Former NFL Wide Receiver and co-host of Fox Sports 1’s Undisputed Keyshawn Johnson made light of the water crisis affecting Jackson State in defense of Colorado head coach Deion Sanders. Johnson made headlines on Monday after he alleged that rival coaches worked with Oregon’s coaching staff to create a gameplan to beat Colorado on Saturday.

“And you mentioned Skip, you were talking about the jealousy of these coaches and how Deion got there…So I spoke to somebody in the coaching fraternity right after the game,” Johnson said on Monday’s edition of Undisputed. “And they know some people that coach at Oregon. And they were telling me ‘Man, I've never heard from another assistant coach on how much information was given to that staff?”

Undisputed had another segment on Tuesday in which Johnson doubled down in his defense of Sanders against criticism from rival coaches. Johnson specifically brought up Nick Saban’s comments on May 2022 alleging that Sanders and Jackson State paid to get Travis Hunter in a misuse of NIL regulations.

“Jackson State paid a guy a million dollars last year that was a really good Division I player to come to school. It was in the paper. They bragged about it! Nobody did anything about it,” Saban said at an event for Alabama donors in 2022.

Johnson used Saban’s comments to build an argument that rival coaches aren’t fond of Sanders and the attention around him. The idea is fair within itself but Johnson goes a step further, making light of the Jackson water crisis in the process.

“[Saban] says the only reason why he got him is because an HBCU school came up with $1 million dollars…Deion said, ‘They don’t even pay me $1 million dollars so why would I pay a college kid $1 million dollars to come play for an [HBCU] school where the water is brown?”

Johnson is alluding to the water crisis that has plagued the city of Jackson, Mississippi which houses Jackson State University. This crisis began in late August 2022 while Sanders was still a coach at Jackson State University and has affected both the city and its surrounding areas. The crisis can be attributed to a multitude of factors, including flooding, aging infrastructure, and systemic mismanagement by government officials.

On August 29, 2022, the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant, which serves Jackson and its neighboring areas, experienced a critical failure. This failure was caused by multiple factors, including flooding from the Pearl River, chemical imbalances in the water, and equipment malfunctions. As a result of the water treatment plant failure, more than 160,000 individuals were left without access to safe drinking water. Residents were forced to boil their water before consumption, while others relied on bottled water for their daily needs, including bathing.

Johnson brought up the crisis without providing the proper context, seemingly blaming Jackson State and making it seem as if it's mismanagement on the part of university leaders. The assertion provides a negative depiction of Jackson State and the city of Jackson, which was challenged by Jackson State alumni last week after a 60 Minutes interview with Sanders attempted to advance the same narrative.

Jackson State University is a school with a tremendous academic and athletic history. The school boasts four Pro Football Hall of Famers and immense success in the Southwestern Atheltic Conference. Jackson State doesn't deserve to be depicted in the fashion it has been post-Deion Sanders's departure.