News

Travis Hunter Chooses Jackson State & Deion Sanders, Decommits From Florida State

Coach Deion Sanders did something unheard of.

He got who someone to call the top recruit in the nation, cornerback Travis Hunter, to decommit from Florida State in favor of an HBCU, Jackson State. Hunter is the first five-star recruit to choose an FCS team since ESPN began their rankings in 2006.

“Historically Black Colleges and Universities have a rich history in football,” Hunter said in a statement. “I want to be part of that history, and more, I want to be part of that future. I am making this decision so that I can light the way for others to follow, make it a little easier for the next player to recognize that HBCUs may be everything you want and more.”

Hunter is from Suwanee, Georgia, and attends Collins Hill High School. He had been committed to Florida State since March 2020.

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter!

A week of sports news in your in-box.
We find the sports news you need to know, so you don't have to.

This also begins the conversation of the impact of the NIL. Hunter is a trailblazer and will no doubt prove to others that there are other options than the college football powerhouses, but he also benefits from it.

“It isn’t always about signing with a name-brand school, or being another star (or even the highest-rated star) on a star-studded roster,” Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports wrote. “It’s about being the biggest deal on a presumed (but perhaps more profitable) smaller stage by offering entree for businesses to a specific community and getting fan bases to pay for something that they otherwise couldn’t get.”

There’s not much Coach Prime hasn’t done. He played in the NFL and MLB at the same time. He’s an NFL Hall of Famer. He’s the head coach at Jackson State, who he, in this first year, lead to an 11-1 record. And now, he’s a recruiting prowess, flipping Hunter from his own alma mater to the team he now coaches. Sanders brought in his son, Shedeur Sanders, who before Hunter was the program’s highest-ranked commit, to be the quarterback. Last year, Sanders signed six players who had offers from Power Five programs at a school that rarely get a three-star recruit.

“We’re going to shock the country,” Sanders said on Tuesday, the day before the early signing period, on the Unnecessary Roughness podcast.

He was right.

Rose Carter

Recent Posts

Paul George Exits With Knee Injury As 76ers Fall To 2-12 In Loss To Grizzlies

With their big three finally back in action Wednesday, the Philadelphia 76ers suffered another setback…

2 hours ago

VIDEO: Nike Pays Tribute to Rafael Nadal With 30-Foot Projection In Front of Eiffel Tower

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tny--EWynOQ Nike paid tribute to Spanish tennis legend Rafael Nadal with a 10-meter-tall animated display…

19 hours ago

VIDEO: Rafael Nadal Gets Emotional Tribute as He Retires From Tennis

https://youtu.be/dtJoJz9hC48 Tennis legend Rafael Nadal bid a heartfelt goodbye to his devoted Spanish fans as he brought…

20 hours ago

VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Olympic Fencer Eli Dershwitz Explains The Art Of Fencing

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DQ9Rxhnuer4 U.S. Olympic fencer Eli Dershwitz shed light on the critical skills necessary in fencing…

2 days ago

Two Bears Offensive Linemen Return To Practice, Caleb Williams Desperate For Blocking

Two offensive linemen for the Chicago Bears returned to practice, a massive step in the…

3 days ago

VIDEO: UFC Heavyweight Champion Performs Viral Trump Dance In New York

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/s2g9t_33Myw President-elect Donald Trump received a warm welcome from Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter Jon…

4 days ago