College football recruiting always has been a bit of a cutthroat business in which coaches have been known to say anything about a rival school — whether true or not — just to attract a prospect or to keep one from going to the enemy.
Colorado coach Deion Sanders says he doesn’t operate that way and won’t tolerate anybody on his coaching staff who does.
Talking with Robert Griffin III on his podcast, “RG3 and the Ones,” Coach Prime said, “I don’t allow our coaching staff to ever comment on another school. You don’t have to put another school down to put us up. I don’t play that. Our staff knows, the way you get fired is to let me hear you talk about another institution with a kid.”
Now, if all the other schools would play by those rules, the college football world would be a much better place. Sanders didn’t identify them but says he has caught rival coaches badmouthing Colorado and has confronted them in a nonthreatening way.
“I just politely call the head coach and say, ‘Look here, man, I don’t really know you, I wish the best for you, but be careful, because when these kids bring phones into your meetings, you are exposed to certain things,” Sanders said. “I’m not going to put you out there, but just keep my name out of your mouth.”
The last time words like that were uttered publicly, they were preceded by the slap heard ’round Hollywood.
“I’ve had to have that conversation,” Coach Prime said.
Sanders has made a buzz at Colorado, but it isn’t just about the way he draws players. He took over a team that went 1-11 in 2022 and guided them to victories in their first three games. They went 1-8 thereafter, but the impression was made.
“We implemented hope,” Sanders said. “Now, there’s expectation. We’re going from hope to expectation.”
Those hopes and expectations are built on an improved roster. You can be the greatest coach in the world, but if you don’t have the players, you don’t have much of a chance to win football games — and especially not at the level that Sanders is coaching at now.
Whatever the rival coaches have said, it hasn’t seemed to hurt Colorado’s offseason efforts to turn a team that faded at the end in 2023 into a contender from the start in 2024. Colorado has acquired 22 players through the transfer portal, including IMG Academy five-star offensive lineman Jordan Seaton from Florida.
