Photo Courtesy Of HBCU Gameday
Alabama State (ASU) coach Eddie Robinson Jr. recently rejected Deion Sanders’ postgame hug following its football team’s loss to Jackson State (JSU), causing fan tension.
According to Sports Illustrated, cameras captured Robinson pushing Sanders away after the NFL legend attempted to embrace him with both a hug and handshake. The ASU coach was upset about JSU’s 26-12 victory over the Alabama-based HBCU on homecoming day.
The uber-awkward exchange, which occurred on Oct. 8, reportedly left Sanders stunned as he walked off the field with security.
Robinson later addressed his behavior during a press conference on Oct. 9, claiming there’s more to the story than what viewers witnessed.
“To be upfront, I thought it was a lot of disrespect the whole week,” he said in reference to Sanders. “We didn’t talk in the pregame. I was out there the whole time at the 50-yard line. He walked through our whole huddle in our end zone. He came the long way around to get to his side of the field in the pregame. [I] thought that wasn’t classy at all.”
He added that he wasn’t “about to give” the JSU coach, whom players affectionately call Coach Prime, the “Obama bro hug.”
“I’m not about to give you the Obama bro hug. I’m gonna shake your hand and go on. I’m always gonna be respectful and respect the game,” Robinson said. “I’m living on the shoulders of the SWAC [Southwestern Athletic Conference]. He ain’t SWAC. I’m SWAC.”
He continued, saying he “pray[s] they put us for their damn homecoming” next year.”
Sanders, named in 2021, responded during his press conference, asking, “Who is SWAC if I ain’t SWAC?”
When asked if Robinson’s comments motivate him, he boasted that he didn’t “need anyone” for that.
“I don’t need nobody to motivate me, dawg. My mama working two jobs to make ends see each other as motivation,” the NFL Hall Of Famer said. “One of my fathers [being] a drug addict, and my other father [being] an alcoholic was my motivation. Seeing no one really come out of Ft. Myers, FL, that was my motivation. This? Oh, baby, you gotta get in line. I wake up motivated.”
Sanders’ son Shedeur, who currently plays on JSU’s football team, recently expressed his thoughts about the entire situation involving Robinson.
“We don’t play that disrespect, especially towards pops,” he tweeted on Oct. 8. “Nah, we not going for that.”
Sander’s daughter, Deiondra, commented on the matter, saying Robinson was “getting sassy.”
“Not Eddie Robinson getting sassy. You agreed to play against the best team on your homecoming,” she tweeted on Oct. 8.
Robinson reportedly apologized but had only done so to ASU President Dr. Quinton T. Ross Jr., the Board of Trustees and everyone associated with the famed university.