Certainly, the final game with his sons didn’t turn out how Colorado head football Deion Sanders envisioned.
A 36-14 loss to BYU in the Valero Alamo Bowl on Saturday put a disappointing cap on the many years he has coached Shedeur and Shilo, from the youth leagues to now.
The Alamo Bowl won’t take away from the journey, though.
Before every game, Coach Prime has walked the sidelines with Shedeur, the Buffaloes’ star quarterback – one way as coach and one way as a dad. In recent games, Shilo, a starting safety, has joined them in that walk.
The reality of the Alamo Bowl being the last game together hit Coach Prime during that walk.
“It’s been a tremendous, tumultuous journey, and we’re making it,” an emotional Coach Prime said to ABC just after that walk and before kickoff on Saturday night. “I’m sorry, this is tough. This is tough. … I’ve got to get it together. I’ve got to coach.”
Colorado safety Shilo Sanders (21) reaches for a pass intended for BYU wide receiver Parker Kingston, left, during the first half of the Alamo Bowl NCAA college football game, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The next few hours didn’t go as well as hoped, as the favored Buffs got off to a bad start and never recovered. Shedeur, the Big 12 offensive player of the year, struggled, but still battled to the end, throwing for 208 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Projected as the potential No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, no one would have blamed Shedeur for not even playing in the game. But, he said he never considered coming out.
“We started so we had to finish it,” he said. “That was simply it. No matter what it was if it was the other way around and we were up, we were still gonna play regardless.”
Shilo, meanwhile, led the team with eight tackles on Saturday. He also had a pass breakup, intercepted a pass to deny a two-point conversion and had another interception that was waved off because of a defensive penalty.
Overall, it wasn’t the most memorable game for the Sanders family, but it was, without question, a remarkable journey for them all.
Shortly after he was hired by CU in December of 2022, Coach Prime talked to BuffZone about his coaching journey.
He wasn’t able to coach his oldest son, Deion Jr., because he was still in the midst of own playing career. He was done playing by the time Shedeur and Shilo – who is two years older than Shedeur – began playing, though.
Initially, he was content to sit back and watch their practices. He couldn’t help himself, though, when he didn’t like how they were coached.
“It was being taught so recklessly,” Coach Prime said to BuffZone two years ago. “I like perfection, man, so I got up and helped. Got up again and helped. Next thing I know I’m helping coaching. I said, ‘If I’m gonna do it, I’m doing it my way.’”
Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) scrambles against BYU during the first half of the Alamo Bowl NCAA college football game, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
That led to the start of the Truth Sports Organization and the Prime Prep Academy and he’s been on the sidelines with Shedeur and Shilo ever since.
“We’ve been doing this for a long time,” Coach Prime said after Saturday’s game. “You recollect just the times in youth league and seeing them lay out uniforms in my closet, get ready for the next game. And they used to have 100 wristbands on their wrists, trying to stunt. It was all those things I recalled.”
Shedeur smiled when his father brought up the wristbands, but also added, “I mean, the reality and all that hasn’t kicked in yet.”
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The reality certainly had set in for dad, though. Coach Prime’s coaching journey began because of his sons. Along the way, he worked with others, such as CU safeties Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig and Herman Smith III. Several of CU’s coaches have been with Coach Prime since the Truth days.
On one hand, Coach Prime is looking forward to the next chapter for his sons.
“They on to the next,” he said. “They’re going to have tremendous careers.”
Still, after a journey that took the Sanders family from youth sports in Dallas to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, it was tough to hold back emotions when it came to an end.
“That’s tough to know that that’s it,” Coach Prime said, “and that walk won’t happen again.”
Notable
Prime Video announced Monday that season 3 of the Coach Prime documentary will premiere on Jan. 7. The full season of episodes will be released that day.
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