Like Jimbo Fisher, Deion Sanders declines Nick Saban's call, says 'We need to talk publicly'
Typically, Nick Saban’s phone calls get answered.
As in, almost anyone, almost every time.
Thursday afternoon, Deion Sanders confirmed that Saban had gone 0-for-2 on the day as Alabama’s head coach attempted damage control for his incendiary comments on the state of college football – and the specific recruiting efforts of Texas A&M and Sanders’s Jackson State program – during comments Saban made Wednesday night in Birmingham, Alabama.
Speaking to Jean-Jacques Taylor of Andscape.com, Sanders laid bare his disinterest in having a private conversation with Saban, who had accused Sanders and Jackson State of tendering a $1 million NIL deal to secure the services of consensus five-star prospect Travis Hunter during the past recruiting cycle.
“I haven’t talked to Coach Saban,” said Sanders, who had fostered a friendship with Saban after the two shot multiple national TV commercials for Aflac Insurance, to Andscape. “I’m sure he’s tried to call. We need to talk publicly – not privately.
“What (Saban) said was public; that doesn’t require conversation. Let’s talk publicly and let everybody hear the conversation.”
While Sanders professed love and admiration for Saban, he doubled-down on the need for this topic to be discussed publicly – which Saban did to a certain extent Thursday, when he went on national radio to utter his mea culpa.
“You can’t do that publicly and call privately,” Sanders said. “No, no, no. I still love him. I admire him. I respect him.
“He is the Magna Cum Laude of college football, and that’s what it’s going to be because he’s earned that.”
But …
“But, he took a left when he should’ve stayed right,” Sanders said. “I’m sure he’ll get back on course. I ain’t tripping.”
