Deion Sanders unhappy with players walking away from practice skirmish: ‘If one fight, we all fight’
Colorado is preparing for its opener against TCU
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Deion Sanders is preparing for his first season as head coach of the Colorado football team, and "Coach Prime" is still putting his stamp on the program.
Sanders has completely flipped the roster at Colorado after a 1-11 season, returning just 10 scholarship players from 2022 with 68 new scholarship players on the roster, according to The Athletic.
University of Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders before the Black and Gold game at Folsom Field April 22, 2023. (Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
As Colorado prepares for its season opener against TCU, fall practice is underway in Boulder.
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On Tuesday, tempers flared at practice, and Sanders was unhappy with how a few of his players reacted.
"He just fought. I seen two of y’all walking off over there, and you got a teammate fighting. Where they do that at? Where they do that at?" Sanders said to a group of offensive players via Deion Sanders Jr.’s YouTube channel.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"If one fight, we all fight. You understand that? I don’t want to see y’all walking off when somebody’s fighting. Never again."
Sanders is looking to turn around a program that has managed double-digit wins just once over the last 21 seasons.
He’s attempting to do so by drastically changing the roster he inherited, garnering some criticism along the way.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Colorado Buffaloes head football coach Deion Sanders answers questions at the 70th annual Colorado University Fall Sports Media Day in Boulder August 11, 2023. (Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
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On Friday, Sanders said it was difficult to implement his program when he first took over in December as some players didn’t love the game.
"It was tremendously tough, because you had some young men that just didn’t want to play the game. They didn’t love football. It’s hard for me to be effective if you don’t love it, if you don’t like it, if you don’t want to live it. That’s tough," Sanders said.
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Colorado head coach Deion Sanders responds to questions during a news conference after the team's NCAA college football practice at the university Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
"That's tremendously tough when you’re looking at a body of just dead eyes. That’s tough on any coach, not just me. I’m pretty sure a multitude of coaches have experienced that until they could clean house and get the roster they want. It was tremendously challenging day by day. I’m happy with what I see every morning now. I really am."
Colorado will be on national television the first three weeks of the season when they play TCU on the road before welcoming Nebraska and Colorado State to Boulder, Colorado.