Jackson State is still playing football deep into December.
Coached by Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, the Tigers (11-1, 8-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference) won their first SWAC championship since 2007 with a 27-10 win over Prairie View A&M on Dec. 4 in Jackson, Mississippi.
JSU now heads to Atlanta to face MEAC-champion South Carolina State in the Celebration Bowl on Dec. 18. The Celebration Bowl is unofficially recognized as the Black college football national championship. Before the game, Sanders told the local media this was only the beginning for his program.
“We’re on the verge of having another phenomenal recruiting class,” Sanders said, in a video posted by local reporter Trey Mongrue. “We’re on the verge of entering in our new locker room in a short period of time and having a whole-new look leading onto the practice. We’re just on the verge of a whole-new look. We’re on the verge of some things here on the campus of Jackson State, and putting the country on notice that you can make it from an HBCU to the NFL like it once were before. Where it was plentiful, where that was the normalcy. We got to get that normalcy back.”
Since his arrival to JSU in December 2020, “Coach Prime” has expedited the process of installing an all-turf practice field for the program and brought in the No. 1 recruiting class in not only HBCU, but in the history of the Football Championship Subdivision, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, which began listing recruiting classes in 2000. Before the team had turf practice fields, if it rained in Jackson, the program had to drive to a local high school with a turf field to practice.
Sanders’ words should excite, and calm, Tiger fans.
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