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Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher wasn’t the only one called out by Alabama coach Nick Saban Wednesday night about the chaos created by name, image and likeness counts. Jackson State Coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders heard it too.
“Damn, read about it in the paper,” Saban said at an event in Birmingham on Wednesday. “I mean, last year Jackson State paid a guy who was a really good Division I player a million dollars to go to school. It was in the newspaper and they bragged about it. Nobody did anything about it. I mean, these guys in Miami who’re going to play basketball there for $400,000, it says in the paper. The guy tells you how he does it.”
Sanders promised to respond via social media Wednesday night. He did so in a comment to Andscape.com’s Jean-Jacques Taylor on Thursday.
“Coach Saban hasn’t spoken to me,” Sanders said. “Coach Saban has not spoken to Jimbo Fisher. He spoke to his boosters. He spoke to his graduates. He spoke to his donors. He tried to get money. He did. He was just using us to get where he wanted to go.”
Sanders is right. Saban constantly whines about the new reality because he knows he won’t be able to keep up when the floodgates open for legitimate paying players. Sanders, possibly echoing Fisher’s direct attack on Saban’s recruiting practices, suggested that a level playing field for paying players disproportionately hurt those who previously cheated the rules.
“I don’t even wear a watch and know what time it is. They forget I know who brought the bag and dropped it off,” Sanders told Taylor. “I know this stuff. I’m not the one you want to play with when it comes to all this stuff. . . . Once upon a time, the bag was just a bag. Now there is equality among the big boys. We don’t have bags like that. We don’t have the boosters and donors and donors. Get me out of this mess you all are causing.”
Referring to the notion that Jackson State “paid” a player $1 million last year, Saban referenced Travis Hunter. Taylor reports that Hunter has two NIL deals and two more pending and that they are worth less than $250,000.
Saban said Thursday he tried to contact Fisher and Sanders. Sanders told Taylor that Sanders would not take Saban’s call.
“We need to speak publicly, not privately,” Sanders told Taylor. “What you said was public. This does not require a conversation. Let’s speak publicly and let everyone hear the conversation. . . . You can’t make this public and call private. No no no. i still love him I admire him. i respect him He’s college football’s magna cum laude and he’s going to be because he deserves it. . . . But he turned left when he should have stayed right. I’m sure he’ll get back on track. I don’t stumble.”
While Saban vs. Sanders doesn’t have the same sizzle as Saban vs. Fisher, Sanders knows what’s really going on. Saban knows that the new NIL reality will make it harder for him to get the best of the best players. And without the best of the best players, it will be difficult to continue to be regarded as the best of the best coaches in football history.