| Mississippi Clarion Ledger
Deion Sanders on the struggles and rewards of coaching at HBCU Jackson State
Sports Pulse: Deion Sanders on the future of his players and the struggles they face
SportsPulse, USA TODAY
JACKSON, Miss. – Professional Football Hall of Fame Deion Sanders won his college 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 because the Southwestern Athletic Conference changed its sports from autumn to spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sanders and Tigers are scheduled to play a seven-game season, with potentially an eighth if they make it to the SWAC championship game.
Here are five lessons from the game:
Jones begins: After a mystery preseason, sophomore Jalon Jones was the first quarterback for Jackson State on Sunday. Most of the day, Jones played screen passes and short passes. He rarely pushed the ball into the field, but he didn’t have to either.
Jones launched a 10-yard touchdown pass to Daylen Baldwin with 11 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Freshman quarterback Quincy Casey, the other quarterback in the race to start, came into play six minutes into the third quarter. Jones and Casey exchanged sockets during the second half. Casey launched a 23-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.
All gas, no brakes: After Jackson State won an Edward Waters fumble in an initial comeback with 55 seconds to go, the Tigers marched across the field and increased the lead to 31-0 in four moves in 44 seconds.
In the first move of the second half, Kymani Clarke scored in a 10-yard touchdown run, and the Tigers went for two. Jones rolled and launched an incomplete pass to Kourtland Hubbard in the two-point conversion.
Cowboy surprise: Professional Football Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman, a former Sanders teammate of his days with the Dallas Cowboys, surprised Sanders on the field during pre-game warm-ups. Sanders and Aikman played together from 1995-1999, and the two were on the 1995 Cowboys Super Bowl team.
Closure: The Jackson State victory was the program’s first stoppage since September 6, 2014, when the Tigers defeated Virginia-Lynchburg 59-0. JSU gave up a total of nine attack yards in the first quarter.
Clarke and Newman show: Running back Kymani Clarke and wide receiver Warren Newman were all over the field as offensive weapons for Jackson State. Newman made a pair of reverse handoffs.