As someone who was there at the beginning supporting Prime at JSU, I can give you a before and after overhaul gate.
It was ugly. Spring season Deion showed promise as a HC but his team was below average, close to bad for SWAC standards. It was clear as day that this team had limited upside and major flaws. They had a promising RB for that level who tore his ACL and his best player was a zero-star recruit who transferred in and worked himself into a star at the SWAC level and transferred in at Michigan. Otherwise, it was rough. QBs were decent for the level but horrible for what Prime wanted for a QB. They asked Prime if he thought any of these QBs will be the starter next year since Shedeur is an FR, and he busted out laughing. That same week, both QBs hit the portal. The defense was horrendous. He had a few promising players, one being Aubrey Miller but he didn't understand how to play football, he just had an insane talent for this level. He ended up figuring it all out and becoming an SR Bowl invite and had a good SR Bowl game. JSU had two undersized CBs who Prime took a liking to. He probably wouldn't have taken a liking to them at CU but as weak as JSU was, he was plenty happy with them at this level.
The HBCU media wasn't high on Prime and really wasn't high on JSU. They could care less that Sanders' son was a 4 star QB recruit and in HBCU land, they have had four stars and studs at QB before. It's a prove-it system there. I felt he did well considering how bad his team was but they got killed by Alabama A&M who won the national title in the spring. They dominated JSU and it looked like JSU was years from being in the same league with Alabama A&M. AA&M wasn't this top 25 FCS team but they were offensively special for the FCS level. They had an NFL prospect at QB in Aqeel Glass and they had the juice.
From my personal scout.
The offense was below average for the SWAC. OL was bad for the SWAC. The QBs were decent for the SWAC level. The RB was good but lacked depth, and WRs were poor outside of Baldwin who was promising.
The defense had a weak DL, talented but small LBs, and unlike your normal Prime squad, the secondary was underwhelming.
KR was good but the K and P were awful by SWAC standards.
CP was acting like the spring season didn't exist and that this was spring camp with real scrimmages. While Deion had a tremendous recruiting class, only a few players could play. It was some of the JUCO guys and the FBS guys who didn't play turning the fall. Many of the guys who practiced couldn't play because of that.
You were expecting a better team in the fall with the transfers and HS recruits but what happened was insane. Deion cut damn near the entire roster. Some of the all-SWAC kids got cut. While HBCU social media wasn't as big as it is now, it was a big deal. Parents and family complained. Many were like, give these kids a real chance, you just came in. This isn't a great team, it takes time. Deion wasn't trying to take time. He has a vision. That vision was to change the program, ASAP.
He then signed a lot of kids. Some were good, some were just depth pieces at best, and a few were special dawgs who ended up being NFL prospects. Coach Prime recruited a lot of seniors which is what I remember most. Many of them if not most weren't NFL guys but he wanted that experience and that, I can't play around, I need to get it NOW.
He really changed the locker room and the culture. Before him, it was very laid back. The coaches weren't really coaching **** based on what the fans shared with me and even some of the players. They were more focused on APR and the grades and graduation rates more than developing winning football. Prime wasn't playing man, he wasn't playing at all. A lot of dogs are what he brought in. Many of them weren't NFL guys at all or close but many had the potential to be good professionals and leaders and that's what CP wanted.
Expectations in the Fall:
I would say it was high but low. People expected JSU to be decent but no one expected them to be good. 3rd in the East. Worse than FAMU and A&AM.
hbcugameday.com
What happened? 11-2. Went undefeated in the SWAC. The only losses were to UL Monroe and in the celebration bowl to SC State.
They massively improved defensively. They went from a bad spring defense into one of the best defenses in the FCS. While they lacked depth in the DL. They really added depth in the secondary and the LB core. The starting DL was elite for the SWAC led by James Houston who was 2nd in the NFL for rookies in sacks last year.
Offensively, they had a superior WR core. Added many top recruits but transferred, Malachi Wideman was their best WR by a mile. They had seniors like Corbin, Newman, and Lanier who did a lot of good things. They had tremendous WR depth for this level. The running game was awful and the OL was horrendous. Only one guy from this OL started the next year. Shedeur was the real deal as a freshman. He had some struggles as the playcalling was basic and the plays were basic but he still threw the ball amazingly well and won the Jerry Rice award as the top overall freshman.
CP won coach of the year. The turnaround from the spring to the fall was massive.
Based on what I saw at that level. JSU massively improved from the spring to the fall. It didn't solve depth fully and the team still had issues filling the depth chart at some positions but had great depth at others.
What do I expect here? He knows what he wants and what he's looking for. He knows what's CP players and he really likes players that his coaches love. It's tough doing a cut like Prime did at JSU but at JSU, so many good college players wanted to play for Prime. At a P5, many good players will want to play for Prime. He will have his pick of the litter. The biggest thing you will see is the guys look the part. When I watched the spring game, Alabama A&M looked like they were a good FCS team and JSU looked like a D2 team and the one that get eliminated in the 1st round. In the fall, they looked like a really good FCS team. Not on the level of the top 10 teams but good enough to beat some of the top 25 teams. That was a massive jump. So Prime will not just bring in talent but he will bring in size, strength, and ability, to dominate the current level of play. He did it at JSU, he will do it here.
