Alabama head coach Nick Saban ruffled several feathers when he called out Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher and Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders for “buying their players” in what he perceived as NIL- (name, image and likeness) influenced recruits.
Saban's comments drew the ire of both Fisher and Sanders, with the Aggies head coach eviscerating his Alabama peer in a fiery- and deeply personal- press conference. Sanders responded by telling Saban to keep their conversation public, issuing a warning that he's “not the one to play with” when it comes to paying players and what he knows. Hidden in Sanders' clapback at Saban was an interesting detail that reveals exactly what happened in this situation, per Andscape.com.
“Coach Saban wasn’t talking to me. Coach Saban wasn’t talking to Jimbo Fisher. He was talking to his boosters. He was talking to his alumni. He was talking to his givers. He was trying to get money,” Sanders said. “That was what he was doing. He was just using us to get to where he was trying to get to.”
Sanders said that Saban wasn't talking to he or Fisher, but to his boosters in an attempt to get money. The Jackson State head coach believes that Saban, who said that he didn't know how his program was going to compete amid the NIL-craze, was basically imploring his alumni, boosters and givers to lend him a helping hand, using the alleged actions of Fisher and Sanders as a call-to-action.
It's certainly an interesting theory put forth by the Jackson State head coach. Saban's comments didn't jive with his previous stance, as the seven-time national championship winner had boasted about quarterback Bryce Young's nearly “seven-figure” NIL deal last July.
It's clear that there's something going on behind the scenes and Sanders seems to know it.
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