“PUT ME IN COACH.” - A SHEDEUR SANDERS STORY

By Vernalee

Admittedly, I’m not an expert in the game of football. My son Scooter Lee lives and breathes the game. My claim to fame is that I hear the sports commentary regularly when I ride with him as he keeps the radio on the sports talk show.

I have for years watched the NFL Draft with the primary purpose of seeing the joy from the parents and families when their son is drafted. An occasional shoutout from the chosen one - “I give thanks to God and my parents” always warms my heart. 

I relate all of this to say, I was shocked at this year’s draft passing on Shedeur Sanders until Round 5. 

Yes, I’m a fan of his dad, Deion Sanders. His becoming a coach at Jackson State University was major. I say that not because I’m a Mississippi native, but because it gave “life” to movement toward a HBCU renaissance and the importance that they play in the lives of young Black students who need that nurturing. I know it all too well because decades ago, I was one of them! It appears that Coach Sanders genuinely cares for his players with a reciprocal showing of their love for him at Colorado. 

So along comes Shedeur, son of Primetime Deion about to be drafted in a league that has in recent years made headlines for its lack of Black representation of Head coaches 

and other Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) issues. Opinions have varied and covered the gamut ranging from the sports analysts/experts to Shedeur’s cockiness (maybe confidence), his Dad’s success, fame, media attacks, etc.  …  as to the reasons for the late pick. Coming from the NFL organization that has been criticized for its problems on the diversity and inclusion front, I’m reading the signs not the leaves. 

Growing up in the civil rights era in  Mississippi, I was taught “if it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.” We can individually characterize what happened with Shedeur’s draft, but my call from the 50 yard line is to be true to thine self on what your eyes revealed! You decide!