Deion Sanders and Colorado Still Have More Questions Than Answers

I’ve watched more college football previously 4 seasons than I did within the previous 10. There’s one reason: Deion Sanders, first at Jackson State, where he played HBCU football, and now on the University of Colorado, where he’s revived a struggling football program.

Colorado opened its season on Thursday with a nail-biting 31-26 home opener over North Dakota State, the Buffaloes’ first win since Oct. 7, 2023, once they defeated Arizona State. I watched every minute of Thursday’s game, and I’ll watch every minute of several more Colorado games, and I’ll be there in person for greater than a couple of.

What are we trying to find out and what questions are we attempting to answer? Is Coach Prime an excellent college football coach? Is he a greater promoter than a coach? Will Colorado have a winning season? Will Colorado play within the playoffs? Finally, will Sanders stay in Colorado after this season, since his son Shedeur Sanders and potential Heisman candidate Travis Hunter are set to enter the NFL Draft in 2025?

Some of my colleagues called Thursday’s season opener an important game of Coach Prime’s coaching profession.

With all due respect, no.

Thursday’s game was an important game until the subsequent game. Then the subsequent. Then the subsequent.

All Colorado proved Thursday was that it has two more NFL-ready superstars than North Dakota State: Hunter and quarterback Shedeur Sanders — Hunter, a spectacular two-way player, and Sanders, a legitimate top-five quarterback prospect. Hunter caught seven passes for 132 yards and three touchdowns. On defense, he played greater than 40 snaps as a cornerback.

Shedeur continued where he left off last season, which is each good and bad news. Sanders plays a novel brand of hero ball, and it largely works. He has thrown 100 touchdowns in his profession and finished last season with 27 and a formidable 69% completion percentage. But that comes at a price.

Last season, he was essentially the most sacked quarterback in major league college football and threw so over and over attempting to make plays that he had to take a seat out the ultimate game of the season. On Thursday against North Dakota State, Sanders was sacked only once and kept the sport alive. He also made several throws right after the ball was released. Can he last a full season playing his swashbuckling quarterback style? And can Colorado win if Shedeur plays in a different way?

After the sport, Shedeur was criticized by his father, Coach Prime, for throwing a protracted pass to LaJohntay Wester within the fourth quarter when the offense must have been using a timeout. Sanders, nevertheless, rationalized that his son was simply attempting to be an excellent teammate by letting Wester get entangled on an evening when Hunter and Jimmy Horn Jr. were having great nights.

“Shedeur is such a good kid that sometimes it takes a toll on him because at the end of the game we just want to run with the ball,” Sanders said, rationalizing his son’s poor judgment.

The relationship between Sanders and his sons, Shedeur and Shilo, has been essentially the most fascinating aspect of the Coach Prime phenomenon at Jackson State and now at Colorado. Sanders has coached his sons at every level of football, and in his candid moments, Sanders admits the road between father and coach has often been blurred.

That’s why I’d like Prime to remain on as a coach after Shedeur and Hunter — his adopted son — leave for the NFL. Only then will we get an accurate picture of who Sanders really is as a coach, although I’m undecided that’s high on Prime’s list of priorities. Coaching his sons was such a special experience that life after they’re gone might be disappointing.

But there will likely be time for such speculations yet.

Now, with a protracted season to go, Prime, Shedeur and Hunter share the burden of proof. Hunter wants to point out he’s a legitimate Heisman candidate. Shedeur desires to prove he ought to be considered one of the primary three quarterbacks taken within the 2025 NFL Draft.

Of course, Sanders has the potential to prove he’s greater than just the football equivalent of a snake-oil salesman whose primary job is to advertise his program. He can show he’s a tactician who can match the intellect of the most effective coaches within the country.

You will achieve this by winning.

Coach Prime can also be in a position to prove that his scorched-earth approach to constructing rosters can also be effective. Sanders isn’t the sort to plant seeds and watch them grow. He prefers to plant mature trees.

Last 12 months, it made a splash and hurt feelings by drastically changing its roster. It brought in 68 latest scholarship players, 47 of whom transferred from other four-year programs.

He has done it again this season, bringing in 50 latest scholarship players, including 39 latest signings. Will it work? We’ll see.

Evaluating Deion Sanders solely on football criteria is complicated by the undeniable fact that he does greater than just coach football. He does other things, and I take his word for it that he cares concerning the well-being of the young men he coaches. Not necessarily those he runs out of, however the ones he coaches.

Last week, for instance, we learned that Sanders had partnered with a bank to open “529 accounts” for eight dads and fathers-to-be on his team. Each account will start at $2,121 (in honor of Sanders’s NFL-era number). A 529 is a tax-advantaged savings account designed for use for the beneficiary’s educational expenses. The idea is that if players can repeatedly deposit $200 of their very own money into the account, they will eventually pay for his or her child’s college education.

The larger issue surrounding the University of Colorado and its football program is how free the press is in covering Coach Prime’s tenure.

Closely related to this is whether or not the media buys what Deion is selling. Sanders, like many college coaches — HBCU, FBS, FCS — tends to be, or at the least aspire to be, dictators. Sanders has a thorny relationship with the media and has cleverly created his own media machine to present his story the best way he wants it presented.

In Colorado, he handles the press by picking and selecting who he considers too harsh and critical. That includes banning a Denver Post columnist whose criticism Sanders considered too personal. With the university’s permission, the reporter was barred from asking questions.

In an ideal world of one-for-all, one-for-all, if a Denver Post columnist were banned, your entire press corps would revolt and respond by boycotting Sanders. Imagine: Prime walks right into a news conference without cameras, reporters, or microphones. Colorado is riding a renaissance wave precisely since the football coach brought in cameras and microphones. Imagine suddenly having none.

In reality, Colorado doesn’t need to imagine it. The university knows what it’s like since it experienced it within the years leading as much as Prime: lethargy, indifference, darkness.

In any case, a media boycott won’t ever occur, and that is the crux of the matter: the media cannot afford to boycott Coach Prime. He’s a rankings bonanza. He’s news now, and we’re within the news business.

We all have our standards. Sanders and the university have set standards for what they consider “crossing the line” coverage. I even have my standards for what I consider interesting news.

Coach Prime won at Jackson State. He talked about black empowerment and constructing institutions, but he won. The news in college football is whether or not Coach Prime can lead Colorado to a winning record and a bowl game. The Buffaloes will likely be compelling in the event that they win, average and boring in the event that they lose. Pure and easy.

One match down, 11 left.