Tennessee State Scores Late, Falls to Jackson State in Southern Heritage Classic
9/12/2021 12:20:00 AM
By: Zach Stipe
Story Links
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Before Saturday night's Southern Heritage Classic, it had been more than 20 years since Eddie George and Deion Sanders shared a football field.
So, in a sense, the two legends made history just by getting together again, Sanders as the head coach at Jackson State and George, of course, as the head coach at Tennessee State.
In the leadup to the game, each coach expressed his respect and admiration for his counterpart – then also smiled and said in the same breath how badly they wanted to beat the other come game time.
George's Tigers showed some promising signs and, for the first the half, stayed within striking distance of Sanders' more experienced bunch. But that's as close as they would get, as Jackson State rode the right arm of freshman quarterback Shedeur Sanders – Deion's son – to a 38-16 victory at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis.
Senior tight end Rodell Rahmaan led TSU with 94 receiving yards, including a 47-yard touchdown catch late in the fourth quarter that could provide Big Blue with a spark heading into next week's home opener against Kentucky State (2 p.m., ESPN+).
TSU quarterbacks Geremy Hickbottom and Deveon Bryant combined to throw for 194 yards and Devon Starling paced the Tigers with 35 yards on the ground.
Otherwise, the night belonged to Shedeur Sanders, a former blue-chip recruit who passed on offers from the likes of Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Florida and Florida State to instead play for his father.
Sanders completed 30 of 40 passes for 362 yards – the third-most in Southern Heritage Classic history – and three touchdowns.
His 14-yard strike to Joshua Lanier opened the scoring, but the Big Blue answered midway through the second quarter when Bryant plunged into the end zone from 2 yards out to bring TSU level.
Tennessee State nearly made it to halftime on equal footing, but JSU added a field goal with 32 seconds to play in the second quarter and then kept its foot on the gas after the break.
Sanders tossed two more touchdown passes in the third quarter, including a 67-yarder to Keith Corbin, and JSU struck for another two scores on the other side of Chayil Garnett's 37-yard field goal early in the fourth.
The Big Blue, though, was undaunted by a four-touchdown deficit and kept fighting until the final whistle – as evidenced by Rahmaan's touchdown with 6 seconds to play.
Then, with an eye for the future, George sent his offense back out for a 2-point conversion attempt. No, an extra two points wouldn't have made much difference on Saturday night. But as George attempts to restore Tennessee State to the program's previous heights, every little bit of added experience can be useful.
As the clock hit zero, George and Sanders greeted each other at midfield, shared an embrace and a quick word, and then embraced again. Sanders may have won the first round between the two College Football Hall-of-Famers, but there will be more meetings to come. And, if George's Tigers continue to build on their foundation, there will be different outcomes, too
