‘I don’t even make a million’ | Coach Prime addresses Saban’s comments about paying recruit

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Coach Prime and Travis Hunter have sounded off on social media about claims that the recruit received $1 million to play at Jackson State University.

“I don’t even make a million! Lolololol,” Coach Deion Sanders said.

“I got a mil? But my mom still stay in a 3 (bedroom) house with five kids,” Hunter said in response.

The two took to Twitter to respond to Alabama head coach Nick Saban’s claims that Jackson State paid Hunter, the top-rated high-school football player and Georgia native, seven figures to play for the Tigers.

“We have a rule right now that said you cannot use name, image, and likeness to entice a player to come to your school,” the Associated Press reported Saban saying. “Jackson State paid a guy a million dollars last year that was a really good Division I player to come to school. It was in the paper and they bragged about it. Nobody did anything about it.”

Saban, who has won six national titles leading the Crimson Tide, was addressing changes in recruiting brought about by NIL, which allows student-athletes to earn money for use of their names, images, and likenesses.

He said that rule allowed Jackson State to land Hunter, the nation’s top high school football player, who previously was going to play for Florida State.

The announcement that Hunter flipped was yet another major win for the Tigers program, which has been boosted during Sanders’ tenure.

Last year, Jackson State won the SWAC and played in the 2021 Celebration Bowl, falling to South Carolina State.

Sanders said he learned about Saban’s comments after his son Shedeur, JSU’s starting quarterback, sent him a copy of the article mentioning them.

“You best believe I will address that LIE Coach Saban told tomorrow,” he wrote. “We as a PEOPLE don’t have to pay our PEOPLE to play with our PEOPLE.”

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