Deion Sanders is the change agent football needs

On By Littum

game

There’s something about outriggers, they tilt up as easily as they do down.

They are temporary by nature, a steady support when needed, and easily retracted when fleeing.

“Do you know what a support leg is? It means I rest, Colorado coach Deion Sanders said earlier this week. “We’re not going anywhere. We’re getting comfortable.”

To this I say: who cares where Sanders is coaching football in 2025? At Colorado, a college football blue blood or with the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

We only have to worry about him doing more.

More Deion, more Prime. More of that unique brand and bravado to influence others outside his orbit here and now. This is going to sound absurd, but I don’t think Deion fully understands the power of Prime off the field.

Deion is the ultimate Man in the Arena. And now is the time, in the words of Teddy Roosevelt, to dare a lot.

He’s too far into this coaching thing now. It has transcended far beyond blocking and tackling.

Two years ago, when Deion entertained the idea of ​​leaving what he quickly built at Championship Subdivision school Jackson State for a Bowl Subdivision job, I said Auburn would be foolish not to hire him. He grew up in the South, was a prep legend at North Fort Myers High School in Florida and an All-American at Florida State.

WEEKEND FORECAST: Week 13 college football picks for every Top 25 game

PLAYOFF PREDICTION: Colorado enters the field, Alabama gets a first-round bye

If anyone knew the South and how to recruit the talent-rich footprint, and at least stress Alabama and then-coach Nick Saban, it was Deion. More than that, he could be an agent of change on the biggest stage in college football: the mighty SEC.

This is where this story begins and ends, where Deion’s presence and full promotional power can work wonders.

If Deion were the coach at Auburn, his big, bold personality might have convinced—wait, wanted – SEC presidents must play annual non-conference games against HBCU schools, those million-dollar paydays for guaranteed games that relieve financial strain on some of the 54 football-playing institutions. Maybe even allow them to survive and thrive.

That doesn’t mean he can’t do the same in Colorado and the Big 12, though the level of financial investment is clearly different. That doesn’t mean he can’t do a lot more in the NFL, where 32 of the richest, brightest businessmen and women run the most efficient, money-making sports machine on the planet.

The NFL earns $12.4 billion annually in media rights deals. Read it again: 12.4 billion dollars.

It wouldn’t take much for a change agent to get the ear of an influential owner – I know, for example. not Cowboys king Jerry Jones — and convince him (and by proxy the other 31 owners) of the greater good of direct financial support for football-playing HBCUs.

Two years ago, when Deion arrived in Colorado, he told USA TODAY’s Jarrett Bell that he was an “agent of hope.” He has also proven, at the FBS level, that he has it figured out with the coach.

Jackson State was a mess when Deion arrived, on and off the court. Locker room, practice field, weight room, stadium; all obsolete. All modified (converted or replaced) by the Prime brand and bravado.

At one point, Jackson State had sponsorship deals with Under Armour, Pepsi, American Airlines and Proctor and Gamble – a smorgasbord of American advertising.

Deion won two Southwest Athletic Conference championships at Jackson State before leaving for downtrodden Colorado, and in Year 2 is two wins away from playing for a spot in the College Football Playoff and making fun of those who thought it couldn’t can be done (ahemguilty).

But this is more than Deion the coach. This is Prime, the agent of hope.

It doesn’t matter where Deion coaches in 2025. All that matters is how he impacts the game on and off the field.

If Colorado reaches the CFP, Deion’s presence will be even greater on the sport’s biggest stage, in its first 12-team playoff. It’s an advertising bonanza made in heaven.

Prime, the agent of hope, can’t let that moment go to waste if he returns to Colorado — or turns the prop and leaves for the NFL.

He’s too far into this coaching thing not to dare very much now.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for the USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.