​FRISCO, TX — Colorado football coach Deion Sanders did things his way at Big 12 Conference football media days on Tuesday, July 7, staying true to his reputation for doing things differently. He skipped the interview sessions that the rest of the Big 12 coaches attended, chose not to follow the traditional script, and even misnamed his new offensive coordinator Brennan Marion on several occasions, referring to him as “Brendan” more than once. He also offered an unusually candid admission about the past season, acknowledging a personal misstep at quarterback after his quarterback son, Shedeur Sanders, left for the NFL.
“I made a big mistake, man,” Sanders told ESPN at the event. “You gotta understand it. I’ve coached my son my whole entire life. So everything was like, compared to that. It’s hard to get.” He did not spell out exactly what he meant, and he did not place blame on others by name, instead pointing the finger at himself. Nevertheless, Sanders has given other hints since earlier in the year, including telling a Colorado class in April that he learned the hard way just “how valuable that position really is.”
“That’s why they make the most money in the NFL and college NILs as well,” Sanders said then. “But I never had that thought process until a season ago.” In the aftermath of last season, Colorado finished 3-9 while juggling three different quarterbacks: Kaidon Salter, a Liberty transfer who started nine games; highly touted freshman Julian “JuJu” Lewis; and former backup Ryan Staub. Of that trio, only Lewis remains, and he now appears poised to be the leader after starting two games as an 18-year-old last season. The Buffaloes are counting on him and others to deliver what was missing a year ago.
“The thing with last year was we just didn’t have the players that wanted to lead and were willing,” safety Ben Finneseth said, signaling a leadership void the team believes it has begun to fill. Finneseth, who was part of the group that spoke out about the problem, said he is confident this year’s team will have a different dynamic. “The guys that stayed from this past season, it pissed us off the fact there was no leadership,” he explained. “And we were like, this is not gonna happen again.”
Earlier in February, Colorado players staged a “draft” to split into two intra-squad teams for practices and workouts, a move intended to foster competition and leadership. The first player selected was not Lewis, the expected starting quarterback, but true freshman Kaneal Sweetwyne, who has yet to play a college snap. The move was seen by some as a motivational tactic aimed at pushing Lewis to step up as a leader. Finneseth at the time suggested the slight could “piss him off.” When asked about it on Tuesday by USA TODAY Sports, Lewis chose not to dwell on the incident, saying only, “Next question,” and adding that “that’s just what they did.” He did not elaborate further, leaving room for interpretation about the team’s evolving leadership dynamic and whether the new approach will help turn around a program that has faced significant hurdles.