Colorado HC Deion Sanders: Shedeur 'Never Got' Proper Respect Because He's My Son

Some of the best athletes throughout the history of sports have used real and perceived slights to motivate them on the way to greatness, and Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders is no different.

During an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, Colorado head coach and Hall of Famer Deion Sanders discussed how his son has used people dismissing his status as motivation.

"He's always been that kid that was my son," Sanders said. "So he's never got the respect or the credit for his work because [people say], 'oh, that's just Prime's son, he's just giving him a pass. He's just letting him ride. He shouldn't even be the starting quarterback. He ain't this, he ain't that.'

"He's always heard that, so he's just consistently worked his butt off to prove everybody wrong."

The younger Sanders may have been overlooked as a 3-star recruit, per 247Sports' composite rankings, but he has certainly captured the attention of the college football world at this point.

He played for his father at Jackson State and then transferred to Colorado when Deion landed the head coaching job with the Buffaloes. It figured to take the Sanders pairing a bit of time to get things on track since Colorado was coming off a 1-11 campaign and had just two winning seasons since 2005.

So much for that.

The Buffaloes shocked a TCU program that was in the College Football Playoff national championship game last season with a 45-42 victory to start the 2023 campaign. All Sanders did in that one was throw for a school-record 510 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions.

It was far from a one-game fluke, as he threw for 393 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions while adding another score on the ground during a 36-14 win over Nebraska in the second game.

Now Colorado is the center of the college football universe and a potential threat to challenge teams such as USC, Utah and Oregon in the Pac-12.

Sanders isn't just turning heads at the collegiate level.

ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. released an updated big board of draft prospects on Friday, and he listed the Colorado quarterback as the third-best prospect at his position and No. 5 overall player going into the 2024 NFL draft.

If he continues to play well, Sanders could lead Colorado to new heights and then find himself being a top-five pick in the draft.