Deion Sanders Threatens To Expose NFL Scouts For Potential Pro Day Double Standard

• If NFL scouts who weren’t at Jackson State’ Pro Day show up at Mississippi State or Ole Miss, they could feel the wrath of Coach Prime.
• Should that happen, Deion Sanders has threatened to expose them.
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Deion Sanders has built a successful program in a very short time at Jackson State. Coach Prime took the Tigers from a four-win team in 2019 to an 11-win team in 2021.

A large part of the quick turnaround in Mississippi is the quality of player that the NFL Hall of Famer was able to get on campus, particularly through the transfer portal. Another part of the success is Sanders and his staff’s ability to develop players into next-level talent.

Quite a few of those players are graduating and moving on to the NFL this spring. As a result, Jackson State hosted a joint Pro Day with Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State on Monday, which is not typical of HBCUs.

However, only 22 of the 32 NFL organizations were in attendance. Coach Prime didn’t like that.

Before the Pro Day was set to begin, Sanders spoke with NFL Network and called out the scouts who were not in attendance. He threatened to expose them if he sees them at either Ole Miss or Mississippi State’s Pro Days.

“Ten of them are missing. Don’t think I ain’t going to call you out,” Sanders said, pointing his finger at the camera. “You 10 that’s missing, if I catch you at Mississippi State or Ole Miss it’s going to be a problem, that’s all I’m going to say. That’s all I’m saying, it’s going to be a problem. Our kids are that good, you should have shown up too.”

Sanders is a man of his word and ended up calling out every team that wasn’t there.

In addition, Sanders made a firm statement about how many HBCU players he wants to see drafted into the NFL this year.

Last year, in 2021, not one single player from an HBCU was selected in the NFL Draft. Coach Prime expects that number to change this year and only continue to grow.

“That’s not going to happen again. It’ll never happen again,” Sanders said. “I know during the pandemic year we had an excuse, but that’s never going to happen again. My desire is 7-10 players this year. Then we’re going to try to double that.”

Here are his full comments:

One direct benefactor of the Pro Day is linebacker James Houston. He was not invited to the NFL Combine despite finishing second on the FCS level in sacks.

During Monday’s events, Houston ran a 4.6-second 40-yard dash and put up a 39-inch vertical leap with a 10.6-foot broad jump. He could be a later-round pick in April and would not have had the opportunity to show off his athleticism without Sanders’ dedication to hosting a Pro Day.