Deion Sanders promised to change the paradigm of how well a SWAC program can recruit when he was hired at Jackson State. So far, promise kept.
Jackson State's class is the highest-rated in the Football Championship Subdivision according to the 247Sports composite ratings. The Tigers' class, at nine recruits as of this writing, stands at 81.64 points, beating out Northern Arizona's score of 80.92. Jackson State's next-closest competition -- NAU, Harvard, Princeton and Yale -- all signed classes ranging between 14 and 18 players.
The Tigers' haul includes three 3-star recruits and two 4-stars, which stand as the first 4-star signees on record to sign with an FCS school.
Those 4-stars are Deion's son Shedeur Sanders, who flipped from Florida Atlantic last month and stands as the No. 15 dual-threat quarterback and the No. 235 overall player in the class of 2021, and cornerback De'Jahn Warren, the No. 2 JuCo recruit in the country. Jackson State flipped Warren from Georgia on Wednesday morning.
Jackson State's three 3-stars are Las Vegas defensive tackle Braezhon Ross, San Diego athlete Herman Smith and Havana, Fla., linebacker Jeremiah Brown.
On a per-player basis, 247 rates Jackson State's class at 86.82, which would rank among the top 40 in the FBS.
Jackson State has also been active in the transfer portal, nabbing his son Shilo Sanders from South Carolina.
Jackson State also secured transfers from Mississippi State (CB Javorrius Selmon), Tennessee (OLB Nyles Gaddy), Florida State (WR Isaiah Bolden), Missouri (OT Dylan Spencer) and Florida Atlantic (OL Maljon Joor). "He has exceeded my expectations as a recruiter in his first class," 247Sports director of scouting Barton Simmons told FootballScoop. "I expected him to land the occasional stud but I think he’s been more disruptive across the board than I expected. I also think the bigger impact he may end up having is on the transfer market. That’s something we’re seeing in the early going." “I believe that a child that has D1 potential or Power 5 potential that they can now choose Jackson State,” Sanders said at his Jackson State introduction in September. “I believe that our coaching staff is going to go into every hood, every barbershop, every soul food joint, every nook and cranny and recruit these dogs, because we have 99 players that have been drafted into the NFL. I believe under my watch we’re going to have 100."