Question: Were the spring transfers better than the winter transfers?
This is tough because a couple of his best players from year 2 were from the winter transfer portal (Gaddy and Miller) but all of his impact players came from the portal in the spring. Houston, Wideman, Bolden, and Jordan who was the only starting OL on the year 2 squad. It's kinda hard to recruit the portal in the winter even at that time when it was brand new because that's when it's most competitive. In the spring, teams already got their rosters for the most part. A lot of gems tend to be in the 2nd wave and CP is great at finding them. Based on JSU, I would say the spring tends to have the best players as the winter's best players tend to go to the best schools. Some will say it's a lot more players in the winter and that's true but it's a lot less comp in the spring and gems are easier to find in the spring as well. Most of Prime's NFL guys are all from the Spring. I would say most of his busts at JSU were from the winter recruiting season for the portal. He didn't miss much in the spring for the portal.
What do you think about CU right now?
Watching the spring game, I was impressed with some of the improvements I saw from Shedeur. I felt the OL looked decent which is miles better than what I seen at JSU but man, it's still not a good Pac-12 OL. You got some promising players on the OL. I just don't know if this is top-level OL and I don't think they will be. WR depth was bad. Hunter was as expected. I liked MLC and he was probably the only guy that wasn't cut that recently left. That said, I have seen better at JSU. I will just keep it honest. JSU had an insane WR room whereas, CU has a weak one. They need recruits and bad! I like Hankerson but I see him more as a RB3. I like Edwards but I see him as a scatback till he develops. I think he can play in certain downs and on ST but he needs an RS year to gain strength if we are being honest.
The defense looked kinda meh. I was expecting better but this is why many guys were cut. The LBs were solid. I liked some of the EDGE guys. I really liked Cokes. The safeties were good. Breedlove and Hunter were good at CB. The depth was horrendous. It looked worse than the SWAC level. Looked D2 af.
Honestly, anywhere from 2-6 wins. All depended on Shedeur and Hunter carrying the team. That said, if I know Prime and how he recruits, this defense will look like an SEC defense and the offense will have depth all over and this team will compete for the PAC-12 title and a playoff berth.
It was ugly. Spring season Deion showed promise as a HC but his team was below average, close to bad for SWAC standards. It was clear as day that this team had limited upside and major flaws. They had a promising RB for that level who tore his ACL and his best player was a zero-star recruit who transferred in and worked himself into a star at the SWAC level and transferred in at Michigan. Otherwise, it was rough. QBs were decent for the level but horrible for what Prime wanted for a QB. They asked Prime if he thought any of these QBs will be the starter next year since Shedeur is an FR, and he busted out laughing. That same week, both QBs hit the portal. The defense was horrendous. He had a few promising players, one being Aubrey Miller but he didn't understand how to play football, he just had an insane talent for this level. He ended up figuring it all out and becoming an SR Bowl invite and had a good SR Bowl game. JSU had two undersized CBs who Prime took a liking to. He probably wouldn't have taken a liking to them at CU but as weak as JSU was, he was plenty happy with them at this level.
The HBCU media wasn't high on Prime and really wasn't high on JSU. They could care less that Sanders' son was a 4 star QB recruit and in HBCU land, they have had four stars and studs at QB before. It's a prove-it system there. I felt he did well considering how bad his team was but they got killed by Alabama A&M who won the national title in the spring. They dominated JSU and it looked like JSU was years from being in the same league with Alabama A&M. AA&M wasn't this top 25 FCS team but they were offensively special for the FCS level. They had an NFL prospect at QB in Aqeel Glass and they had the juice.
From my personal scout.
The offense was below average for the SWAC. OL was bad for the SWAC. The QBs were decent for the SWAC level. The RB was good but lacked depth, and WRs were poor outside of Baldwin who was promising.
The defense had a weak DL, talented but small LBs, and unlike your normal Prime squad, the secondary was underwhelming.
KR was good but the K and P were awful by SWAC standards.
CP was acting like the spring season didn't exist and that this was spring camp with real scrimmages. While Deion had a tremendous recruiting class, only a few players could play. It was some of the JUCO guys and the FBS guys who didn't play turning the fall. Many of the guys who practiced couldn't play because of that.
You were expecting a better team in the fall with the transfers and HS recruits but what happened was insane. Deion cut damn near the entire roster. Some of the all-SWAC kids got cut. While HBCU social media wasn't as big as it is now, it was a big deal. Parents and family complained. Many were like, give these kids a real chance, you just came in. This isn't a great team, it takes time. Deion wasn't trying to take time. He has a vision. That vision was to change the program, ASAP.
