Sanders, who stared in college at Florida State, has accomplished enough since arriving in Jackson two years ago to be considered an integral part of Black college football. For others, his coaching and promotional achievements don't matter. He's still an outsider in this complicated conference.
"He ain't SWAC."
It's one of the most polarizing hot takes in sports, spoken by Alabama State coach Eddie Robinson Jr. after a testy post-game handshake with Sanders.
And if there's one thing you must know about SWAC football: It's never just about the game.
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Southern grad: 'He is the figurehead of SWAC'
Nalinya Davis knows what it means to grow up SWAC. Her definition is partially derived from a moment she shared with her father, Nathaniel Davis Jr.
Rummaging through a scrapbook, she came across a perfectly preserved letter sent to him by former Southern University president Felton G. Clark, offering him congratulations after winning the 1960 football national championship. It was personal — not mass-produced — and profound.
“For me, that was just so special. It was so unique,” said Davis, a third-generation athlete at Southern University. In 2018, she was inducted into the Southern University Sports Hall of Fame alongside her father. “That’s what we’re talking about when we’re talking about the SWAC. It’s one of the most historic mainstream NCAA conferences in existence.”
She understands critics who point out Sanders wasn’t raised in the tradition. But, to her, Sanders is undeniably SWAC.
“He is the epitome of SWAC,” she said. “He is the figurehead of SWAC.
"I think that we would be remiss by excluding him because he didn’t attend a SWAC institution.”
How students are preparing for 'GameDay'
The students are ready.
Madison Cathey, the Student Government Association president at Jackson State, plans to hold a sign in the background of the "College GameDay" set, hoping millions will read it and laugh. She's still brainstorming ideas, but she may go with "COACH PRIME: I AM SWAC."
Cathey is debating whether she will stay up all night to snag a premium spot as the ESPN production starts filming just after 5 a.m. CT.
"The attention we're going to receive is especially important," Cathey, 21, said. "There will be new eyes on us. That means we're going to have new Tiger fans."
Or new members of Jaguar Nation.
Also at Jackson State, freshman class president Caleab Pickens is going to make a sign that reads "JSU BY 40" because, well, "we always win by 40," Pickens, 18, explained.
This week, Jackson State students plan to congregate at the “Hotspot,” an outside setting on campus equipped with a disc jockey. From local barbershops to community car washes, SWAC energy is everywhere.
"On Saturday," Mason said, "I'm rooting for ... HBCUs."
The Sanders Effect: 'It's family'
Don Spann, an assistant professor of journalism and media studies at Jackson State, has watched Sanders impact the university in so many ways. This week, ESPN is holding a two-hour seminar with students.
"Coach Sanders has reignited our point of view and brought more awareness because of the social media age," Spann said. "Now people are hearing about this more so than ever before. When it's all said and done, we look at the big picture. It's family. Everybody has similar backgrounds, and similar stories; in a sense, you can easily connect and identify. Put everybody together and become one big family and very supportive of one another.
Think Dancing Dolls, the collegiate dance line at Southern University featured in Season 3 of "Why Not Us," an ESPN+ production produced by NBA All-Star Chris Paul.
Or the Human Jukebox and The Sonic Boom of the South, the college bands featured at Saturday's game, including the halftime show.
Or a Who's Who of both schools' alumni, from Southern University's Aeneas Williams (Pro Football Hall of Famer), Keith Beauchamp (producer, writer of 2022 movie "Till"), Ricky Weeks (former Major League Baseball player), David Banner (rapper, activist) and Randy Jackson (record executive, former "American Idol" judge) to Jackson State's James Meredith (first African-American student admitted to University of Mississippi), Lindsey Hunter (two-time NBA champion), Rod Paige (former U.S. Secretary of Education), Cassandra Wilson (two-time Grammy Award winner), Bennie Thompson (U.S. Representative) and Walter Payton (Pro Football Hall of Fame).
This environment may be new to some, but HBCU graduates such as U.S. Army Gen. Russel L. Honoré value its importance.
Honoré graduated in 1971 from Southern University with a degree in vocational agriculture. He is a 37-year military veteran who held multiple commands during his career, including vice president for operations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commander of the Standing Joint Force Headquarters-Homeland Security.
"Many question why we still have (HBCUs),” Honoré said. “We have them because we still need them.
"There is not an issue of equality or inclusion at HBCUs."
Questioning Sanders' SWAC status? Challenge these legends too
James Verrett, a Southern University alum, grew up befriending former Grambling State coach Eddie Robinson, the football legend who coached there for 55 years.
Robinson won 408 games, then a record for a college football coach. He also won 17 SWAC titles and nine Black College National Championships. From 1960-86, he enjoyed 27 consecutive winning seasons. More than 80 of his players played professional football, including Willie Davis, Charlie Joiner, Buck Buchanan, Willie Brown, Tank Younger, Doug Williams and Ernie Ladd.
The Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award is given annually to a college football coach by the Football Writers Association of America.
Robinson also earned his undergraduate degree from Leland College, which is not a SWAC school. That's why when people debate the credibility of Sanders and others in the SWAC, Verrett reminds them of Robinson's journey to north central Louisiana.
Or Ace “A.W.” Mumford. Or Marino "The Godfather" Casem. Three men whose SWAC swag is iconic and everlasting.
“None of those greats graduated from those schools," said Verrett, a play-by-play announcer for SWAC and SIAC sports on ESPN+. "They were hired by a SWAC school and enhanced the university by winning football games.”
But remember: In the SWAC, it's never just about the game.
Verrett always tells folks if they are at least 30 years old and grew up south of South Carolina, between Texas and the Atlantic coast, and had a Black teacher, they were likely taught by someone who attended a SWAC college.
"So," Verrett said, "we are all SWAC.”