On Tuesday, Colorado Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders broke down the Buffs' upcoming matchup against the No. 11 Utah Utes in his weekly press conference.
"Coach Prime" announced his starting quarterback and broke down how he handled the tumultuous bye week as his team prepares for a ranked test. Here is everything Sanders said:
What Deion Sanders said:
Opening statement
“[Morgan Scalley] was a dog when he played. He's an unbelievable coordinator. Now he's a tremendous head coach. Utmost respect, utmost respect for him and his beautiful wife and three children. He's replacing a legend, man. That's not easy, and he hadn't missed the beat. Gonna be a daunting task offensively. There, they get after it defensively. They really feed off of it because they're scoring points offensively,” Sanders said.
“So the defense is pinning its ears back. They're going at you. They're blitzing. They're coming from north, south, east, and west, and they're really a darn good football team. Probably the best team we're going to face this season,” Sanders said.
“Students of the week: Isaac Wilson, love that, and Vili [Taufatofua]. It was good to see Vili back out there last game. He played a good game, fought hard. It is who he is. Charlie Williams, Aspen, Colorado. He's one of the first guys I've ever seen from Aspen, Colorado. So that means he's wealthy. Toby [Anene], good job to those guys, students of the week, man,” Sanders said.
“Family weekend, we're excited to see all the families. I love seeing our kids' families. I haven't really seen too many of them since we met on the recruiting trip. So I look forward to seeing those guys. We're also debuting … ‘Slampede’ this week instead of regular Stampede. Basketball teams will have some fun on Pearl Street: dunk contests, three-point competition. Once upon a time, I could have entered that, but I don't have all my soldiers,” Sanders said.
“Soccer continues to be impressive. They're awesome, and volleyball is awesome as well. Tennis has a big week this week. Regionals at BYU for the cross country teams. My God, I don't know if you guys follow this stuff and know the cross country team, but I see the kids in the cafeteria, and I promise you, I think they can run all the way to Denver without a sip of water, like these kids can go get it, and they're dominating right now. Hats off to them,” Sanders said.
“Joseph Williams added to the Belinknikoff Award watch. Santana Hopper balled out against Texas Tech, challenged him to do it again and again and again. He had a little something against that Texas Tech, but we want him to have that same mindset. [Lamont] Lester Jr. ranked seventh in the nation in sacks, and we got to get him back on the field. Leads the Big 12. We lead the Big 12 and rank fourth nationally in tackles for loss with 8.8 per game. But we're not translating that into wins,” Sanders said.
The planned workload of his quarterbacks against the Utah Utes
“Well, we don't want to throw the ball 40-some times. We want to keep the ball between 17 and 24 pass attempts, but it depends on how the game is flowing. But we don't want to get into that because we're not great when we're throwing the ball that much. I don't know too many teams that are. We can run the ball. We've proven that we've got to rely on that,” Sanders said.
“Our linemen, they've taken on that responsibility to work their butts off this week so they could get back to the first- and second-week type of running attack that we featured, as well as the third week,” Sanders said.
The Colorado Buffaloes’ offensive playbook being left in their hotel bar
“So a whole playbook? So somebody left a whole playbook, or a script of several plays? Was it a whole playbook or a script of several plays? I don't think we have a whole playbook. I don't. I don't think we have a whole playbook. I think week to week they get a script. I thought we scored on the first drive. So what's the purpose of the question?” Sanders asked.
“Why would we [worry]? It's over. The game's over. Why would we do that? We probably know a lot more than you think we do. But a whole playbook? Come on, man. At least- the script, I mean- that happens sometimes. That happens sometimes. I've seen that, heard of that on the pro level as well as the collegiate level. But I think we scored on the first drive, so I guess it didn't work,” Sanders said.
“I think if someone had left that, they left it. Mistake. What are we gonna do about it? It's over. Let's go. Like we could have the opposing team's first 10 or 15 plays. We still got to stop it. So, when you get something like that, do you really trust it as a coach? Like, we get some, ‘Oh man, somebody left the playbook. So was that a dummy script, or was that real?’ Like, that's what you're thinking as a coach,” Sanders said.
“Do you really, as an opposing coach, if somebody called us and said, 'Hey, Utah left the play script of the first 20 plays,’ I wouldn’t believe that. Like, ain't no way. And then, you know, got to match it up. They didn't score on the first drive. Don't make sense to me. I don't major on the minors, man. I try to major on the major. Great question, though,” Sanders said.
