#1/2 recruit in America goes FCS

[kennethnoisewater]

Travis Hunter is the #2 (I saw somewhere he was #1) HS prospect in the country and he just flipped from Florida State to Jackson State to play for Deion Sanders. He's the first ever 5-star player to go FCS right out of high school, according to ESPN. I commend the kid for wanting to play at and attend an HBCU, but even if he was coming to MSU I'd wonder if that was the best move for his career. He's not going to go against a ton of future NFL talent, but I guess he does get to be coached by Deion Sanders.

[HelenaCat95]

Rumor is that he has a $1 mil+ NIL deal with Barstool sports.......Barstool also has a deal with Deion - could be the connection?

[BStinsMSU]

Travis Hunter is the #2 (I saw somewhere he was #1) HS prospect in the country and he just flipped from Florida State to Jackson State to play for Deion Sanders. He's the first ever 5-star player to go FCS right out of high school, according to ESPN. I commend the kid for wanting to play at and attend an HBCU, but even if he was coming to MSU I'd wonder if that was the best move for his career. He's not going to go against a ton of future NFL talent, but I guess he does get to be coached by Deion Sanders.

I mean this is huge for FCS and HBCUs as a whole. Deion Sanders is making a big impact for sure. I have no doubt there was likely some NIL influence but the chance to play DB for Prime Time is pretty awesome.

Are they participating in playoffs next year or how does that work? I know they played for the SWAC, is the conference just not opted into the playoffs?

[coloradocat]

Travis Hunter is the #2 (I saw somewhere he was #1) HS prospect in the country and he just flipped from Florida State to Jackson State to play for Deion Sanders. He's the first ever 5-star player to go FCS right out of high school, according to ESPN. I commend the kid for wanting to play at and attend an HBCU, but even if he was coming to MSU I'd wonder if that was the best move for his career. He's not going to go against a ton of future NFL talent, but I guess he does get to be coached by Deion Sanders.

I mean this is huge for FCS and HBCUs as a whole. Deion Sanders is making a big impact for sure. I have no doubt there was likely some NIL influence but the chance to play DB for Prime Time is pretty awesome.

Are they participating in playoffs next year or how does that work? I know they played for the SWAC, is the conference just not opted into the playoffs?

The big rumor is there is ~$1million NIL influence. He's getting a contract with Barstool for a tv show.

[HelenaCat95]

Travis Hunter is the #2 (I saw somewhere he was #1) HS prospect in the country and he just flipped from Florida State to Jackson State to play for Deion Sanders. He's the first ever 5-star player to go FCS right out of high school, according to ESPN. I commend the kid for wanting to play at and attend an HBCU, but even if he was coming to MSU I'd wonder if that was the best move for his career. He's not going to go against a ton of future NFL talent, but I guess he does get to be coached by Deion Sanders.

I mean this is huge for FCS and HBCUs as a whole. Deion Sanders is making a big impact for sure. I have no doubt there was likely some NIL influence but the chance to play DB for Prime Time is pretty awesome.

Are they participating in playoffs next year or how does that work? I know they played for the SWAC, is the conference just not opted into the playoffs?

The big rumor is there is ~$1million NIL influence. He's getting a contract with Barstool for a tv show.

I think I posted something similar up above. But glad to see that I'm not the only one spending all day on twitter tracking down HS kids decisions.
Seriously though - NIL is a gamechanger. I'm not saying it's good or bad, just a reality. And we better figure out a way to get out in front of it, or get left WAY behind.

[MSU01]

Travis Hunter is the #2 (I saw somewhere he was #1) HS prospect in the country and he just flipped from Florida State to Jackson State to play for Deion Sanders. He's the first ever 5-star player to go FCS right out of high school, according to ESPN. I commend the kid for wanting to play at and attend an HBCU, but even if he was coming to MSU I'd wonder if that was the best move for his career. He's not going to go against a ton of future NFL talent, but I guess he does get to be coached by Deion Sanders.

I mean this is huge for FCS and HBCUs as a whole. Deion Sanders is making a big impact for sure. I have no doubt there was likely some NIL influence but the chance to play DB for Prime Time is pretty awesome.

Are they participating in playoffs next year or how does that work? I know they played for the SWAC, is the conference just not opted into the playoffs?

The two division champions in the SWAC play a conference championship game that conflicts with the FCS playoffs. This year though was a rare occurrence, as Florida A&M received an at-large playoff spot from the SWAC as a team that didn't go to the conference championship game but still had a good enough resume to get a bid.

