Two of the biggest names in the history of football, Hall of Fame defensive back and current head coach of HBCU Jackson State University Deion Sanders and Alabama’s seven time NCAA championship coach Nick Saban, may have finally buried the hatchet.
The beef between Sanders and Saban started in May, when Saban accused Sanders of paying top Division 1 recruit Travis Hunter $1 million to play for JSU during a speech in a press conference blasting the NIL deals other NCAA programs have made.
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“I mean Jackson State paid a guy a million dollars last year that was a really good Division 1 player to come to school — it was in the paper, and then bragged about it. Nobody did anything about it,” Saban said.
Sanders fired back on Twitter, furious over Saban’s comments.
Additionally, Hunter himself responded to Saban’s comments.
But it would appear Sanders and Saban have finally buried the hatchet, at least on a professional level. Both appeared in a new commercial for insurance company Aflac, laughing and poking respectful fun at one another.
While they came back together to film the commercial, Saban’s comments echo a deeper question about the future of college football in a post-NIL world. When seven figure deals for college athletes become commonplace, where does the balance in talent shift for Saban’s Crimson Tide?