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Deion Sanders' hardest lessons as a coach will come this season

Life as Deion Sanders cannot be easy. On one hand, he’s one of the greatest athletes ever. On the other hand, he’s also one of the most outwardly confident and brash men we’ve seen.

Sanders went from a two-sport legend to now a head coach of a major college football program at the University of Colorado. From Prime Time to Coach Prime. The first two seasons for Prime were successful if you look outside the record.

However, the success had a huge amount to do with having genuine NFL caliber talent at his disposal, highlighted by Heisman Trophy Winner and top 3 pick Travis Hunter. He lost that, along with his son Shedeur Sanders, and four wide receivers to the NFL within two years. That’s something that is hard to replace when you aren’t Nick Saban in a pre-NIL college football world.

This season has been a bit more difficult for Coach Prime. His Buffaloes currently sit at 2-2 overall, putting them 3rd from the bottom in the Big 12 conference. This season might result in more mediocrity for the Buffaloes, as they seem to be in a bit of a confusing state. The offense is still trying to figure out its identity in a post Shedeur/Travis Hunter world. Gone are the days where Sanders can just chuck up a ball with Travis or Jimmy Horn Jr. on the receiving end. This confusion has been evident in CU’s in-season carousel of QBs where even third-stringer Ryan Staub earned a start.

Kaidon Salter went into the season with it being his job to lose, and his play was underwhelming. Five-star freshman Julian “JuJu” Lewis had his shot, and well he looked like a then 17-year-old who reclassified and should be back in high school. Staub, one of the few holdovers from the pre-Deion CU days, earned his shot but then gave it right back. We’re now back to square one with Salter under center.

This kind of confusion and variables could actually be good for Coach Prime. However, so much of the Coach Prime experience is the stuff that happens outside the football. The celebs, the coverage… It’s all way more coverage than a team that’s 2-2 in College Football should have. It’s good for Coach Prime because he has to really take a step back and assess the team, without having to lean on the amazing talent he was used to.

Through mistakes we learn. When we learn we improve, and this is what we could hope to expect from Coach Prime. There have been moments of improvement for Coach and his staff. The infamous clock management in the first game of the year against Georgia Tech is a great example. But there have also been bright spots. We’ve seen a star turn from wide receiver Sincere Brown, who had a great game against Wyoming this past Saturday. We’ve seen linebacker Martavius French turn into one of the most reliable defenders on the team. None of this means that Colorado is in the process of becoming a world-beating team. However, the bright spots on the team could warrant good fortune in the future.

The expectations for Sanders will always be more ridiculous than what reality should dictate. He will always be expected to do way more than what he has at his disposal. This current team has the foundation of what could be solid in the future. And in a college game, that is going farther and farther away from the traditional “Boots on the ground” recruiting, and more towards the “Wild Wild West” of the current NIL era. That will continue to work in Coach Prime’s favor. Just like the great Jedi Master Yoda once said: “Failure, the greatest teacher is”.