He then signed a lot of kids. Some were good, some were just depth pieces at best, and a few were special dawgs who ended up being NFL prospects. Coach Prime recruited a lot of seniors which is what I remember most. Many of them if not most weren't NFL guys but he wanted that experience and that, I can't play around, I need to get it NOW.
He really changed the locker room and the culture. Before him, it was very laid back. The coaches weren't really coaching **** based on what the fans shared with me and even some of the players. They were more focused on APR and the grades and graduation rates more than developing winning football. Prime wasn't playing man, he wasn't playing at all. A lot of dogs are what he brought in. Many of them weren't NFL guys at all or close but many had the potential to be good professionals and leaders and that's what CP wanted.
Expectations in the Fall:
I would say it was high but low. People expected JSU to be decent but no one expected them to be good. 3rd in the East. Worse than FAMU and A&AM.
SWAC 2021 Preview: New-look Jackson State
Jackson State was must-see TV during the spring SWAC football season. But Deion Sanders will have a whole new cast of characters with him.
hbcugameday.com
What happened? 11-2. Went undefeated in the SWAC. The only losses were to UL Monroe and in the celebration bowl to SC State.
They massively improved defensively. They went from a bad spring defense into one of the best defenses in the FCS. While they lacked depth in the DL. They really added depth in the secondary and the LB core. The starting DL was elite for the SWAC led by James Houston who was 2nd in the NFL for rookies in sacks last year.
Offensively, they had a superior WR core. Added many top recruits but transferred, Malachi Wideman was their best WR by a mile. They had seniors like Corbin, Newman, and Lanier who did a lot of good things. They had tremendous WR depth for this level. The running game was awful and the OL was horrendous. Only one guy from this OL started the next year. Shedeur was the real deal as a freshman. He had some struggles as the playcalling was basic and the plays were basic but he still threw the ball amazingly well and won the Jerry Rice award as the top overall freshman.
CP won coach of the year. The turnaround from the spring to the fall was massive.
Based on what I saw at that level. JSU massively improved from the spring to the fall. It didn't solve depth fully and the team still had issues filling the depth chart at some positions but had great depth at others.
What do I expect here? He knows what he wants and what he's looking for. He knows what's CP players and he really likes players that his coaches love. It's tough doing a cut like Prime did at JSU but at JSU, so many good college players wanted to play for Prime. At a P5, many good players will want to play for Prime. He will have his pick of the litter. The biggest thing you will see is the guys look the part. When I watched the spring game, Alabama A&M looked like they were a good FCS team and JSU looked like a D2 team and the one that get eliminated in the 1st round. In the fall, they looked like a really good FCS team. Not on the level of the top 10 teams but good enough to beat some of the top 25 teams. That was a massive jump. So Prime will not just bring in talent but he will bring in size, strength, and ability, to dominate the current level of play. He did it at JSU, he will do it here.
Question: Were the spring transfers better than the winter transfers?
This is tough because a couple of his best players from year 2 were from the winter transfer portal (Gaddy and Miller) but all of his impact players came from the portal in the spring. Houston, Wideman, Bolden, and Jordan who was the only starting OL on the year 2 squad. It's kinda hard to recruit the portal in the winter even at that time when it was brand new because that's when it's most competitive. In the spring, teams already got their rosters for the most part. A lot of gems tend to be in the 2nd wave and CP is great at finding them. Based on JSU, I would say the spring tends to have the best players as the winter's best players tend to go to the best schools. Some will say it's a lot more players in the winter and that's true but it's a lot less comp in the spring and gems are easier to find in the spring as well. Most of Prime's NFL guys are all from the Spring. I would say most of his busts at JSU were from the winter recruiting season for the portal. He didn't miss much in the spring for the portal.
What do you think about CU right now?
Watching the spring game, I was impressed with some of the improvements I saw from Shedeur. I felt the OL looked decent which is miles better than what I seen at JSU but man, it's still not a good Pac-12 OL. You got some promising players on the OL. I just don't know if this is top-level OL and I don't think they will be. WR depth was bad. Hunter was as expected. I liked MLC and he was probably the only guy that wasn't cut that recently left. That said, I have seen better at JSU. I will just keep it honest. JSU had an insane WR room whereas, CU has a weak one. They need recruits and bad! I like Hankerson but I see him more as a RB3. I like Edwards but I see him as a scatback till he develops. I think he can play in certain downs and on ST but he needs an RS year to gain strength if we are being honest.
The defense looked kinda meh. I was expecting better but this is why many guys were cut. The LBs were solid. I liked some of the EDGE guys. I really liked Cokes. The safeties were good. Breedlove and Hunter were good at CB. The depth was horrendous. It looked worse than the SWAC level. Looked D2 af.
Honestly, anywhere from 2-6 wins. All depended on Shedeur and Hunter carrying the team. That said, if I know Prime and how he recruits, this defense will look like an SEC defense and the offense will have depth all over and this team will compete for the PAC-12 title and a playoff berth.
