Deion Sanders had spent all week – the last two, actually – highlighting the fact that his Jackson State squad had been scheduled as Alabama State’s homecoming opponent on Saturday.
Sanders and his Tigers might have gotten a bit more than they had bargained for both in-game and post-game in the handshake line, when ASU coach Eddie Robinson Jr., in his first season atop the program at his alma mater and also a former NFL player, briefly shook hands with Sanders and then shoved off Jackson State’s second-year head coach.
“I thought it was a lot of disrespect the whole week, and so you’re not going to be disrespectful the whole week in the media,” an animated Robinson said in his postgame press conference. “We didn’t talk in the pregame; I was out there on the 50-yard line the whole time.
“He walked through our whole offensive, our huddle in the end zone. He came the long way around to get to his side of the field in pregame. I thought that wasn’t classy at all.
“In the post-game, I’m not about to give you the Obama bro-hug. I’m going to shake your hand and go on. I’m going to always be respectful and respect the game, you got the great guys, W.C. Gorden, Eddie G. Robinsons, those guys. I’m living on the shoulders of the SWAC. He ain’t SWAC. I’m SWAC. He ain’t SWAC.”
Robinson praised the success of Sanders’ Tigers squad and echoed Coach Prime’s sentiments that Jackson State quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the head coach’s son, should be a Heisman Trophy candidate.
But Robinson made clear his respect for Sanders did not extend into any sort of cordiality or friendship.
“(Coach Sanders) is in the conference doing a great job, can’t knock that, got a great team, his son should be up for the Heisman,” Robinson said. “I love Shedeur. I love what he’s doing for the conference. Probably one of the best we’ve had since Steve McNair. I love all that.
“But you’re not going to come in here and disrespect me and my team and my school and then want a bro-hug. Shake my hand and get the hell on. Period. Got the W, great job.”
Sanders made clear his Tigers “would have a present” for the Hornets, but he also gave ASU a compliment in the form of praising his own program.
Coach Prime emphasized that the Hornets’ decision to schedule his undefeated and top-10 Football Championship Subdivision Tigers was brilliant business, calling JSU “the greatest show on earth, like Ringling Brothers.”
In front of a crowd of more than 28,000 at the Hornets’ home in Montgomery, Alabama, the home team even shut out JSU and commanded a 6-0 lead after the first quarter.
The Tigers (5-0, 3-0 SWAC) then scored the game’s next 17 points to seize control en route to an 26-12 win.
Not the blowout-margin some might have expected, as the Tigers had won their first two conference tilts by a combined 84 points, but also little threat to Sanders’ team of its first SWAC loss since the 2021 spring season.
Sanders told reporters postgame that he merely had complimented Robinson’s preparation of the team but offered little insight beyond that statement.
However, the video below shows that Sanders shoved off Robinson as well as Robinson separated from their handshake and moved toward the Alabama State locker room.
Robinson issued a bit of a challenge for 2023.
“I hope he comes back next year; I pray he don’t get a power-5 job,” Robinson said. “We play them next year in Jackson.
“I was just pulling away. We hand-shaked and that was it. There ain’t no need for no embrace. We ain’t friends.”
Robinson also called out Sanders and Jackson State for what Robinson alleged was poor sportsmanship inside the game’s final minute.
“Put your backup quarterback in and run a hitch-and-go, trying to put more points on the board. Disrespectful,” Robinson said. “The game was out of line, 26-12, 40 seconds left and we had no timeouts. Take a damn knee.
“So we started blitzing. We’re going to knock him out the game, too. You wanna do that, don’t come to me and try to bro-hug like we’re friends. We ain’t friends. You didn’t shake my hand before the game, don’t try to shake my hand after the game like we friends.”