On Wednesday, Alabama coach Nick Saban lashed out at Jimbo Fisher and Deion Sanders, accusing the coaches of buying players.
“I mean, we were second in recruiting last year,” raged Saban. “A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team — made a deal for name, image, likeness. We didn’t buy one player, all right? But I don’t know if we’re gonna be able to sustain that in the future because more and more people are doing it. It’s tough.”
This morning, Jimbo Fisher retaliated against Saban’s unprovoked, inappropriate, inflammatory and backstabbing remarks.
“It’s amazing. Some people think they’re God. Go dig into how ‘God’ did his deal,” said Fisher. “You may find out about a lot of things you don’t want to know.
“We build him up to be the czar of football. Go dig into his past or anybody that’s ever coached with him. You can find out anything you want to find out, what he does and how he does it. It’s despicable; it really is.”
Saban then turned his attention to Deion Sanders and Jackson State.
“Jackson State paid a guy $1 million last year that was a really good Division I player to come to the school. It was in the paper, and they bragged about it. Nobody did anything about it”
This evening, Deion Sanders issued his response.
Sanders, in an interview with Andscape, clapped back at Saban’s accusation that Jackson State paid star recruit Travis Hunter $1 million to play for the Tigers instead of the Florida State Seminoles.
“I haven’t talked to Coach Saban. I’m sure he’s tried to call. We need to talk publicly — not privately. What you said was public. That doesn’t require a conversation. Let’s talk publicly and let everybody hear the conversation,” said Sanders.
“You can’t do that publicly and call privately. No, no, no. I still love him. I admire him. I respect him. He’s the magna cum laude of college football and that’s what it’s going to be because he’s earned that.
“But he took a left when he should’ve stayed right. I’m sure he’ll get back on course. I ain’t tripping.”
Saban said he tried to reach out to both coaches but neither have responded, and rightfully so.
Fisher and Saban have history.
They were both at LSU together and last year Fisher’s Texas A&M squad handed Alabama their first loss of the season as well.
Knowing coach Saban, he’s still seething over the loss.
Sanders and Saban are also connected, particularly through the Aflac commercials they jointly star in.
But Saban drew first blood and instigated a beef that never existed.
Needless to say, Sanders isn’t one to play with.
“I don’t even wear a watch and I know what time it is. They forget I know who’s been bringing the bag and dropping it off,” said Sanders. “I know this stuff. I’m not the one you want to play with when it comes to all of this stuff.”
Sanders and Hunter shared a laugh earlier today on Twitter about the $1 million Sanders supposedly paid him.
Mind you, Sanders signed a four-year, $1.2 million deal to coach the Tigers, so even he doesn’t even make $1 million.
And he’s the head coach.
“I don’t make a million. Travis ain’t built like that. Travis ain’t chasing a dollar. Travis is chasing greatness. Travis and his family don’t get down like that,” said Sanders. “They never came to us in search of the bag. They’re not built like that. This kid wants to be great.
“He wants to be that dude.”
Sanders is building something special at Jackson St., and other programs across the college football landscape are taking notice.
That’s why Tennessee State signed Eddie George and Grambling brought Hue Jackson on board.
And that’s why college football traditionalists were so incensed when Sanders signed not one but two top recruits to play at Jackson St.
While he’s capturing attention, the financial rewards haven’t caught up as of yet.
That makes Saban’s accusation even more ridiculous.
“Once upon a time the bag was just a bag. Now, there’s equality among the big boys. We don’t have those types of bags. We don’t have the boosters and donors and givers,” Sanders said. “Leave me out of that mess y’all got going on.
Sanders is taking the whole incident in stride, but he let Saban know the line is there, so don’t cross it.
“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.”
In other words coach Saban, leave Deion’s name out of your mouth.
