Deion Sanders sent clear message on Shedeur, Travis Hunter’s continued role in Colorado, Jackson State legacy

Deion Sanders sent clear message on Shedeur, Travis Hunter’s continued role in Colorado, Jackson State legacy originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Deion Sanders coached one strange half-season during the 2020 FCS season that was played in the spring of 2021 before Shedeur Sanders arrived later that fall. “Prime Time” fully arrived in Jackson, Mississippi, the following year when the nation’s No. 1 recruit chose the HBCU JSU Tigers over the SEC, Big Ten, and everyone else. Shedeur flipped from the Florida State Seminoles, Deion’s former school.

One year in the Magnolia State, followed by two with the Colorado Buffaloes, helped put Coach Prime on the map. But even with Shedeur, a second-string quarterback on the Cleveland Browns, and Travis Hunter playing a legitimate two-way role with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the three are still tied.

Their connection will forever define “Prime Time,” at least according to Andscape’s William C. Rhoden.

“I tend to evaluate them as a unit. Coach Prime, Shedeur Sanders and Hunter were the magic triangle of college football. They put a spotlight on historically Black colleges at Jackson State. They then moved to Colorado, where they shook up the landscape of college athletics by highlighting the new athlete economy in the era of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL),” Rhoden wrote.

“They were a rejuvenating force. They rejuvenated Jackson State, then rejuvenated Colorado’s moribund program as well. Hunter is part of a renewal in Jacksonville, where the Jaguars are off to a 4-2 start.

“Shedeur Sanders and Hunter are no longer part of the Colorado program, but their trajectory remains part of the Coach Prime legacy.”

That’s a bittersweet statement. Thus far, Hunter looks like a legitimate difference-maker, but Shedeur may struggle to be relevant in the NFL given the early returns. Even if Shedeur sees the field in Cleveland, he may struggle in the Browns' offense just as Dillon Gabriel and Joe Flacco did.

Coach Prime was always going to be tied to Shedeur, though. By and large, what Rhoden said has been expected for years.

We’re just here now, with Deion alone in Boulder, without his sons playing for him, and players from his first couple of recruiting classes at Jackson State and Colorado maturing to pro status.