Deion Sanders addresses the media after Colorado's loss to No. 8 USC
I just addressed the team and told them that I love each and every one of them and coaches included because they were resilient. They did not give up when they had a multiple, multiple opportunities to give up. They fought to the end. We sustained injuries. Next man up came in and did their thing. Marion played his butt off the thing. He had a buck 96. Uh, who else, who else, who else, who else several guys played? Kamani came in and contributed tremendously. Um, did a great job going in, still had some, uh, special teams weren’t
special as normal. We gotta fix this. We say this every week, but we truly got to fix this one way or another running game showed its face and you see how, uh, better Dolphins flowed with the running game. We still getting out to tardy starts. We gotta come out ready to play it. I don’t know, I gotta fix that myself personally. We can’t come out and make a surge and right before half time, then we start saying, ok, we’re in the game. They played wonderfully. The quarterback was, uh, resilient. Um, they ran about it they
had hit us with some big play screens and some backside things. But, you know, coaches always say we didn’t do this or we didn’t do that.
Boulder today. I really am. Let’s go. Hi, how you doing? Good. So Dion, the throw that she made to Omar in the end zone on fourth and five, we just asked him about it and it’s just like another play not really impressed with himself. I want to ask you two things. One, when you saw that play, that’s a play that is beyond an NFL play. There was no space. He found some place to get it in. Where does that part of him come from? And do you remember any moments when you were raising him that
he started to show that kind of, uh acumen on the field? Well, his nickname in my phone and you, most of, you know, this follows us is grown, he’s very mature, grown, grown, grown, he’s, he’s very mature for his age. He’s very, uh confident, he’s, he don’t flinch. He, he does never, he never gets flustered. Uh, he’s the most side quarterback in college football. And you can tell with the way he carry himself, um, he, he’s just a kid that we all knew and, and a multitude of our fans know and, and some of you,
wonderful and brilliant writers know that if we would have got that ball last, we were gonna go down and score, we knew that we know that everybody in here knows that his teammates knew that. And that’s just what he brings to the table. He’s unflappable and uh he’s very wise and, and understanding on the wise and uh because in, in what he sees out there on the field, he, he, he thinks uh a multitude of things through, but he’s a, he’s a dynamic athlete and uh a dynamic young man. I’m proud to be his father
and his coach. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. It, it not early on. No, not whatsoever. Um You gotta understand it. You can only hold people accountable when you’re doing your job. You can’t go right here holding everybody accountable when you’re not doing your job. So the more that these young men do their jobs and do it, like we, the expectation that we have of them, then they can hold others accountable, but they’re tremendous reluctant. It’s only a few guys on this team that consistently, you know what you gonna get week in and week out as well
as practice. So once that continues, uh, I didn’t think he was gonna get there from Maria. I ain’t seen that yet. No, I mean, he, he hadn’t practiced well, that’s why he hadn’t played, but he was forced into action and he, he showed up and showed out and, uh, we celebrated the mouth of the game because of how he stepped up. And now I, I’m pretty certain that his confidence is going to soar through the roof. So now we could uh really call set place for him and really depend on him a lot more because
what he could take the, the pressure off Xavier and Jimmy that in the running game as well. That’s tremendous, but I’m proud of him. Yes, sir. Jackson State where we get Jackson State from and all that is going on, all this going on when we get that. True, true. How do you all get that at the beginning of the, that’s, that’s game planning, that’s scripting, that’s, that’s going out there, understanding what’s at hand. And we don’t, we don’t need to get warmed up to, to do this. We gotta come out smoking and ready to go.
Like when we come out of the locker room, we’re ready uh in between the, the kick off in the first series or the second series. That, that’s when we have a little like a type of effort, but that’s gonna have to come from the coaching staff as well as well as the O CS and the D CS to make sure they put us in the right situation so that we’re ready to go and understand the personnel that you’re, that you have out there on the field and making sure we could call certain things that, that
they can, uh, fulfill, so to speak. Great question. Yes, sir. A, a nine news. Good. Um, so you talked about how you were really proud of this resilient team. I don’t know whether or not you believe in moral victories. Your son says your son doesn’t either. Yeah, he said he doesn’t either. Um But is this at least the second half team? Is that the team that you imagined you would have when you stepped foot on this field? No, no. The team I imagined I would have would play four solid quarters and be really physical and
really tough and definitive and just make our mark and leave uh impression on not only the opposing team but the, the coaching staff as well as our fan base. That’s what we wanna do. We, we, we’re, we yet to have an identity. I challenge them all week on what’s our identity? I don’t, I don’t know who we are from week to week. I don’t know what we’re gonna do, you know, from practice to practice. I do, but we got to translate that into the games. So we’re still searching for our true identity is that. We,
we, yeah, we gave up points. We’re still giving up points. We, we, we gotta stop giving up those type of points and spotting teams. You know, you don’t want to do that. We’re too vulnerable. But, and, and saying that is no excuses whatsoever but three short, three starters short in the secondary with tremendous, uh uh uh back up, uh Right came and did a phenomenal job as well when Savion went out and we were praying for the big fella because he was in tears and he wanted to fight and uh keep it going. But I’m
like, hey, man, we need you for the long haul and uh we’re praying for Savion as well. Coach Joe Rico, my sports really have the final word I thought with the transfer report is all I heard in the off season, but it was nice to see the freshman class come through with some really big plays throughout the game. Not only the receiver, but, you know, I’ve been up here for practice waiting for him and it was really nice to see him show out. Uh Can you talk a little bit about that because that’s gotta be
a feather in your cap, you know, he, him taking the field and playing so well. No, I don’t, you know, feather for him to take the field and play. He’s supposed to take the field and play. We want him to be that dude. So, no, we don’t give feathers whatsoever. We, we have an expectation of what they should be doing and accomplishing so, but those two young men today, what they did, they stepped out and uh kind of separated themselves from their, yesterday, yesterday was, was terrible. And, but today they came out and established themselves.