[BStinsMSU]

Travis Hunter is the #2 (I saw somewhere he was #1) HS prospect in the country and he just flipped from Florida State to Jackson State to play for Deion Sanders. He's the first ever 5-star player to go FCS right out of high school, according to ESPN. I commend the kid for wanting to play at and attend an HBCU, but even if he was coming to MSU I'd wonder if that was the best move for his career. He's not going to go against a ton of future NFL talent, but I guess he does get to be coached by Deion Sanders.

I mean this is huge for FCS and HBCUs as a whole. Deion Sanders is making a big impact for sure. I have no doubt there was likely some NIL influence but the chance to play DB for Prime Time is pretty awesome.

Are they participating in playoffs next year or how does that work? I know they played for the SWAC, is the conference just not opted into the playoffs?

The two division champions in the SWAC play a conference championship game that conflicts with the FCS playoffs. This year though was a rare occurrence, as Florida A&M received an at-large playoff spot from the SWAC as a team that didn't go to the conference championship game but still had a good enough resume to get a bid.

Thanks! I couldn’t make sense of the article I read about it. I feel like this may not last but who knows maybe they like it like it is now.

[catbooster]

Travis Hunter is the #2 (I saw somewhere he was #1) HS prospect in the country and he just flipped from Florida State to Jackson State to play for Deion Sanders. He's the first ever 5-star player to go FCS right out of high school, according to ESPN. I commend the kid for wanting to play at and attend an HBCU, but even if he was coming to MSU I'd wonder if that was the best move for his career. He's not going to go against a ton of future NFL talent, but I guess he does get to be coached by Deion Sanders.

I mean this is huge for FCS and HBCUs as a whole. Deion Sanders is making a big impact for sure. I have no doubt there was likely some NIL influence but the chance to play DB for Prime Time is pretty awesome.

Are they participating in playoffs next year or how does that work? I know they played for the SWAC, is the conference just not opted into the playoffs?

The two division champions in the SWAC play a conference championship game that conflicts with the FCS playoffs. This year though was a rare occurrence, as Florida A&M received an at-large playoff spot from the SWAC as a team that didn't go to the conference championship game but still had a good enough resume to get a bid.

Thanks! I couldn’t make sense of the article I read about it. I feel like this may not last but who knows maybe they like it like it is now.

The SWAC championship game interferes with one weekend of playoffs. Then the winner of that goes to the Celebration Bowl against the MEAC champion (this Saturday) so it interferes with a 2nd playoff date. I've heard it's billed as the HBCU national championship. The Celebration Bowl pays out $1 million or something like that to each conference and gets crowds of 60,000 (I might be remembering that wrong- but it's big).

Both conferences could accept an auto-berth in the playoffs but instead choose to participate in the bowl (I've heard they are required to - can't choose to participate in the playoffs).

Consequently, the only way those conferences get a representative into the playoffs is if the 2nd place teams are deemed good enough to get an at-large berth in the playoffs. This year FAMU (2nd place team in the SWAC) had a 9-2 record and got into the playoffs. They lost to SLU 14-38, who subsequently lost to JMU 20-59.

[Cataholic]

Travis Hunter is the #2 (I saw somewhere he was #1) HS prospect in the country and he just flipped from Florida State to Jackson State to play for Deion Sanders. He's the first ever 5-star player to go FCS right out of high school, according to ESPN. I commend the kid for wanting to play at and attend an HBCU, but even if he was coming to MSU I'd wonder if that was the best move for his career. He's not going to go against a ton of future NFL talent, but I guess he does get to be coached by Deion Sanders.

I mean this is huge for FCS and HBCUs as a whole. Deion Sanders is making a big impact for sure. I have no doubt there was likely some NIL influence but the chance to play DB for Prime Time is pretty awesome.

Are they participating in playoffs next year or how does that work? I know they played for the SWAC, is the conference just not opted into the playoffs?

The big rumor is there is ~$1million NIL influence. He's getting a contract with Barstool for a tv show.

I think I posted something similar up above. But glad to see that I'm not the only one spending all day on twitter tracking down HS kids decisions.
Seriously though - NIL is a gamechanger. I'm not saying it's good or bad, just a reality. And we better figure out a way to get out in front of it, or get left WAY behind.

What a second…. Based on the opinions of many posters, NIL will have no impact on FCS….. heck, if I was UTUcat, I would start a new thread pouting out all the people who were wrong.