247Sports: Auburn football ‘much better fit’ for Deion Sanders than Georgia Tech

Two passionate fanbases, separated by roughly 100 miles and the Alabama-Georgia state line, are both in the mix for the hottest coaching candidate in the country, Deion Sanders. Both Georgia Tech and Auburn football have been linked to ‘Prime Time’ given their current head coaching situations.

While both fanbases have hit hard times in recent years, the level of suffering has fluctuated for each program. The Tigers are just two years removed from having a winning record and were 6-2 last season and hopeful about an SEC Championship berth before losing five straight games to end the season and losing Bo Nix to an ankle injury before the final three games. For perspective, the Yellow Jackets totaled as many wins from 2019-2021 as AU had in 2019 alone. Another damning perspective for GA Tech is that the next win for Auburn football in 2022 puts them ahead of any win total Geoff Collins ever had during a single season during his time in Atlanta.

This is all to say that despite all of the talk of Auburn being an SEC West cellar-dweller, they aren’t nearly as far away from the top of the conference as Georgia Tech is. And that could be the difference for Sanders — who has built something special at Jackson State, beating out Nick Saban and Kirby Smart for the No. 1 overall recruit, Travis Hunter, in the 2022 cycle despite leading an FCS school that’s much further away from Suwanee, Georgia than either of the national championship coaches. Stepping into the Auburn football head coaching role gives him the program resources to compete with Alabama and Georgia leading a program that has as many resources but just needs a superstar in the HC seat to reach maximum potential on the Plains.

247Sports’ Carl Reed, in comparing the two Power Five head coaching positions, believes that Auburn is a preferable situation to Georgia Tech, making the case that since Florida State won’t have the same opening due to the success of Mike Norvell in 2022, AU is the best opening available in the cycle:

"“Auburn would be a much better fit for Sanders, and with it looking like Florida State’s not coming open any time soon (Mike Norvell has righted the ship and has the Seminoles cooking), it also stands to be the best opening in the 2022 cycle.”"

Auburn football has resources that Georgia Tech does not

Reed said that Jackson State has the ball in their court and simply needs to invest resources into its football program. But with Mississippi’s capital city struggling financially — and with the state as a whole being the poorest in the United States — that may not be possible.

The dedication Auburn has to its resources is nearly ended, so much so that Auburn basketball head coach Bruce Pearl has accepted that his reigning SEC Championship squad won’t be getting new facilities because the football program is so behind in the NIL era.

Deion Sanders is already beating Nick Saban for recruits, but until the Alabama head coach schedules the SWAC school, there will be no tangible rivalry between the two that brings profits to anyone. As Auburn football coach, ‘Prime Time’ would be 1A when it comes to the most revered man in the state of Alabama. That definitely sounds like a better deal than potentially disappointing the city of Atlanta running a program going nowhere fast in the ACC after starring on both the Falcons and Braves during his two-sport professional career.