Naming Isaac Wilson as the starting quarterback against the Utah Utes
“You know darn well who’s starting. Why you ask that kind of stuff? You know who's starting. Come on, stop. Okay, Isaac’s starting. Isaac’s starting. Yeah, you guys know Isaac would start. You knew damn well Isaac was starting. You knew that,” Sanders said.
Special teams personnel changes
“Okay, let's talk about special teams. So, if a kicker misses the field goal, is it the team, or was it that kicker? It wasn't a snapper. He missed a kick. He had to get another shot. Don't indict the whole darn team. [For example,] Mate [Damon Greaves]…we know you could kick the ball 50-some yards every time, but let's just get a little more hang time so we can get down and cover. He did just that, so we haven't had any more returns,” Sanders said.
“Okay, we kick the ball out the darn end zone. We don't have to worry about the kickoff, a kickoff return, right? Okay, so now, fair catch, we get the ball at the 25-yard line. So you don't worry about the kickoff return,” Sanders said.
“[On the field goal block mishap,] I think he missed, didn't he? We call timeout. We call timeout, and what happened is a miscommunication of someone thinking. I'm saying, ‘Let's go block it and let's go block it.’ Okay? Because that could be the punt block or that could be the field goal block. I'll take that, okay? But two guys went and sat down on the bench and didn't hear the team that was called. It didn't hurt anything. I don't believe it hurt anything. It's just something to talk about,” Sanders said.
“[Punt return mishaps,] that’s one guy. So we fixed it. Just one guy. We fixed it. Just take him out. We take him out. We fixed it, so we don't have to worry about that anymore, right? Who's next? We got several guys that could do the job. You know, I just leaned on Boo [Carter] because Boo has that kind of ability, but 20 [DeKalon Taylor] can really do it. He's really good,” Sanders said.
“But see, in a game, he caught the ball at the five, remember, so that wasn't a whole special team. That was one guy, and we just got to be mindful of these things. Give him another chance. He got his second chance. I'm not tripping about it. I'm not majoring on the minor. It's some things that are major that we need to really focus on. That that's not that. We're gonna get that right. That's just a fix in personnel. It's not schematic,” Sanders said.
How the Colorado Buffaloes spent the bye week
“Well, we had some great practices. We went over a lot of situational football. We went over a lot of special teams as well, like situations transitioning to, okay, this is punt block. This is return. This is the return fielder. That means we leave the defense on, but we leave one guy back to catch the punt. But we don't want them to run a fake, so we show the appearance of the defense still on the field,” Sanders said.
“We did a lot of things that can solve some problems if they occur, especially with personnel and substitutions. Like, Cree [Thomas] has to come out on like a punt return team because if I put 20 back there, that's two No. 20s. Those are things that you guys don't think about that sometimes actually happen, but you got to account for that. You got to say, okay, the kids may have forgotten; you got a six, or you got a six. You can't have two sixes,” Sanders said.
“Okay, so those are the little things that I may call time out because that wasn't translated. Because if this guy goes down, now that next guy goes in, but he can't because that guy now he's going back to catch the punt instead of the other guy. So those are things that you don't consider, but I do,” Sanders said.
Quanell Farrakhan Jr. switching from No. 14 to No. 5
“This is the thought process. [Kaneal] Sweetwyne was like the quarterback-three, you know, consistently the three. So they would have never been in together unless it's a blowout game or something of the sort. But now Quanell has really worked his butt off and worked his way up to getting more reps. So you don't want to take that chance. But we have other jerseys on the sideline,” Sanders said.
“But he cut a deal with one of his teammates [Hykeem Williams] who is not playing, so he's like, ‘I'll just go out there in No. 5, so we don't ever have to worry about that problem. So that's what that was,” Sanders said.
“He’s working his butt off to get back. Wants to come back with all his faith and all his might. Slowly but surely, he's coming. I don't know if he's going to be ready by this week. We pray that he does, but we don't know that at this point. Still early,” Sanders said.
If the ‘Go-Go’ offense changes based on which quarterback is playing
“Most definitely. All those guys are not capable of doing some of the things. Like Sweetwyne could probably do a little bit of both. He could run and he could throw. He's very versatile. Isaac is just tough. His demeanor is, you know, Isaac throws a few picks. He's still going. He's not getting down on himself. He's a fighter. He's tough,” Sanders said.
“JuJu [Julian Lewis]'s a little different. I mean, he's not really a runner, but he could throw the heck out of the football. So it's all different based on who is back there at quarterback. And I think every team has that same type of problem,” Sanders said.
