Now entering his second offseason as the head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes, Deion Sanders went big-game hunting to bring in a big name onto his coaching staff. Blessed with an undergraduate degree, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Sapp is expected to join Sanders' second-ever staff in Boulder. Sanders could not be more excited about it.
Although they never played on the same team, as Sanders never played for the Buccaneers or the Oakland Raiders in his illustrious hall-of-fame career, he and Sapp are Florida natives and were contemporaries to some degree in the NFL. Sanders is a good bit older than Sapp, but both were about as good as it gets when it came to defensive prowess at their respective position groups.
Sanders revealed on The Rich Eisen Show Thursday that Sapp is indeed coming to Boulder in 2024.
“He wants to coach on this staff and he wants to be part of this staff and he is going to be a part of this staff. He has so much to give and I can’t wait to see him on a daily basis.”
It is not just the great work he will do coaching up the linemen that has Sanders so excited about Sapp coming to work for him. He believes he will be relatable to players and one helluva recruiter.
“Even the offensive linemen, they glean from him too because he’s so thought-provoking that he can tell them, ‘Don’t let the defensive linemen get you at that point or this point or this point.’ I mean, he’s that — he’s a wealth of knowledge and he’s hilarious, man."
Here is Sanders discussing with Eisen the Sapp hire and what he will bring to the Colorado program.
Despite playing for college rivals in Florida State and Miami, Sanders and Sapp are putting their alma mater's differences aside to help bring Colorado football back to glory. It is a huge year for the Buffs.
Deion Sanders discusses what adding Warren Sapp to his staff means
After going 4-8 (1-8) in his first season as the head coach in Boulder, Sanders quickly learned one big thing. His Buffaloes needed to get better faster in the trenches. It was always going to be their Achilles' heel. As soon as injuries started to pile up in those key position groups, it did not matter how well Sean Lewis and later Pat Shurmur schemed up the passing attack for his son, Shedeur Sanders.
With the Buffaloes leaving the Pac-12 for the Big 12, this will do wonders for their upward trajectory as a program under Sanders' guidance and leadership. They are going back to a league they used to do very well in. Colorado can now recruit the talent-rich state of Texas much more easily, as four Big 12 schools call Texas home. They can also recruit from talent-rich Florida, as UCF is in their native state.
Factor in the Big 12 not having a traditional power at the top of the conference with Oklahoma and Texas leaving for the SEC next season as well, and there is land to be claimed in this revamped Power Five league. It may take until 2025 for things to really get going at CU, but I would expect for the Buffaloes to be a bowl team in their new league after hanging tough in the brutal Pac-12 last season.
Sanders' excitement about Sapp joining his staff feels genuine. Let's hope that is does work out.