We just want them to build on it because now we will establish this expectation of the expectation that we already had for them. I’m proud of them and with their success as well, you see young guys, I just saw, saw a couple of recruits in, they can’t wait to, to get here and the spring and, and get going. I mean, so that entices them to make sure they get their school work so they can graduate early so they could get here and get going. So that’s the win as well. Yes, sir, Brian, how the Daily
Camera, um, obviously when you took it last week’s game and then the first half of this week, like things were starting to fall off the rails a little bit, but the way you guys finished, I know it’s a loss is that important for you guys and this team to finish the way you did, it’s always important to finish strong. I’m sorry for cutting you off. I’m just, I’m ready to go, um, not home but ready to go with it. It’s, it’s, it’s always important to finish strong in whatever you endeavor to do. Um, you, why
would you start if you don’t want to finish? Right. And I’ve always prided myself on finishing strong, not only as a player but as a coach as well. Um, in building our team in that aspect, we’re well conditioned. We’re in shape. We, it’s not like we tired down the stretch because usually when people tire, they, they start losing the, the thought process up and they start blowing coverages, uh, missing assignments off sides. And I think we did a good job in, uh, penalties. That’s one thing we harp on penalties, time possession. We want time possession
today. But, uh, they give me that stat on penalties. Where were we penalized? Exactly. Yeah. So, seven for 60 what were they? 5, 37? That can’t be true. Yeah, I think you only have five penalties. Well, they had a couple of double penalties one time. We should have took both of them. That would have helped them. Yeah, that and pass on the sideline was really fish is like, is anything, uh, could help you with? Yeah, that on the sideline, you help me with that. That was a big call. That was a big call. But they,
they did a great job. Hey, coach, 24 7 sports, a lot of Hankerson today. Why was he standing out? He ran the ball hard, he ran good. He’s been consistent. Um, every game we try to let everyone touch it to see, you know how are they going? I think we had, uh, maybe four or five tailbacks that had the opportunity to touch the ball today. That’s, that’s a good thing because all of them want to play because all of them deserve to play because they’re really, really good. But Heeren stood out, he hit it and,
you know, he had a couple, one on ones in the secondary. I wish he would have shook him and got out of there. But you want to just push poles right there and just throw Dylan in there and then, you know, see a deal can wiggle out of it. But, uh Hank is uh resilient man. He’s, he’s been doing a good job. All these guys can’t try to come in and force him out and he wouldn’t relinquish his position. So I’m proud of him as well as a man. Yes, sir. Coach you talked about, um
how everyone believed that if got the ball there late and the offense got the ball late, you guys were going to go down and score. I don’t know if everyone would have believed that would have been the case in the second quarter. So what does the finish like you guys had do for this team’s belief moving forward, tremendous belief wise, but we gotta believe no matter what, you know, it can’t be just because it’s a, a quarter of the second half. Um We do believe in two like we do. I don’t give a damn what
down it is or what quarter it is, what time of day it is. We do truly believe in what he’s capable of doing with this offense. We just got to make sure we keep him in the right situations and protect him because shoot he’s a, he’s a, he, he, he’s a baller. He’s a now player, he’s a today player that, uh, young men wanna play with receivers or calling from all around the country want to play with him as well. So, you know, they’re encouraging him not to look down the street too far. Um Like
we all are encouraging him because we understand what’s coming. If you can’t see what’s coming with cu football, you’ve lost your mind. You just a flat out hater. If you can’t see what’s going on and what’s going to transpire over the next several months, something’s wrong with you. Yes. Yes. Well, we, we challenged them tremendously at half time to, you know, everybody say they won’t, they want the light until they get into the light. Now, when you get in the light, the thing about the light, it, it, it echoes your blemishes. So we challenged them
to come out here and uh and like I ain’t got time to be trying to fire you up and give you the most dynamic speech that I could craft, you know, intellectually and, and use some true words that I have to look up in my vocabulary and the, the, the, the source, the source, how to say that word, Pastor, the source. Yes. Um I ain’t got time for that today. I just wanted to come out there. I want them to lift me up, you know, motivate me, encourage me, not that I needed it, but I,
