Pro Football Hall of Famer and Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders is currently guiding his football team through their second spring football practice with him at the helm. With the annual spring game scheduled to take place on Saturday April 27, the festivities begin as early as Thursday April 25. In what’s being dubbed the “Black and Gold Weekend,” the hype in and around Boulder is at its usual elevated peak.
Sanders, the maestro behind program’s evolving turnaround, is also an old school stickler who believes in keeping it a buck with his players.
This could be about life amongst other things, but especially as it pertains to how they conduct themselves in the classroom. Since his time at Jackson State and now at Colorado, Coach Prime has always stressed that players need to remember that they’re student-athletes and not the other way around.
Deion Calls Today’s Era An “NIL State Of Mind”
In what has quickly become the pay-for-play era with student-athletes now legally able to monetarily capitalize on their name, image and likeness the effort in the classroom isn’t the same. As one who preaches accountability, Sanders recently laid into his team for lack of participation in classes, as professors issued a series of negative reviews concerning his players and their attempt to skate by.
During a recent team meeting a visibly irritated Sanders lambasted his players by reading emails from various professors aloud. He talked about making good decisions, while being smart and accountable for your actions as young men who hopefully will one day be fathers and husbands. Sanders believes the NIL game has warped classroom studies. In an interview after the meeting Sanders had this to say.
“I’m a little frustrated, and I’m a little angry right now. We, in this new collective and NIL state of mind, we’ve got youngsters that are all in one side of the game. Ninety percent of your roster ain’t going pro, so, coaches, we’ve got to emphasize education. We’ve got to emphasize life. We’ve got to emphasize the next step.
“Today was not wonderful, but I’ll be darned if I allow these kids to get out of here without something.”
Coach Prime Wants His Players To Apply Themselves Academically
Deion seems focused on making sure his players do all they can to graduate and take full advantage of the college life. He’s long told his players that he wants them sitting in the front of the classroom and participating in all lesson activities.
As of now that seems to have fallen on deaf ears with some of his players. While it happened, you can expect those players to tighten things up and become more involved in their studies, if not this won’t be the last time he calls them out.
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