Mike Golic Jr. says it was 'beneath' Nick Saban to go after Deion Sanders, Jackson State

Football analyst Mike Golic Jr. appeared as a guest Thursday morning on the "McElroy and Cubelic In The Morning" radio show on WJOX-FM 94.5 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Golic Jr. gave his thoughts on what Nick Saban had to say about Texas A&M football, Jackson State football, and Miami Hurricanes men's basketball on Wednesday night at an event to promote the 2022 World Games in Birmingham.

The most pointed comments from Golic Jr. were about Saban making accusations against Jackson State football, an HBCU that competes at the Football Championship Subdivision level.

Cole Cubelic asked Golic Jr.," What about the Jackson State deal? ... I don't recall Jackson State or Travis Hunter confirming anything. There was obviously some rumors, some rumblings we heard about a documentary or something that was floating around, and there was a lot of discussion about the (Texas) A&M stuff. I haven't seen documentation on any of these things. Why go that far with it?"

"That one was a bit surprising to me," Golic Jr. said of Saban's Jackson State comments. "That was almost like Nick was skimming Internet headlines at that point. We know this is an extremely detailed person, but that was the one part of this that you could say felt a little bit sloppy. Now, with Texas A&M, we know there was a lot of reporting that (Texas A&M football head coach) Jimbo Fisher came out and rebuked. The same really with Deion (Sanders) at Jackson State. He came out and in every interview you saw him do after Travis Hunter signed there, he said we don't even have money to pay most of my coaches that much money. Why do you think we'd be able to offer that to a player?"

Hunter, a five-star rated cornerback, enrolled at Jackson State in January. He signed in December

"I think it's one thing too, the power dynamic in that one feels kind of messed up," Golic Jr. said continuing his answer about Jackson State. "At the very least, Texas A&M has always been a very well-funded program. Jimbo Fisher's one of the 10 best coaches in college football. That's sort of punching in your weight class here. And it's not to belittle Jackson State, but that's a program with comparatively lesser resources that Deion's trying to build something with. And this kind of shot from Nick Saban seems a little beneath him in some ways and was surprising to me."

Deion Sanders was hired as the Jackson State football head coach in September 2020 and coached his first season in the spring of 2021.

Here's more Nick Saban, Deion Sanders news:

• Cole Cubelic, Nick Saban: ESPN's Cole Cubelic says Nick Saban went 'full Fire Marshall Bill' on Texas A&M football

• Travis Hunter, Nick Saban: How Travis Hunter responded to Nick Saban's accusation of $1M NIL to play for Deion Sanders

• Nick Saban, Deion Sanders: Nick Saban accuses Deion Sanders, Jackson State of paying a player a million dollars

Golic Jr. played college football at Notre Dame from 2008-12.

Erik Hall is the lead digital producer for sports with the USA Today Network. You can find him on Twitter @HallErik.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Mike Golic Jr. says critiquing Deion Sanders is 'beneath' Nick Saban