Deion Sanders still has to coach the Jackson State Tigers in the Celebration Bowl on Dec. 17, but he used this past weekend as an opportunity to introduce himself at his new workplace, the University of Colorado, where he will become the school's next head football coach. Sanders arrived in Boulder on a private jet, sat for an introductory press conference on campus, and then held a brief meeting with a group of the 1-11 Buffaloes' current players. He made quite an impression.
Sanders's personal social media team, which is headed up by one of his sons, Deion Sanders Jr., released about 15 minutes of video footage from Sanders's meeting with the players. His goal during the meeting seemed to be convincing as many of the players in the room as possible to quit the team.
"We got a few positions already taken care of, because I'm bringing my luggage with me, and it's Louis," Sanders said, referring to the fact that he had just finished introducing his son and current Jackson State quarterback, Shedeur Sanders, as Colorado's new starting quarterback during his press conference. "I'm coming, and when I get here, it's gonna be change. So I want you all to get ready, to go ahead and jump in that portal, and do whatever you're going to get, because the more of you jump in, the more room we make."
That message was punctuated by a grimly comedic scene, in which Sanders made the players whom he had just essentially described as clowns who need to get the hell off his team join him in a little motivational chant:
If this strikes you as a poor way to go about inspiring the current members of the CU football team, that's because the show Sanders put on yesterday wasn't really for them. Sanders knows as well as anyone that his ability to turn around the program quickly will largely depend on his ability to recruit, and the point of publicly releasing a video like this is to send a signal to players at other Power 5 schools who might be enticed to transfer to Boulder.
It's certainly not the worst plan, though there is some risk involved in making it so public. If Sanders comes in, bins half the roster, installs his son as the starting quarterback, and the Buffs still play like shit next year? That would be a tough look.
