It’s a new era in college football with some of the players getting paid millions.
Now the line between professional athletes and college students is getting blurred.
And Deion Sanders gave entitled college football players this shocking wake-up call.
University of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders and his team were one of the most scrutinized and intensely covered in the country last season.
Sanders knows how to generate headlines dating back to his Hall of Fame career as a cornerback in the NFL and as a center fielder in MLB.
He earned the nickname “Prime Time” in his playing days and was known for his flashy suits and jewelry.
Colorado Football leans into the spectacle
With the advent of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), college athletes were allowed to be compensated.
And Colorado’s football team parlayed Sanders’ celebrity status and newfound attention on the squad into some major endorsement deals.
Quarterback Shedeur Sanders – Sanders’ son – and wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter became two of the most high-profile players in college football and reportedly among the highest compensated through NIL.
The Colorado quarterback reportedly drove a Rolls Royce and flashed his Rolex watch to the student section at Arizona State after a win there.
After Colorado brought in 50 transfer players (for an 85-scholarship player roster) for his first season at the school after finishing 1-11 the previous year, there were questions if he was trying to bring the professional model to college football by attacking the transfer portal like free agency.
Sanders spent decades in and around the NFL before returning to coach Jackson State in 2020.
But he set his players straight about the importance of an education.
Deion Sanders gives players a reality check about classes
A University of Colorado professor sent Sanders a letter about his challenges with some members of the football team.
Sanders read the letter to his team during a meeting.
“This semester has been extremely challenging for me as a professor,” Sanders said while reading the letter. “I have never felt so disrespected in my ten years of teaching. Students do not follow even minimally, and it slows down my class so much. They make it clear that they don’t want to be here and have very little personal responsibility.”
The NFL Hall Famer gave his team a wake-up call about putting forth a good effort.
“You present, but you ain’t really there,” Sanders said. “You are on the field, but you ain’t really doing nothing. You are in a relationship, but you ain’t got no love. You are at the mall, but you ain’t got no money. Got a lot of ability, but no darn talent because you don’t think.”
He told them he was going to make men out of them.
“You’re gonna get something out of this,” Sanders told the team. “You’re gonna be a man or you’re going to be a great football player. Since you choose not to be a great football player, we gotta make you a man.”
And he reminded them that most of the team wouldn’t play in the NFL.
“I’m a little frustrated. I’m a little angry right now, because … we got youngsters that’s all in on one side of the game,” Sanders added. “90% or 95% of your roster ain’t going pro. So, coaches, we gotta emphasize education. We gotta emphasize life. We gotta emphasize the next step, the next elevation if it doesn’t work in the game.”
