"It Doesn't Work": Shilo Sanders Calls Out Deion's Approach to Instilling Confidence in Colorado Players

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Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes were steamrolled by Northwestern in a 41-7 loss last week, prompting the head coach to toughen up his players. Coach Prime deployed a pretty common and perhaps useful tactic to bring his players’ spirits up in the following practice. But Shilo Sanders, having been there and done that, had a word of advice.

“I’m not even gonna lie,” Shilo said during his livestream. “I tried these, like, affirmations and stuff before, and they don’t really work. I’m gonna be honest. I’ve tried these, and it doesn’t work.”

The exercise involved players chanting “I can” to “You can’t” and “I will” to “You won’t.” After the Northwestern game, the Colorado team needed to find their momentum and come back stronger.

Colorado looked strong at the beginning of the game, even reaching Northwestern territory on the first drive and forcing the latter to punt twice in the first quarter. However, the Buffalo offense failed to make the most of clutch moments, failing on three fourth-down conversions. The passing game lacked, and the defense crumbled. Deion Sanders had a tough message for the players after the game.

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“Oftentimes in life, you learn a lot more in your failures than you do in your successes,” he said, as captured in a Well Off Media vlog. “And you got to really examine yourself and find out who you really are under pressure. Find out who you really are when people are counting on you and depending on you and understand what’s keeping you from being that person you really truly want to be.”

Perhaps because Shilo is Deion’s son, he might get a pass for that comment. But Coach Prime has always conducted himself as the former safety’s coach when they were on the field. In those times, it didn’t matter that Shilo was his own blood.

Shilo Sanders was kept out of a SWAC title game when his father was head coach of Jackson State, simply because he was late to a team meeting earlier in the day. Shilo was otherwise healthy. Similarly, Deion even pulled Shilo’s leg for the punching incident that ended his NFL career, jokingly likening him to Mike Tyson.

Coach Prime can be a player’s best friend, as he was for Jimmy Horn Jr. when he was with the team. The latter’s father was incarcerated, and Sanders stepped in as a father figure. But at the same time, the coach knows when to be strict.

Last year, Deion Sanders made waves after announcing that he was going to be fine players for breaking rules like being late to or missing practice, and for improper conduct in public. This year, he declared that players have to watch three hours of game film each week (a mutually agreed-upon number), failing which they will not be allowed to play that weekend’s game.

“It was all well over four to five hours that you’re spending on your cell phone just scrolling on apps,” Sanders said. “And you can’t watch three and we paying you. I got a problem with that.”

After the Northwestern game too, he instructed players to clean up the locker room thoroughly before moving on to his motivational speech. Colorado players will have to face both sides of playing for Deion Sanders.

“Never thought in a million years we would get our b—s kicked like that,” Coach Prime added. “But the way we practice some days, the way we went about our business offensively and defensively as well, it was evident.

“I told you at the beginning of the week, ‘Who you beat?’ Beat teams that was one and four. Y’all clapping and parading around. … Now we got a real sense of reality.”

If not words of affirmation, these sobering comments will definitely force the Buffs to rebound in the next game. Colorado begins conference play next, facing off against the Baylor Bears this Saturday.

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