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Deion Sanders Preparing to Leave JSU for Colorado After SWAC Title Game

Deion Sanders will reportedly leave Jackson State at the end of the season to become the next head coach at Colorado, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.

Over the past few days, sources have told Sports Illustrated that they are expecting Sanders to land in Colorado barring a change of direction from Sanders. The sources also said they weren’t expecting anything to be announced until after Saturday’s SWAC championship game. However, conversations began to heat up in recent days.

Sanders and his associates spent the week picking prospective members for his on-field and support staff at Colorado, per Thamel. 

The Pro Football Hall of Famer also reportedly spoke with a high-profile player in the NCAA transfer portal, encouraging him to hold off on making his decision because of the possibility that Sanders was heading to Boulder. 

Sanders will coach the Tigers against Southern University in the SWAC championship game as Jackson State is in pursuit of its second straight conference championship. As for Colorado, Thamel reported that its support staff has been preparing information for Sanders to accept the job and that all signs point to him arriving in Boulder this weekend. 

However, the program’s staff has not been notified, per Thamel.

During the SWAC's weekly conference call on Monday, Sanders revealed that Colorado had indeed offered him the job. According to Thamel, it appears that Sanders will accept the job within the next 48 hours. 

Sanders has turned the Tigers into one of the hottest teams in the country. He led Jackson State to a 26–5 mark in three seasons and went 22–2 in the last two campaigns.