Jackson State Tigers head coach Deion Sanders believes HBCUs need their own pro day. In a recent interview with “Thee PreGame Show,” the game-changing coach and reigning Eddie Robinson Award winner talked about that.
Sanders’ goal has been to get as many HBCU athletes as possible in front of NFL scouts. He feels the only way to do that is to have an HBCU pro day, an all SWAC pro day.
.@DeionSanders announces Jackson State will host a Pro Day for JSU, Mississippi Valley, Alcorn State and others on March 21st. Pro scouts will in in attendance. #HBCU #SWAC pic.twitter.com/r8xaFSIuFT
— Jeff Lightsy Jr. (@jlightsy7) February 17, 2022
“Why would we have several pro days when they send two scouts here, and two scouts there?” Sanders asked.
“We all on the ’Gram and all our different social sites and promote it that we’re doing it here. So now we’re getting more scouts on hand.”
Sanders Wants To Bring All SWAC Schools: He Has One Scheduled For Mississippi Schools In March
Earlier this month Sanders announce a joint pro day with Mississippi schools Alcorn State, Mississippi Valley State, Delta Sate and Mississippi College.
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The pro day is scheduled to take place March 21 on the JSU campus. But that isn’t enough for Sanders as he wants a bigger one for next year.
“Let’s do our own thing,” said Sanders. “Instead of going to be the backup dancers at somebody else’s pro day. We don’t want to do that.”
Hall of Famer Deion Sanders says not one player from an HBCU was selected in the NFL Draft 😮🏈 pic.twitter.com/x65sw9Q3YD
— Kollege Kidd (@KollegeKidd) May 3, 2021
HBCUs Continuously Overlooked By NFL: Sanders Is Fed Up With The Disrespect
At the conclusion of the season, Sanders did an interview with the Clarion-Ledger. There he talked about how he was informed that there were only a handful of realistic NFL prospects from the SWAC. Sanders balked at the notion and called the statement “idiotic.”
Here we go! Well done @seniorbowl @JimNagy_SB @NFL #HBCU 👊🏾💯 https://t.co/3HpsYx3b7u
— Steve Wyche (@wyche89) May 26, 2021
“I was just told by a person with good ranking in the NFL that we only had six draftable players this year and that’s absurd. That’s idiotic. I played 14 seasons in the NFL and I worked another 14-15 years on the NFL Network. So close to the owners, executives, and the television aspect of it. And I know talent when I see talent. Every weekend I’m coaching on the sideline, not only the dogs that I have, I’m watching kids on opposing teams that can flat-out play.”
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“And you’re going to tell me with my eyes, my sight, and my vision with my accolades that there’s only six players in the SWAC that are draftable? You’ve got to be crazy. And if that happens we need to show up and show out. That’s absurd.”
#SWACNation As Fall Sports are set to get started, make sure you’re all set with an @ESPNPlus Membership to see all your favorite SWAC Teams in action 🏈 #BuildingChampionsForLife pic.twitter.com/UsBqjG4bB7
— Southwestern Athletic Conference (@theswac) August 14, 2021
Only Five HBCU Players Made Draft Tracker Last Year: None Drafted
Last year’s NFL draft tracker only listed five players from HBCUs, that’s out of 460 listed. Two of those five carried high draft grades but weren’t chosen.
Sanders was highly upset about the outcome and took to Instagram to voice his displeasure.
"My prayers are that This won’t EVER happen again."
No players from HBCUs were drafted in the 2021 NFL Draft. Jackson State head coach @DeionSanders is calling for unity amongst HBCU programs to ensure that never happens again. pic.twitter.com/FXy6hMtW6V
— Andscape (@andscape) May 3, 2021
Now Sanders wants to avoid something like that happening again. He’s already helped raise the visibility of HBCUs and there’s some clear NFL talent coming out in this year’s draft. It’s unlikely so many HBCU football talents will get ignored this time around.
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