| Mississippi Clarion Ledger
Deion Sanders on the Struggle and Rewards of Coaching at HBCU Jackson State
Sport pulse: Deion Sanders on the future of his players and the struggles they face
SportsPulse, USA TODAY
JACKSON, Miss. Deion Sanders, the Pro Football Hall of Famer, won his college coaching debut on Sunday when Jackson State defeated NAIA opponent Edward Waters 53-0 at the Mississippi Veteran Memorial Stadium.
Jackson State is playing a spring season as the Southwestern Athletic Conference shifts its fall sport to spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sanders and the Tigers are expected to play a seven-game season, with an eighth if they reach the SWAC championship game.
Here are five takeaways from the game:
Jones gets the start: After a preseason of mystery, sophomores Jalon Jones was the first quarter on the field for Jackson State on Sunday. For most of the day, Jones threw screenshots and short passes. He rarely pushed the ball into the field, but he didn’t have to either.
Jones threw a ten-yard pass for Daylen Baldwin with 11 seconds left in the second quarter.
First-year full-back Quincy Casey, the other full-back at the start, entered the game with six minutes left in the third quarter. Jones and Casey broke up throughout the second half. Casey reported a pass rate of 23 yards in the fourth quarter.
All gas, no brakes: After Jackson State overcame an Edward Waters ploy on a 55-yard kick-off in the first half, the Tigers pulled the field down and extended the lead to 31-0 on four games in 44 seconds.
On the first drive of the second half, Kymani Clarke scored a 10-year scoring tally, and the Tigers passed for two. Jones rolls out and throws an incomplete pass to Kourtland Hubbard during the two-point conversion.
Cowboy surprise: Pro Football Hall of Fame fullback Troy Aikman, a former Sanders teammate of their days with the Dallas Cowboys, surprised Sanders on the field during warm-ups in the forward. Sanders and Aikman played together from 1995 to 1999, and the two were on the Cowboys’ Super Bowl team in 1995.
Excluded: The Jackson State victory was the first end of the program since September 6, 2014, when the Tigers beat Virginia-Lynchburg 59-0. JSU offended a total of nine yards in the first quarter.
Clarke and Newman show: The feedback from Kymani Clarke and wide receiver Warren Newman has been all over the field as offensive weapons for Jackson State. Newman deteriorated a few handovers.