Deion Sanders is turning naysayers into believers one win at a time following the University of Colorado Boulder’s victory over Texas Christian University in his NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision debut.
The former NFL standout has faced months of critics doubting his coaching abilities and roster of new recruits after making the jump from the Southwestern Athletic Conference, where he led Jackson State University to back-to-back titles as head coach.
On Saturday (Sept. 2), he shut down chatter about his team being an underdog that did not stand a chance at winning against TCU when the scoreboard read 45-42. The Fort Worth school was ranked No. 3 when it lost to the University of Georgia during the College Football Playoff title game in January. Colorado was ranked among the worst teams, but it came out of the gate this season playing prime-time football. And the only people who are surprised are the doubters.
“We’re gonna continuously be questioned because we’re going to continue to do things that have never been done. That’s the way our life has presented itself,” said Sanders in a post-game press conference. “We do things that have never been done, and that makes people uncomfortable.”
The two-time Super Bowl winner added, “When you see a confident Black man sitting up here talking his talk, walking his walk, coaching 75 percent African Americans in the locker room, that’s kind of threatening. Oh, they don’t like that. But guess what? We gone consistently do what we do because I’m here and ain’t going nowhere, and I’m ’bout to get comfortable in a minute.”
Saturday’s game also proved especially monumental for Deion’s son, Shedeur Sanders, who broke the university’s passing record. “For real? Shedeur Sanders? From an HBCU? The one that played at Jackson last year? The one you asked me why would I give him the starting job?” mockingly asked Deion to onlooking reporters. Shedeur transferred from JSU when his dad accepted the head coaching gig for the Buffaloes. In his debut as the star quarterback, he carried out a 510-yard passing performance, shattering the 474-yard record set in 2011 by Tyler Hansen.