First of all, I’ve got all the love in the world for Deion Sanders. Let’s put that on the table first. Not only do I think he’s the greatest all around football player to ever live. You can’t deny a guy that played all over the field and did it at an extremely high level. He’s a great person that is giving of himself and his talents both physically and financially. Class Act all the way around.
What he’s done for HBCU football not just at Jackson State but for all schools has been incredible. JSU and whoever, they’ve played for the past 5 games have been on national television giving all of those schools publicity that they couldn’t have ever gotten without him. JSU is now a household name and I’m incredibly thankful to him for his sacrifice to our young people.
With all of that being said, in the past two games he’s learning that you still have to show up and coach. Like we used to say when I was in college. You can’t just sneak in the frat playa. He’s getting a taste of some humble pie.
These other coaches in the SWAC have been doing this for a long long time. They’ve paid their dues and learned a thing or two about coaching. It’s great that he’s Deion Sanders but they are reminding him that he’s got to earn the moniker “Coach Prime.”
We all know him as “Primetime” the football player because he earned that on the field. These SWAC coaches are showing up to play JSU and they want to see if he’s legit Coach Prime or just some dude calling himself Coach Prime.
He and his staff failed to make adjustments when Alabama State mauled them a few weeks ago simply by blitzing on every down. A simple screen pass or two would have made them play honest or at least slowed them down enough for JSU to run their offense. They didn’t make a single noticeable shift in the game plan in the second half and got ran out of the joint.
Southern came in with the EXACT same blueprint on Saturday and beat the doors, brakes, transmission and back seats off him in front of Big Momma. They sent everybody all day and Coach Prime and staff never adjusted to what Southern was bringing. Once they caught them off-guard with the onside kick it was a wrap.
I know that it takes time to turn a program around and that you’ve got to have time to get your guys in. I get all of that but coaching is coaching. If you don’t have the personnel that’s one thing but being completely out coached is entirely another deal.
Sure, once all of the big time recruits are on campus in the fall it will be like the ’92 Dream Team landed in Jackson. However, the better the competition they run up on the better the coaching will be. JSU can’t rely on just rolling their helmets and those funky new uniforms (and they are funky) out on the field to win games. Deion and Co. will be challenged every week by good experienced SWAC coaches that are playing on national television too. If they’re playing JSU then they’re on TV too and they’ve got something to prove.
In other words, every coach in the SWAC is looking to make Deion live up to his moniker…Coach Prime. Stop me when I start lyin’!