Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes are no strangers to headlines, but they have finally had enough.
According to Awful Announcing, Sanders didn’t hold back when dealing with the media at his press conference on Tuesday. The Buffaloes coach seems to believe that media members are jealous of collegiate athletes now that they’re receiving compensation for their name, image, and likeness.
“When I say I genuinely love these kids, I genuinely really do,” Sanders said. “It’s not about what they can do for me on the football field. It’s about what I can help them with in life. The landscape has changed in football. Once upon a time, you guys never attacked college players. Now they’re making more money than y’all. And some of y’all are envious and jealous about that so you’re on the attack.
“It was hands-off for a college player because they were an amateur. You remember that guys? Now it’s hands-on, go at them. Any kind of way you want. ‘They are making more money than me and I’m mad about it.’
“When you attack ’em, attack ’em, attack ’em, these guys are sensitive. They’ve never been attacked. They haven’t gone through what a grown man… What I’ve been going through with y’all for years. They haven’t done that. So it is what it is.
“I know you’re going to do your job and what you must do. But your job does not say to attack the personal stuff. Leave it to be personal. Because if we start flipping the script on y’all, you wouldn’t like it.”
It’s a nice change of pace to see Sander putting his players’ well-being first rather than some of the other off-the-field issues that have surrounded the program.
It’ll be interesting to see if the players rally around him after this going into the Buffs’ next game against Baylor.
