Deion Sanders may no longer be the coach at Jackson State, but he still has plenty of love for the HBCU.
So when only a single HBCU player was selected throughout all seven rounds of the 2023 NFL Draft over the weekend, it did not sit well with the current head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes.
After Jackson State cornerback/kick returner Isaiah Bolden was taken in the seventh-round with the 245th overall pick by the New England Patriots, Sanders tweeted out a congratulatory message for his former player. But that message also included some choice words for the entire NFL, as Sanders told Bolden he deserved to be taken much higher, before lashing out at the 31 other NFL teams for totally ignoring the rest of the “talented HBCU players.”
According to Sanders, Jackson State alone had at least three other players who deserved to be drafted.
To help put this into perspective, Georgia and Alabama each had 10 players selected in the 2023 Draft. In fact, both schools had more players taken in the first round alone (three apiece) than all HBCU schools had throughout the entire draft.
Last year, HBCU schools saw a total of four players selected in the draft. You can’t help but wonder if Deion’s departure from Jackson State resulted in the decrease in HBCU players taken this year compared to 2022.
