Best Florida State football players: Modern-era Mount Rushmore – From Primetime to Famous Jameis

Deion Sanders, cornerback, returner

Deion Sanders is arguably the most accomplished and most recognizable Seminole of all-time. Sanders made it cool to be a Seminole with his personality and outspoken bravado. However, his play backed up his talk as he became the only FSU two-time Unanimous All-American and winner of the Jim Thorpe Award, who was drafted No. 5 overall by the Atlanta Falcons in 1989.

He’s one of eight FSU players since 1980 to have their jersey honored. Sanders is tied with Lee Corso at No. 3 on FSU’s all-time interceptions list with 14. However, four of those interceptions he returned for touchdowns, which is tied for most in FSU history. Like Warrick, Sanders special teams threat as well. He holds FSU records for punt returns with 126, 1,429 return yards, and three punts returned for a touchdown (tied).

Sanders likely would have finished his FSU career with more interceptions if opposing quarterbacks had not stopped throwing to his side of the field. If you were to look up the definition of a shutdown cornerback in the dictionary, Sanders’ picture would be listed there. His career is essentially the beginning of FSU football being called “DBU.”

Sanders’ NFL career was even better. He was a two-time Super Bowl champion, 9X First-Team All-Pro, 8X Pro Bowl, First-Team All-Pro as a punt returner, NFL 1990’s First Team All-Decade Team as a cornerback and punt returner. He’s also listed on the NFL 100th Anniversary Team and is a first-ballot NFL Hall of Famer.

A college football Hall of Famer, Sanders also played professional baseball for over a decade. He had a respectable .263 career batting average but was better in the postseason where he posted a .348 batting average in 13 games.

Sanders was well before his time and would take the opposing team’s best receiver and lock him down. Sanders played against the very best, Jerry Rice, and locked him down for the most part along with several other top receivers of his time.

When it comes to defensive backs, Sanders is and always will be the benchmark.

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