University of Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders made it clear to his team at practice this week that if a teammate is in a fight, the whole team is in a fight.
“I seen two of you walking off, over there, and you’ve got a key teammate fighting,” Sanders groused. “Where they do that at? Where they do that at?”
“Not here,” the players replied.
“If one fights we all fight,” Sanders fumed. “You understand that? I don’t want to see you all walking off when somebody’s fighting. Never again!”
Practice Fights Are Commonplace
The incident followed RB Anthony Hankerson’s touchdown run up the middle in a goal-line drill when safety Jaden Milliner-Jones grabbed Hankerson by his jersey and tossed him to the ground well after he scored.
The 6-foot-10, 310-pound offensive tackle Gerad Christian-Lichtenham apparently didn’t appreciate the late aggression and let Milliner-Jones know it. There was a lot of pushing and yelling. Many team members got involved.
Fights in football practice are commonplace. Nothing shocking there.
Most coaches usually want their players to manage their emotions and deal with adversity differently, but Coach Prime clearly has his approach.
The Buffaloes were 1-11 last year, and no doubt Prime wants to change the culture around the team. Showing a fighting spirit and sticking up for your teammates when they are in the middle of it is one way of doing that.
It fits with the macho, violent and physical nature of football. There’s a reason so many coaches use war analogies before, during and after games. Football is in many ways hand-to-hand combat.
Prime And Colorado Will Be Judged On The Field
Ultimately none of this matters. Prime and Colorado will be judged by their performance on the field.
Prime’s announcement as head coach came with much fanfare, noise, and expectations. He brought some talented transfer athletes over with him, we will see how he does coaching an NCAA Division I FBS program.
This will be Colorado’s last year in the soon-to-be-defunct Pac-12 conference. Beginning July 1, 2024 the team will be a member of the Big-12 conference.
Colorado opens their season on Sept. 2 at Texas Christian University.
