Just days before its season opener in Miami at the Orange Blossom Classic, Jackson State has been attempting to prepare amid a citywide water crisis.
Head coach Deion Sanders took to social media to explain just how dire the situation is for his football team.
“Water means we don’t have air conditioning. (We) can’t use toilets,” Sanders said in a video posted on Instagram. “We don’t have water, therefore we don’t have ice, which pretty much places a burden on the program. So right now we’re operating in crisis mode.”
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Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves on Monday declared a state of emergency after excessive rainfall worsened problems in one of Jackson’s water-treatment plants. The problems are causing low water pressure throughout much of the city.
The low water pressure raised concerns about firefighting and about people’s ability to take showers or flush toilets.
Jackson has longstanding problems with its water system. A cold snap in 2021 left a significant number of people without running water after pipes froze. Similar problems happened again early this year, on a smaller scale. Even before the flooding Monday caused low-water pressure problems, city residents since July were already being advised to boil the water coming out of their pipes before using it to wash dishes or to do other household chores.
For Jackson State, Sanders indicated that he wants to move some players off campus into hotels to accommodate their personal needs.
“I gotta get these kids off-campus — the ones that live on campus, the ones that live in the city of Jackson — into a hotel and accommodate them so that they can shower properly and take care of their needs,” he said. “Make sure all of our kids are fed, all of our kids have the necessities of life for the next several days until this crisis resides.”
“So we’re going to find somewhere to practice,” Sanders said. “Find somewhere that can accommodate every darn thing that we need and desire to be who we need to be. And that’s dominant.”
