Source: RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images / Getty
Sports reporter Taylor Rooks traveled to Boulder, Colorado to talk to Deion Sanders the same way everyone else has gravitated to the current epicenter of the sports world. But she didn’t get the same interview as everyone else did.
Rooks managed to elicit some unique gems from their conversation which took place at the Buffs’ athletic facility. A relaxed Sanders sat down with her and dropped some wisdom that you haven’t heard before.
The 55-year-old coach of the Colorado Buffaloes has already won two more games than the team did last year while putting the school on the relevancy map. His accomplishments have already earned the team and the city millions in the first three games of the season.
Rooks, 31, hosts Thursday Night Football and segments for Bleacher Report and TNT, gaining accolades for her professionalism along the way.
She got Deion to open up about some things he’d not shared before including fatherhood, family, faith and the difference between ‘Deion Sanders’ and ‘Coach Prime.’
“Deion is kind of reclusive,” he said. “Calm. Very introverted. Country boy with a city swag. Loves to fish, loves anonymity, if you can believe it. I don’t like crowds. I know how to show out in crowds. I don’t function well in crowds. But you won’t catch me in a crowd unless its a game.”
He said Prime was a way for him to profit and to accomplish things that he couldn’t as Deion.
“Prime is that alter ego we all have that I’ve had the opportunity to enact and really put some legs on and make him work,” he said. “I created this character in my dorm room at Florida State and I fed him and fed him and perfected him. Right now, I’m probably a blend of both.”
He says that allowed him to earn more money than any defensive back had before, to fulfill his promise to his mother that he’d made at seven-years-old that he would lift her and the family out of poverty.
But he also says he’s clear that Prime is a persona.
“You can’t get caught up in trick-or-treat 365 days a year,” he said. “You can’t do that. But sooner or later you’ve got to take your costume and mask off and be who you are.”
He talked about being undefeated so far this season and whether he thought he could sustain success as the Buffs’ coach.
Sanders also talked about how he has always approached the competition as both a player and coach, saying that he’s never been known for disrespecting a teammate or an opponent.
Rooks asked Sanders what he told Jimmy Horn, Jr. on the sideline during the Colorado State University game, providing some insight on his coaching philosophy.
But it was what Sanders said about his greatest accomplishment that was telling. He has five children from two marriages- Deiondra, 31, Deion, Jr., 29, Shilo, 23, Sheduer, 21, and Shelomi, 19. Shilo and Shedeur, as most of the world now knows, play and are coached by their father at Colorado. Shelomi plays basketball for the school and Deion, Jr., documents his father and the team on his Well Off Media You Tube channel.
When asked about how he would describe himself as a father, Deion told Rooks, “I’m not a perfect father. But I am a present father.”
When Rooks asked if he was living in his purpose, here’s how Deion answered.
“Oh, I’m dougie-ing in my purpose,” he said. “I’m nae-nae-ing, dougie-ing, prepping, moonwalking I’m cabbage patching, whatever dances they have now. I’m doing all that. In the midst of a crowd, in the midst of noise, I can hear God’s voice. I can hear his whisper. So I know his voice. But not only that, I’m a father simultaneously. How can I get upset with anything that’s transpiring when I’m not only coaching, but I’m fathering? And not just mine, but I’m fathering a multitude of other kids that I adore. This ain’t work to me. This is a calling to me.”
Watch the entire interview below:
