Deion Sanders answered the question as both proud father and equally pleased – and notably undefeated – head football coach.
During Monday’s weekly Southwestern Athletic Conference coaches’ videoconference, the Jackson State coach Sanders was asked a couple different times about Tigers quarterback Shedeur Sanders, his son and the team’s sophomore starter for the Football Championship Subdivision’s No. 11-ranked squad.
Coach Prime revealed exactly why Shedeur Sanders has virtually autonomy to fully direct the Tigers’ offense from the line of scrimmage.
“Shedeur, his growth. He was a true freshman starting at quarterback, taking on this responsibility with the SWAC on his back because of some of the statements he made but also being my son and playing for Jackson State,” Deion Sanders said of his quarterback, who has thrown for 10 touchdowns, 956 yards and zero interceptions on 111 passes through three games. “The kid led us to a dern SWAC championship, the kid had 30 touchdowns and 3,000 yards (passing) or close to it (in 2021). …
“His study habits, the way he approaches the game, the way he prepares; you know how much time he puts in. He can look over that way and say ‘I know he’s blitzing,’ and checks us out of that play and puts us in something that he desires for us to be in.
“The more comfortable he is, the better we’re going to go. When he goes it’s going to be hard to deal with us, and add on to that we have a running game now we’re gonna be hard to deal with it. The defense consistent in who they are. We have a plethora of receivers, a running back that can pound it, couple that can dance and hit it when they need to. This is a tremendous offense, it really is.”
Deion Sanders, who multiple times also praised the impact of first-year Tigers offensive coordinator Brett Bartolone, said because of Shedeur’s personal and practice habits, as well as his in-depth work with Bartolone, that the JSU staff has afforded their quarterback virtual autonomy at the line of scrimmage.
Shedeur Sanders has thrown for 40 touchdowns and compiled an 14-2 record through his first 16 career collegiate starts.
“I’ve gotta give Shedeur a lotta credit, he gets us into plays and into situations we need to be in,” Deion Sanders said. “He has the liberty to change what he wants to change [at the line of scrimmage].
“He’s been pretty successful thus far. I’m proud of him as a father, and I adore it as a coach.”
The Tigers (3-0) host rival Mississippi Valley State Saturday in Mississippi Memorial Stadium, their second-straight home game.
“Like I tell these guys all the time,” said Mississippi Valley State coach Vincent Dancy, who played at Jackson State, “this is what you play football for. This is why you play in this conference.
“You want to play against the best, and they are one of the best teams out there in FCS football, all of college football, right now.”