Former Jackson State guard and Colorado transfer Shelomi Sanders has announced through a video on her YouTube channel that she has committed to play at Alabama A&M for newly hired head coach Dawn Thornton.
In the video, Sanders shows herself on a visit to Alabama A&M, walking in the locker room and seeing her new uniform before cutting to her wearing it, saying, “You see it.”
“I was just enjoying the moment because I’m a Bulldog,” says Sanders in the video. “I had a good time. As y’all can see, I committed, and we finna T up.”
Her father, Colorado and former Jackson State football coach Deion Sanders, was not happy with her decision to leave Boulder, Colorado.
“Which was stupid,” Deion Sanders said. “You get a team before you enter the portal. That’s what I would advise a child. I know it’s illegal, c’mon, c’mon. Everybody knows somebody that knows somebody, that knows somebody. You kind of want them to do something. … And she truly has been advised.”
“You have to understand. I am a real father; I am a real man and a real dad. Where I come from and historically, kids follow their parents. When do parents start following their kids? That doesn’t work in my book. That does not work where I am from. I am the leader of the family, I have been dictating where my kids go, not them dictating where I go.”
Thornton was hired at Alabama A&M on April 6. She coached for the past five years at Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
“Shelomi is just what we need on ‘The Hill,’” Thornton told the Clarion Ledger on Friday.
“Not only does she want to make a name for herself, but we also have the platform and the resources for her to do it. She is well-known for her game behind the arc, and I love big guards that can score the ball. She has great athleticism and will make it very hard for teams to zone us. Shelomi’s commitment and determination will send her potential through the roof.”
This will be Sanders’ third different team she has committed to in her college career.
Shelomi Sanders played at Jackson State under former coach Tomekia Reed, on a team that went 22-10 in 2022. The former Jackson State player has received limited playing time in her first two collegiate seasons. She has played in just seven games, averaging 3.1 minutes per game.