Deion Sanders started a trend in college football by taking the Colorado Buffaloes head coaching job in December 2022 after three (really, two and a half) seasons in charge at Jackson State.

DeSean Jackson’s doing the same thing – parlaying a successful playing career in the NFL and minimal high school coaching experience into a head coaching job at an HBCU – with the Delaware State Hornets is being deemed an act of following in Coach Prime’s footsteps.

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That’s how the history of Jackson’s time in Dover is being written, anyway.

“Deion Sanders set the blueprint for former NFL stars entering the coaching ranks, and DeSean Jackson is one of the latest to follow in his footsteps. The three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver accepted in December an offer at Delaware State, an HBCU, to become a first-time head coach. And he did so one week after Norfolk State hired Michael Vick in an essentially identical situation,” CBS Sports’ Carter Bahns wrote.

“Jackson’s entrance into the coaching realm may not have been possible if not for the success Sanders found during a brief stint at Jackson State, where he revitalized a program and turned it into one of the best at the FCS level in short order. It was there that Sanders landed No. 1 overall recruit Travis Hunter and developed his son, Shedeur Sanders, into a prolific passer before they all moved on to Colorado.

“The task Jackson inherited at Delaware State is similar to the one Sanders faced at Jackson State. In fact, the Hornets are in the midst of an even longer drought. Their last winning season came back in 2012, and they won exactly one game in each of the last two years under former coach Lee Hull. Delaware State last made the FCS playoffs in 2007.”

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Coach Prime’s legacy is already secure.

He doesn’t need to coach another game for the rest of his life, and he will be known as the man who opened the door for former players to join HBCUs.

There’s a specific reason why Delaware State hired Jackson and the Norfolk State Spartans took the gamble on Mike Vick this offseason, though:

Deion proved his journey can work in 2024 with a 9-3 record and a Heisman winner.

“Prime Time” has already changed the world in Jackson, Mississippi, and Boulder, Colorado.

Regardless of whether another former NFL star-turned-college football coach ever reaches similar heights.