Fans of HBCUs have once again challenged the decision-making of Deion Sanders.
The Colorado football coach has been criticized for his response, or lack thereof, to his players having their jewelry stolen during an away game at UCLA on Oct. 28.
“You go play football, you know your s— safe, dawg,” Colorado safety Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig said in a video Deion Sanders Jr. posted. “That junk messed up, bruh.”
Colorado football players had their jewelry and chains stolen out of their locker room while they were playing UCLA. pic.twitter.com/MRpWgRlDsc
— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) October 30, 2023
The only gesture resembling a public comment on the robbery from Coach Prime was retweeting Sanders Jr. and Buffaloes edge rusher Jordan “JD” Domineck.
“Forgive and forget,” Domineck posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “To whoever snuck into the locker room and stole my chain, as well as my teammates’ chains, I forgive you and wish you nothing but the best. Hopefully, you turn your life around with whatever you get for mine, and you learn from this. It’s all love.”
During his early months at Jackson State, Sanders made a video about someone in Jackson stealing his boombox and spent the opening statement of his first postgame press conference going off on someone stealing his belongings during the game.
Coach Prime said someone stole all of the belongings in his office during the game. pic.twitter.com/HEMRLv7IgI
— Rashad Milligan (@RashadMilligan) February 21, 2021
Later, JSU athletics claimed his items weren’t stolen during the game, but “misplaced” and they were returned to him. His boombox was also returned to him. After leaving Jackson, Sanders mentioned the lack of crime in Colorado, hinting at Jackson, Mississippi, having a crime problem. Sanders’ daughter, Deiondra, was also called out for claiming the city had a crime problem.
@DeiondraSanders STEP TO THE FRONT PLEASE. because you had so much to say about crime on Jackson State’s campus. i need the same energy for this PWI! i need you to slander them like you did JSU. raise awareness like you did towards the black school. https://t.co/75Cg9uFToy
— Big A (@TheeLetterA) October 30, 2023
On Oct. 31, Sanders responded to one of the critics calling out his different responses to the theft at JSU versus at the Rose Bowl, about which he was initially silent.
“My brother,” Sanders posted on X. “Move [on] with your life. I have. And I’m [too] BLESSED to be stressed with yesterday’s inconsistencies. You’re talking about two whole different circumstances. God bless you because He’s sure blessing me.”
Later in the day, Sanders opened his press conference further addressing the situation.
“Our kids got robbed during the game last week, that’s a travesty,” Sanders said, according to Jack Schwanitz. “I would expect the NCAA to do something about that. These are college kids, I’m pretty sure they don’t think about insurance at this point in life. I know the kids will be forthright in what was stolen and all that stuff should be replaced. This is the Rose Bowl, this is the granddaddy of them all? Well granddaddy has some money. I did hear that the home team was robbed as well and that don’t make sense. Do something about it NCAA, you do something about everything else. Do something about this one.”
