Jackson State's Deion Sanders has heated handshake with Alabama State coach Eddie Robinson Jr. after Tigers win

Zac Al-Khateeb

•
Jackson State's Deion Sanders has heated handshake with Alabama State coach Eddie Robinson Jr. after Tigers win image

Jackson State coach Deion Sanders had a heated moment with Alabama State coach Eddie Robinson Jr. following the Tigers' 26-12 over the Yellow Jackets on Saturday.

Following the conclusion of the game, Sanders met with Robinson — who is not related to HBCU coaching legend Eddie Robinson — at midfield for a handshake. Though Robinson shook Sanders' hand, he rebuffed the Jackson State coach after he attempted to hug him.

Video of the brief incident shows Robinson placing his hand on Sanders' chest before Sanders shoved his hand off him:

MORE: College football schedule today: TV coverage, channels, scores for Week 6 top-25 games

In another angle, it appears Sanders shoves Robinson's arm off him.

Sanders appeared confused by the confrontation, standing in place and raising his hands in the air in a questioning gesture. After the game, he said that Robinson's frustration could be "a plethora of things." Among those, he said it could have been because his team was late and he didn't meet the coach before the game because of traffic from Birmingham to Montgomery, according to the Clarion Ledger.

"I think he thought he was going to get a win. I don't know why he would've ever thought that," Sanders said, per the Ledger. "Secondly he said that I didn't come to greet him in the center of the field. I don't know if you understand but we got here very late. So that expedited our whole process of preparation. So then we were in like, 'let's go get it [mode].'"

Sanders also recounted the moment the two met after the game.

"My exact words was, 'Hey man, you had them ready to play. Good game,'" Sanders said. "Shook hands and tried to embrace and he pushed off. That was it."

Robinson said he felt Sanders was disrespectful the week leading up to the game. He said before the game, Sanders didn't talk with him during the pre-game and that he walked through the Alabama State huddle and took the long way to get to his side of the field.

"I'm going to shake your hand, I'm going to go home. I'm always going to be respectful and respect the game," Robinson said. "I'm living on the shoulders of the SWAC. He ain't SWAC. I'm SWAC. He ain't SWAC."

Robinson added that while he had respect for Sanders as a player and for what he has done in the sport both as a coach and a player, he did not like how Sanders had his backup quarterback attempting passes late in a blowout game.

"S—'s disrespectful. Game was out of line, 26-12, 40 seconds left, we had no timeouts, take a damn knee. Want to try and run a hitch and go. So we started blitzing. We gone knock him out of the game too. That's how we've got to play. It ain't no quarters given," Robinson said. "So you want to do that, don't come up to me and try to bro hug like we friends. We ain't friends. You didn't shake my hand before the game, why you shaking my hand after the game."

ProFootballTalk's Michael David Smith speculated it also might have been because Sanders said Alabama State would regret scheduling Jackson State as its homecoming game.

Jackson State was largely dominant in the win, out-gaining the Yellow Jackets 441-177 (including 332-138 in passing yards and 109-39 in rushing). Jackson State quarterback Shedeur Sanders completed 30 of 46 passes for 332 yards and three touchdowns to one interception.

This story will be updated. Edward Sutelan contributed to this report.

Zac Al-Khateeb

Zac Al-Khateeb Photo

Zac Al-Khateeb has been part of The Sporting News team since 2015 after earning his Bachelor's (2013) and Master's (2014) degrees in journalism at the University of Alabama. Prior to joining TSN, he covered high school sports and general news in Alabama. A college sports specialist, Zac has been a voter for the Biletnikoff Award and Heisman Trophy since 2020.