Deion Sanders responds to Nick Saban's comments on Jackson State's NIL activity

The heated discussion between Alabama head coach Nick Saban and Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher dominated the college football news cycle Thursday after Saban’s comments about the Aggies and NIL on Wednesday night. However, he talked about another school — and its coach clapped back late Thursday.

Saban name-dropped Jackson State in his comments, and Tigers coach Deion Sanders teased a response to the Crimson Tide headman late Wednesday. That came via Andscape — formerly known as The Undefeated — and “Coach Prime” called for a public conversation between the two coaches.

“I haven’t talked to Coach Saban,” Sanders told Jean-Jacques Taylor. “I’m sure he’s tried to call. We need to talk publicly — not privately. What you said was public. That doesn’t require a conversation. Let’s talk publicly and let everybody hear the conversation.

“You can’t do that publicly and call privately. No, no, no. I still love him. I admire him. I respect him. He’s the magna cum laude of college football and that’s what it’s going to be because he’s earned that. But he took a left when he should’ve stayed right. I’m sure he’ll get back on course. I ain’t tripping.”

Deion Sanders: ‘Travis [Hunter] ain’t chasing a dollar’

Jackson State has become part of the NIL conversation after it managed to flip Five Star Plus+ recruit Travis Hunter’s commitment from Florida State on National Signing Day this year. Hunter was the No. 1 recruit in the country at the time, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average, and the flip to an FCS program was major news.

Rumors swirled about a potential six-figure NIL deal as part of the commitment — and Sanders has been quick to squish those rumors. But after Saban mentioned that rumor in his comments, Sanders again offered an impassioned defense of his top signee.

“I don’t make a million,” Sanders said. “Travis ain’t built like that. Travis ain’t chasing a dollar. Travis is chasing greatness. Travis and his family don’t get down like that. They never came to us in search of the bag. They’re not built like that. This kid wants to be great.

“He wants my hands on him. He wants me to mold him. He wants me to be his navigational system through life. He wants to be that dude.”