Sports were going strong until March 2020, when the world was forced to come to a screeching halt due to the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. For Jackson State University, the pandemic only sparked a new legacy and a ton of positives that would change JSU, the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), and HBCUs forever.
In the off-season, JSU moved to shift the sports culture for collegiate athletics with the hire of Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders as head coach for the Jackson State football team.
Along with Coach Sanders came his two sons – Shedeur Sanders, who graduated from Trinity Christian, and University of South Carolina transfer, Shilo Sanders.
Not only did Sanders bring his two sons to the field, but Coach Prime also made Jackson State football one of the main attractions for the city of Jackson, increasing game attendance by 43 percent.
Records were set at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium when attendance stormed through the roof with 58,892 bodies in the stands for the infamous Soul Bowl matchup between Jackson State and in-state rival Alcorn State, attracting fans across Mississippi not only to witness the football game but the band battle between the JSU Sonic Boom of the South and the ASU Sounds of Dynamite to give the audience a great listening ear and also a competition off the field, before, during, and after the game.
The season before Coach Prime’s arrival, the Tigers finished their fall 2019 season with a 4-8 overall record with a .333 winning percentage. Sanders would turn the program around from only gaining four wins to going 11-2 with a .846 winning percentage with a perfect SWAC season of 8-0 to be crowned SWAC Champs with a 24-10 win over Prairie View A&M.
In Shedeur Sanders’ first season at Jackson State, he averaged 248 passing yards per game to 3,231 yards through the 2021 season.
With the light shining bright on HBCUs and Jackson State, Coach Sanders went a mile further in producing a digital docuseries in a partnership with Barstool Sports and SMAC Entertainment entitled “Coach Prime,” which gave an inside glimpse into JSU football along with the Sonic Boom of the South, shedding more attention to the institution.
The culture shift was made across all HBCUs, with the SWAC making a significant impact in hiring high-profile coaches such as Olympian Cynthia Cooper (Texas Southern), NBA All-Stars Mo’ Williams (Jackson State) and Reggie Theus (Bethune Cookman) to change the way that HBCU basketball is played.
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