Within hours after Auburn announced that it would be moving on from Brian Harsin as head coach, several notable names around college football were thrown in the hopper as possible replacements.
Among them have been Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin and Jackson State’s Deion Sanders.
On Wednesday, Kiffin was asked about rumors circulating that he would be tied to the job, though he denied commenting on it.
Kiffin, however, did talk up Sanders as a candidate Auburn should go after.
“I think he’d do great,” Kiffin said. “I think that’s a great name and I think they should hire him. Great recruiter, great name. … Now you have the portal. You can change a roster faster than you ever could before and you can lose a roster faster than ever before. The ability to hire Deion and have that name right away, you can get portal players to come play for him.”
Sanders himself was asked by reporters whether Auburn had contacted him. He offered this:
“I’ve heard from the Tigers … Jackson State Tigers,” Sanders said this week. “I thought you was talking about Jackson State, my bad. Freudian slip.”
The third-year JSU coach has the football program rolling, with an 8-0 record in the SWAC along with being featured on 60 Minutes, Good Morning America and ESPN’s College GameDay.
Sanders has previously said he would entertain Power 5 interest if a school reached out, but for now, is content at Jackson State.
