Auburn football beat reporter on Deion Sanders’ wild recruiting comments: ‘Most coaches are smart enough not to say it out loud’
Auburn football beat reporter Nubyjas Wilborn of AL.com blasted Deion Sanders’ recent comments about how the Colorado head coach tends to prospect his quarterback and defensive linemen recruits in a tweet on Friday, February 17.
If a white coach said this, he'd be rightfully excoriated for it. This isn't a new thought process; most coaches are smart enough not to say it out loud
— Nubyjas Wilborn (@nwilborn19) February 18, 2023
Deion Sanders looks for ‘dual parent’ homes in QB recruits, ‘single mama’ households in d-linemen https://t.co/TcexfTp6Wo
Sanders had crossed the line in the eyes of many with his comments on the February 9 edition of “The Rich Eisen Show.” The man they call “Prime Time” has largely seen his comments fly under the national radar, though.
Wilborn doesn’t believe other coaches would’ve gotten off as easily:
imagine if Dabo said that...
— Nubyjas Wilborn (@nwilborn19) February 18, 2023
One tweeter even pointed out the double standard in Sanders’ philosophy, to which Wilborn agreed:
His son (the QB) should ride the bench then ….he doesn’t meet the criteria 🤦🏾♀️
— Tamika Harley-Julian ☮️ (@tamikaharley) February 18, 2023
I wasn’t gonna say nothing. But… pic.twitter.com/CPNgncrPHf
— Nubyjas Wilborn (@nwilborn19) February 18, 2023
Deion Sanders would’ve set sports world ablaze with controversial comments had he been hired as Auburn football head coach
A potential reason why Sanders’ comments have not reached a bigger mainstream audience is because of the fact that the conference his school plays in is currently in the process of having its bones picked by the Big 12 and could be looking to add SMU, San Diego State, and Fresno State to save face.
The Pac-12 almost had its first entrant into the College Football Playoff in more than half a decade in 2022, but even if USC won their conference title game against Utah and reached the CFP field, they would’ve laid claim to the Trojans for just one more season before USC became property of the Big Ten.
Of course, by contrast, the SEC dictates the storylines of the sport. The saying “It Just Means More” applies to the amount of media coverage too. Had the former head coaching target made those same comments as Auburn football head coach, you would’ve heard about it.
With saying reckless things like that to undermine recruits who don’t fit those narrow descriptions, it’s a good thing he’s not. Hugh Freeze has been doing his best to restore integrity to his own reputation and the Auburn football legacy by so far staying out of trouble and doing his job.
Sanders does the latter, but clearly isn’t a lock to deliver on the former.