"A Pillar of all HBCUs": Deion Sanders, Aspirational Prophecy, and the Divine Promise of Jackson State University Football.

This article analyzes Deion Sanders's 2020 appointment as head coach of the Jackson State University (JSU) Tigers football team, focusing on his use of aspirational prophecy—a form of prophetic rhetoric that frames the speaker as a divinely appointed agent and the audience as collaborators in creating a transformative future. Sanders's "I Believe" speech is examined as a rhetorical intervention aimed at revitalizing historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) through JSU football, emphasizing themes of prophetic humility, audacity, and hope to inspire communal commitment and Black worldmaking. The study situates Sanders's rhetoric within the broader Black American prophetic tradition and explores how sport functions as a site of cultural and political struggle, while also acknowledging tensions arising from Sanders's eventual departure from JSU. This work contributes to rhetorical scholarship by expanding understandings of prophetic rhetoric's role in sports communication and Black political expression.