Deion Sanders has talked a good talk in Colorado … now he has to prove he can win, too

Following an offseason of transfers in and transfers out, pointed criticism and breathless praise, of lawsuits, media banishments and, of course, all-access videos, the Colorado Buffaloes return to the field Thursday when they host North Dakota State.

Naturally it will be nationally televised on ESPN.

“The world is watching,” head coach Deion Sanders said.

Coach Prime is back, although he never really left, which speaks to the attention he creates and commands. After all, CU went 4-8 last year.

Are the Buffs going to be good? Are they going to disappoint? Is this going to be a trainwreck? Is this going to be a glorious ascension? Will Sanders leave Boulder at season’s end?

“I’m just getting started in this college football thing,” he said this week.

No one knows anything except that beginning Thursday all the outside noise — positive and negative — no longer matters. If the Prime experiment is going to work in FBS football, let alone in Boulder, then winning is truly all that matters.

“I love the roster that we have established,” Sanders said this week. “I love what I am seeing on a day-to-day basis not only from the players but the staff as well. Those guys are challenging those guys to their job at a high level.”

Sanders has never done anything like anyone else has done things. He promoted himself as a defensive player. He played in both the NFL and MLB at the same time. He talked. He preened. He never backed down. He constantly took on new challenges.

When he wanted to get into coaching, he chose a college head job — at HBCU Jackson State — rather than joining an NFL staff. He recruited five-star talent anyway.

Now he starts his second season at CU, with a roster built through the portal and the head coach paying almost no attention to high school prospects. This is not how it’s conventionally…

Source link : https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/deion-sanders-has-talked-a-good-talk-in-colorado–now-he-has-to-prove-he-can-win-too-201714899.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-08-28 20:17:14

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.