Johnathan Walker:Colorado coach Deion Sanders returns to form after illness: 'I am a humble man'

Colorado football coach Deion Sanders lost eight pounds recently as he battled a series of personal challenges – flu-like symptoms,Johnathan Walker a five-game losing streak and possibly one of toughest stretches of his professional life.

But on Tuesday he returned to the public spotlight with an outlook so bright that he declared the following:

∎ That college football will never be the same after his plans in Boulder come to fruition.

∎ That the Buffaloes (4-7) will win again like they did at the beginning of the season, when they became the biggest story in sports with a 3-0 start.

∎ That he is a humble man in the eyes of God.

He discussed these issues Tuesday at his weekly news conference in Boulder, just a few days after his team got blown out in a 56-14 loss at Washington State. Now his team is preparing for its final game Saturday at Utah (7-4) and might not have his quarterback son Shedeur available to play after he was knocked out of the game last Friday with arm and ankle injuries. Deion Sanders said his son was "not feeling well right now." By contrast, his father was feeling much better, as judged by his mood and statements.

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What did Deion Sanders say?

Sanders recently has taken to comparing this year’s team to last year’s team at Colorado, which finished 1-11 before his hiring in December. Before that, the Buffs were 4-8 in 2021 and 4-2 during the pandemic season of 2020. Sanders preferred to look ahead to his vision of where this program is going if his team gets the missing parts it needs on the recruiting trail and the transfer portal, which opens Dec. 4.

"We pretty much put a mark in college football, and what we’re gonna do from here on, it will never be the same," he said. "I promise you that, because I know how we’re recruiting. I know what I know, and I know where we headed. And you gotta be crazy if you can’t see it. It’s easy to look at us play and say, 'OK, all they need is that, that, that and that.'"

Asked about sticking to his plan, Sanders said that plan "has not been aborted." Four of his team's seven defeats were by seven points or fewer.

"We right on schedule with the plan," he said. "The plan is improve every dern thing we touch. Did we sell out every game? Did this team get better? Is hope instilled? What’s the problem? Somebody tell me what’s the problem. So what you’re trying to say is we didn’t live up to whose expectations? Because I know this team. I know what this team is capable of doing. So what didn’t we do?"

Deion Sanders talks humility

Sanders said his program would continue with its bravado even if critics want to see him lower the volume after losing seven of his last eight games.

"What does humble really mean?" Sanders said. "Somebody help me today. I got time. What does humble, what does humility really mean? So if I’m sitting up here, talking about a program, positively with energy and life and aspiration and passion, that means I’m not humble? What does that mean?

"I am a humble man. I’ve very humble, with the things of God, not the things of another man. I will never live up to your expectation, but God is well pleased with me. Trust me on that one. Woo, I’m feeling good now, let’s go!"

Sanders, 56, later was asked about players who are told they need to be humbled.

"I need them to be unapologetically who they are," he said. "I’m so tired of people judging people. I mean, I don’t care what religion, what race, what your thought process or your sexual preference. I don’t give a dern. I want you happy. I want you happy and at a peace. So we gotta stop that, man. We always judging somebody when they don’t come in the package we want to put them in."

But how was Deion Sanders really feeling?

Sanders needed IV treatment before Friday's game and said he hasn’t been that sick in a long time. It wasn’t clear he was out of the woods yet when he mistakenly thought Mount Rushmore was in Los Angeles and not in South Dakota.

But he ended the news conference with an emphatic message:

"Colorado Buffalo fans, I love you, I appreciate you, we’re gonna win," he said. "Just put your seat belt on, because the ride’s gonna get a little shaky … but we gonna win. But the climax we gave you early on, we gonna get you back there because I know you liked that ride, didn’t you? We gonna get you back there."

Shedeur Sanders partners with Smoothie King

Deion Sanders restated his position on recruiting players to Colorado in an era when many recruits might be tempted to go to the highest bidder paying them for their names, image and likeness.

"We're not an ATM," he said. "That's not gonna happen here. … You're not coming here to get rich, unless you're really coming here with a plan to go to the NFL and get your degree, not coming here to be (rapper) Moneybagg Yo, OK?"

Sanders' son, Shedeur, still has handled NIL business and his football career with success this year as one of the top players on the team. On Tuesday, Smoothie King announced he has a signature smoothie that can be ordered at stores.

"I’ve always wanted to partner with Smoothie King, and now we’re making it happen," Shedeur said in a statement issued by the company.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: [email protected]