Deion Sanders might start drawing Taylor Swift comparisons

Jason Jones

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Deion Sanders might start drawing Taylor Swift comparisons image

Deion Sanders and Taylor Swift are arguably two of the most recognizable figures in their respective lanes. Neither one is walking into a venue that pertains to their lane and goes unnoticed. Even if he keeps a low profile, Coach Prime is not going unnoticed at an NFL game.  

In both scenarios, those two people are two of the most recognizable figures for their specific industries or forms of entertainment. A little over two years ago, Swift attended her first NFL game as a fan. Her presence on the broadcast created a frenzy for over a year.

Traditional football fans voiced their displeasure with the frequency in which the NFL broadcast would cut to Swift in the box. Creating a ‘celebrity mascot’ effect. No different than Matthew McConaughey at Texas games or Spike Lee at Knicks games. At the current rate, Sanders could become a celebrity mascot for the Cleveland Browns. 

The glaring difference is that Sanders is a football icon. If he had never gotten into coaching, Sanders could have been a celebrity ambassador for the sport. Much in the way fans expected Kobe Bryant to be an ambassador for the NBA before his untimely passing.

Sanders is and will always be a polarizing figure. He is football royalty. Especially for those over the age of thirty. Even if he wasn’t, he is still his son’s father.

Coach Prime has attended two of three Shedeur starts. He was also at every Shedeur game and practice in Shedeur’s life until 2025. There is an understandable compulsion to want to be there as not being there must feel foreign to him.

While no one should be quick to criticize the elder Sanders for wanting to see his son play, Prime might need to start taking his own advice. Fair or unfair, Coach Sanders is the head coach of a Power 4 football program and might from time to time need to remind himself to keep the main thing the main thing. 

Sanders appears to be living an NFL schedule in a college world

Colorado has nothing to play for. That is true, but games in December are not the only factors that matter. College football is not the NFL. The schedule is very different. In the NFL, when the season ends, players scatter. In college football when the season ends, next year's work is just beginning.

Coaches are always recruiting. Lane Kiffin recently turned down an opportunity to be a guest on ESPN College Gameday. He turned down that opportunity to pitch the No. 1 recruit in the country. Jim Harbaugh slept over at a recruit’s house. Coaches do all sorts of strange things to get the recruit. Yet, Sanders once claimed if he recruited a player in that player’s town it would be comparable to the Pope visiting.

The unfair truth of the matter is Sanders is a high-profile college football coach. He doesn’t have the luxury of treating the offseason like an offseason, as the optics would suggest. At present, Colorado has signed 12 recruits. Only two of which have a rating over 88. For context, Georgia has signed 27 recruits and 22 of them are an 88 or higher. Colorado currently has the 75th ranked recruiting class while Georgia is 5th.

Georgia might be an unfair comparison, but it’s the lack of signings in general that are concerning and 2025 is a great example as to why. A lot did not work this season. Had there been waves of young talent behind starters, some of the fallout could have been mitigated. While they might be doing a fine job of recruiting, they have given very little indication the approach is any different. 

Shedeur and Travis Hunter are not walking through those doors at the Champions’ Center. Beyond Julian Lewis and Jordan Seaton, there is not an overabundance of nationally recognized elite talent. Talent more than anything else, is what wins college football games.

The suggestion here is not that Sanders needs to abstain from watching Shedeur play when he can. Find the areas in the schedule that make attending a Browns game easy and ideal. On the other days, recruit. Find time to watch the game like any father would, while fixing what happened in 2025.

As the biggest social media coach in the country, post about recruiting. Post about a difference in direction. Give the viewers something that shows the work of CU. The suggestion is to simply prioritize the business of Colorado football wherever possible. 

Sanders’ own comments on the offseason work

We won’t be in this position again, I promise you that. Because I’m not happy with nothing. This fanbase, this school, Rick (George), everybody deserves much better than this.

The gameplan doesn’t change, what’s inside of you changes. There’s no rut, you’re just not good. That’s a personnel problem, I see everything being different. Even me. You don’t develop mentality, you select mentality, you pick mentality. Personnel is mentality.

I don’t want to give you guys that easy go of it, because you’ve got to have someone to blame. So I’m blaming me. But what you just said (is personnel the biggest difference between this year and last year) is very right. But I can’t leave it at that. It’s “us”, we have to do better.

I tell the truth, but sometimes the truth hurts when I tell it to you. (How difficult is it to find the right mentality) I’m not going to say it’s tremendously difficult, but it takes more work. And we have to be willing to put in the work.

You guys have been kind even considering the foolishness you saw on the field and on the sidelines this whole year. I appreciate you guys. Out of respect and how I admire your relationship, you don’t have to go easy on me. I’m a big boy. I’ve been doing this a long time. When I win, I don’t mind the clap, when I lose, I don’t mind the boo.

If there is anyone built to reconcile this or get this back on course, it's me. And I will do it if it’s the last thing I do on earth. This was the Last Supper.

It's not enough to trust the team is doing all it can after what happened this season. They have to show the approach and execution is at least different. Something that should be easy for the head coach with his own media machine. If he can do that, show evidence of it within the rules outlined by the NCAA, then go to all the Browns games he can. Hang out in Cleveland all he wants (recruiting NE Ohio wouldn’t be the worst idea). Go into ‘dad mode’, as long as the business of the Buffaloes is the priority. 

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Editorial Team