I wanted to, to flip the script on them because I knew what they had in all they had to do is believe. And regardless of the color of the uniforms on the opposing team, they just have to believe. And that’s something that they’re doing week in and week out. It’s growing, we touched on recruit. We came from Michigan. Yeah, I guess you guys are raising dogs. Yeah. You raising dogs? It ain’t hard to find raising cats. I am. Yeah. Hi. How you doing? Good. How are you Nick Edwards? To sports report? What did you think
of mcclean’s performance today? I don’t, uh, from the naked eye. I think he, he played well. Um, I’m gonna have to watch the film to make sure, you know, it is what it is. So, i, it’s hard, it’s, it’s hard to say. Now, then you go in and watch the film and you don’t know. And so I wanna really reserve uh that to watch in the film, but I’m proud of him for just even stepping up to the challenge to get his butt in there and make a difference. I’m proud of him. I really am.
Do you think he’s been applying what you’ve been saying to him? You’d be a fool not to, because you’re not gonna play. If you don’t, you’re gonna sit right over there probably where you sitting at and watch. But, uh, I’m, I’m, I’m proud of the kid. I’m not gonna change. So somebody’s gonna have to. Yes, sir. Hi, Coach Prime Valerie from the Los Angeles sent outside of the state of Colorado. You have thousands of people who have embraced your mission here. The team here is the team aware of that. And what are your thoughts about
all of the love you’re receiving outside? I don’t know, all love. I don’t think it’s all love. You haven’t checked the responses for the coaches that we participate against, but we’re excited truly with the attention that’s warranted to this wonderful, beautiful university. I’m excited and elated, um, to be the coach here, I’m excited to really, um, talk about the wonderful attributes that we possess. Um, the young men. They don’t, they don’t see it because they’re in it. You know, often times we could step a foot out of it and we see it from a another
view point and uh an advantage point, but they don’t see it and they’re so young. I didn’t see it either when I was in college or early in my pro career, but I am happy and thankful that we are a voice of hope of just desire and want. I think that’s the thing that’s touching souls around the country that, you know, that down and out person, that person, that no one believes in that person and no one desires that person that stepped over and step by, step through and step past that, that we represent that
person because no one wants to see what we’re doing. Uh They don’t want to see us accomplish what we’re doing. And I said, and I will reiterate this. You got to be crazy if you can’t see the direction that we’re headed. And I’m so happy and thankful to be the head coach of this wonderful university. Thank you coach High. Uh Dennis Dodd from CBS sports. We all know how good Caleb Williams is. If he doesn’t play that way at that level today, do they win? I don’t know. Uh he, he, the kid always plays that
way, you know, I, I haven’t seen him play badly. Um I mean, I think, you know, he had some throws that, that I’m sure he would have wanted it back. But that kid is a, a flat out bowler man. He, he is a difference maker. He makes them better. Um The thought process even just directing traffic and putting them in the right play calls in the right situation. He does a wonderful job of checking off and, and just changing things and getting the ball out of his hands. Uh It was, it was a pleasure for
me to, to play against him in their head coach. I mean, that was fun. That was fun for me. That really was probably, didn’t look like it from probably the shots that they probably showed. I don’t know what they show, but that was fun. That was fun. We good. Excuse me. That’s wrong. Excuse me. The I thought you said that, uh, that we see this in like that you seem to think, you know, feel like it’s normal. Is there anything he does that make you, you know, I, you or kind of wow, you. No, I’m,
I’m his dad. Like I, I have an expectation for him and I’ve been seeing this and he’s been built and reared for this his whole life. I mean, you didn’t believe, I believe, you know, everybody uh from the previous locations that we played. I mean, the kid is always one, he’s always been dominant. He’s always been smart and intelligent and concise. He’s always been a competitor. He’s always lifted the level of uh competition and he, he’s always given us a chance to succeed in every level so I could go on and on. But I don’t
wanna sound like the dad, but I’m just really to speaking to you as the coach, I, I tried my best not to speak to you as a father, but the kid can flat out play. I know a lot of people doubted him and said I just thrusted him into the starting position of what they call it, nepotism or whatever. Uh, all of us to just look in the mirror and slap whatever you see. I’m in on that. You got there late, huh?
