The event itself, a collective pro day showcase for multiple Mississippi colleges and universities, was not anything new.
Alcorn State. Mississippi Valley State and others often had gathered their outgoing players at Mississippi College and conducted a battery of workouts for pro scouts.
Enter Deion Sanders. Jackson State’s head coach helped get the event moved to the Tigers’ on-campus turf practice field.
And Sanders, aka ‘Coach Prime’ and the man with hall of fame credentials as both a collegiate and NFL player, continued his crusade for athletes that hail from Historically Black Colleges and Universities to gain better exposure for potential NFL opportunities.
Naturally, then, Sanders kept receipts on which NFL teams were represented at the pro day event, also attended by Alcorn coach Fred McNair and the Braves’ staff, as well as MVSU’s Vincent Dancy.
“Our pro day, at an HBCU, I love that, and yeah, and guess what? That means 10 of them (NFL teams’ representatives) is missing,” Sanders told NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe. “Don’t think I ain’t going to call you out.
“You 10 that’s missing, if I catch you at Mississippi State or Ole Miss (for those two SEC programs’ upcoming pro days), it’s going to be a problem. That’s all I’m saying.”
Sanders then added, “it’s going to be a problem. Our kids are that good, you should have shown up, too. … I’m going to expose them.”
Sanders, who earlier this month also spoke about the elevated talent levels on his team and professed that his Jackson State squad alone could have up to 15 future professional players, doubled-down on his quest to ensure HBCU representation in the upcoming NFL Draft.
“That’s not going to happen again,” Sanders said of having zero HBCU players drafted. “It will never happen again.
“I know during the (COVID-19) pandemic year, we’ve got an excuse, but that’s not going to happen again. My desire is seven to 10 players, this year, drafted. And then we’re going to try to double that and double that and then the sky’s going to be the limit.”
Per those in attendance at the event in Jackson, the 10 NFL franchises not represented were: Baltimore, Buffalo, Carolina, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, Miami, Minnesota, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay.