Deion Sanders reacts to Nick Saban's 'lie' regarding NIL accusations
Those Aflac commercial shoots featuring Deion Sanders and Nick Saban are about to be awkward.
On Wednesday, Sanders took exception to Saban’s comments regarding NIL accusations where the Alabama coach alluded to Jackson State paying star recruit Travis Hunter a million dollars to attend their program.
“Jackson State paid a guy a million dollars last year that was a really good Division I player to come to school. It was in the paper. They bragged about it! Nobody did anything about it,” said Saban, according to AL.com’s Mike Rodak.
Hunter was a transformative recruit for Sanders, proving his mettle on the recruiting trail and giving his mission of breathing new life into HBCU football programs more legitimacy. After Saban’s words cut him like a knife, “Prime” took to Twitter to call his colleague a liar.
“You best believe I will address that LIE Coach SABAN told tomorrow,” tweeted Sanders. “I was & awakened by my son @ShedeurSanders that sent me the article stating that WE PAYED @TravisHunterJr a Million to play at @GoJSUTigersFB ! We as a PEOPLE don’t have to pay our PEOPLE to play with our PEOPLE.”
In addition to the statement, Sanders posted a video on Twitter with the caption, “Stay Tuned.”
“I will be addressing the lies that were told by Coach Saban soon,” the video read.
All of college football fans are watching the unexpected rivalry with wide-eyes, while the Aflac duck is sitting like a child seeing his parents get into an argument. The wait for Deion Sanders — who was obviously offended due to the comments made by Nick Saban — to respond is on.
Nick Saban calls out Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M for NIL recruiting methods
Continuing, Deion Sanders wasn’t the only one to feel the wrath of Nick Saban. The Alabama coach also called out Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M, accusing the program of using NIL to aid in recruiting the top class in the nation.
While speaking at an event celebrating the 50-day countdown to the World Games in Birmingham, Saban reportedly claimed that Texas A&M “bought every player on their team” with NIL deals.
“I know the consequence is going to be difficult for the people who are spending tons of money to get players,” Saban said via AL.com. “You read about it, you know who they are. We were second in recruiting last year. A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness.
“We didn’t buy one player. Aight? But I don’t know if we’re going to be able to sustain that in the future, because more and more people are doing it. It’s tough.”
Saban has been one of the most vocal opponents of the direction college football recruiting has moved since Name, Image and Likeness deals were allowed by the NCAA. While Saban maintains that he approves of the system as it enables players to make money on their work, he continues to disapprove of colleges using money as a recruiting tool.
However, Saban’s comments prior to Wednesday have always been focused on the sport as a whole and haven’t seemed to be directed towards any school in particular — even as USC recently entered into a controversy with their alleged tampering of transfer receiver Jordan Addison from Pitt.
Saban’s comments on Wednesday were very clear — simultaneously criticizing the Aggies and Fisher while flaunting Alabama’s success by doing things the “right way.” His comments also seem to indicate that if the NCAA or the SEC do not change the current rules for NIL and recruiting, Saban feels that Alabama may need to change their recruiting methods as well.