Jackson State Tigers head coach Deion Sanders is indeed leaving the school for his first FBS gig, according to a report.
On Friday evening, Pete Thamel of ESPN reported that the Pro Football Hall of Famer “has been preparing to make an exit in order to” accept the Colorado Buffaloes’ head coaching job. The Tigers play the Southern Jaguars in the SWAC Football Championship Game on Saturday:
“With Jackson State on the cusp of the SWAC title game on Saturday, Sanders and his associates have spent the week making inquiries to both potential members of his on-field staff and support staff at Colorado, pitching them to join him in Boulder, sources said.
A source told ESPN on Friday night that Sanders’ outreach included a call to a prominent player in the NCAA transfer portal, encouraging him to not make a decision because Sanders was heading to Colorado and wanted to recruit him there.”
On Friday, it was also reported by Justin Adams of CBS News Colorado that the school will offer Sanders more than $5 million annually with several incentives.
The former eight-time Pro Bowl cornerback began his collegiate coaching career at Jackson State in 2020. Before that, Sanders was the offensive coordinator at Trinity Christian School (in Cedar Hill, Texas) from 2017 to 2020.
In his first year with the Tigers, Sanders led the school to a 4-3 record. Last year, they went 11-2 and won the 2021 SWAC Football Championship Game. Jackson State went on to lose to South Carolina in the Celebration Bowl.
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The Tigers carry a perfect 11-0 record into Saturday’s game against Southern. 10 of their 11 wins this season have come by double-digits, with the lone one-score game taking place vs. Campbell on Oct. 22 (a 22-14 Tigers victory).
Widely viewed as the greatest cornerback of all time, Sanders played with the Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Washington and Baltimore Ravens. In 1994, he won Defensive Player of the Year honors en route to helping San Francisco to a Super Bowl 29 championship.
Sanders then signed a lucrative contract with the Cowboys, where he enjoyed the remainder of his prime years. Sanders, who also enjoyed a successful career in Major League Baseball, won his second Super Bowl championship with the Cowboys in the 1995 season. He played his final NFL season with the Ravens in 2005.
