More fallout from Jackson State football vs. Alabama State rivalry

Coach Hill-Ely would like his shoe returned

One of the motivating factors for the Hornets in last week’s game was that nearly everyone picked against them. There is a sentiment from many coaches that the coverage that the SWAC has received is because Deion Sanders is the head coach of the Jackson State Tigers. Not that any of the coaches mind.

The exposure gives their young men an opportunity to play on national live television for perhaps the only time in their collegiate careers. However, no one gave the Hornets much of a chance, especially with a quarterback making just his second college start ever, was fuel for the upset.

Hornets head coach Dr. Donald Hill-Ely had some direct words of his own after Alabama State stunned the HBCU world.

“You hear all the hype that was coming out of Jackson,” he said. “We’re just this little small school in Montgomery; we don’t know how to coach in black college and — as I told the players — once they get back to Jackson, let them soak in some Epson salt and send me my shoe back.”

According to coach Hill-Ely, the comments were not for Sanders or his players directly but were for a heckler during the traditional pre-game “Hornet Walk.”

“We had a couple of JSU fans heckling us. We don’t have all the security that everybody else has. And, you know, the person was ‘aww, you guys at HBCUs can’t coach. They can’t coach, they can’t do this…They can’t do that. You guys don’t know how to do that…so that wasn’t intended for Coach Sanders. That was intended for that fan to go take our shoe out his rear end.”

Here’s hoping that the fan washes the shoe before returning it to Hill-Ely.