His defense’s mentality against the Utah Utes
“Well, the thing about it, we can't give up the fight. It seems as though late in the game, when it's not winnable, we give it up, and that's why the games look like this. Unless you watch the game, you wouldn't have been able to tell that this was a close game until seven minutes were left on the clock, because you give up an explosion, now they run, now they run again, and get a touchdown,” Sanders said.
“Now the game doesn't look like it was a contest, but really it was. We got to stop that. We got to stop the mindless penalties. Just giving them extra opportunities, especially when we're off the field on the third down, and we give them extra opportunities. We can't do that. So a lot of the discipline type of things, and a lot of the personnel that is making those types of penalties, we've had a good conversation with them as well,” Sanders said.
If he’s seen positives from his defense
“Yeah, but it's hard to in defeat. It's hard to. We do it personally and give the guys as much love as we can. But the main thing is winning. That's the main thing, and that's what we want to do. So it's hard to praise you when we're not winning right now,” Sanders said.
If generating turnovers is the next thing he wants from his defense
“It is. But you got to understand now, when you're up, a lot of those teams that have an exorbitant amount of turnovers, there's a difference in that they're scoring. Now you're able to be a lot more opportunistic. You're able to apply pressure at all times instead of- every play counts, every play matters,” Sanders said.
“So sometimes you might not want to be as aggressive because if you get gashed on that play, now they get down there and hit three, and it just distances the game even more. So we got to play. We got to. We just got to score more, and you're going to see a lot more aggression. I promise you,” Sanders said.
What the priorities were during the bye week
“There's a multitude of priorities over the bye week. Making sure all these guys are consistently motivated. Making sure the coaches are consistently motivating them. Making sure we're all on the same page, no one's veering off and running their own race and going down their own lane. But one thing I can tell you: these guys can tell you that they haven't let up. They still believe. They still are working their butts off,” Sanders said.
“And the way this Joker [Hopper] played, he was challenged by me personally to play like that every darn game, not just the team he was a little upset with, a little sensitive with; he's gonna ball out every game now. I promise you that,” Sanders said.
His relationship with Isaac Wilson
“Isaac is that kind of guy. Like, I could get on the elevator with Isaac, which, this has really happened, what I say as the elevator closed; I said, ‘Isaac,’ then the elevator opened up. He got off on his floor. I said, ‘Isaac, make sure you throw the ball to the guys on our team.’ See, we could joke like that because Isaac is one of those kids that Isaac is Isaac, man. He ain't taking that to heart,” Sanders said.
“He's not gonna cry and have a pity party because that's the balance of our relationship. We could get down like that, and then when he does [something positive] he’s like, ‘Yeah, what? What? What you got to say now?’ Like that, that's how Isaac gets down with me. ‘What do you got to say about that, coach? What you got?’ So that's how he is. So I could go to him like that a little bit, and you know, I challenge a lot of the guys in different ways,” Sanders said.
How he balances his expectations of his players
“I want to win. That's number one. I don't know how that equates in your mind, but I want to win. I want these guys to get better every game. I want to challenge him [Hopper]. I want him to play like he played last week because that was a pro's performance. I want these guys to elevate personally, understand life financially and just understand what the challenges are of life being a man,” Sanders said.
“…You have it click on, and you may come say, ‘Coach, now I got that. You said that two months ago, but now I get it and understand it.’ So, to everybody else, it should be all about football, but to me, it's all about building these men, building these men up. This man [Hopper] is a father, so what blessed me the most out of everything he's done, he’s played tremendous football, consistent football,” Sanders said.
“Last week he played out of his mind, okay, but tremendous football. But guess what has blessed me the most out of everything he's done this year? Took his kid to the fair last week alone, no assistants, no associates, no family members. Took his son to the fair, and they had a great time. Asked him about the rides, but he didn't get on the [carousel]. He didn't get on it with his son,” Sanders said.
“He just sat over there like he was the boss and just let his son go up and down. Then Daddy disappeared for like 30 seconds. Then he came back around. But no, that's what has blessed me. That's what he did instead of sitting here, you know, thinking about it; he got on the plane and took his butt to the crib and spent time with his son. So that to me, that's a win,” Sanders said.
If he’s thought about changing offensive playcallers
“No, we're good. We're good. We just got to get productivity. This is a whole different circumstance. This is a whole different route. This is a whole different way. Why wouldn't I believe in Brennan [Marion]? I believe in him. I could hear the play going in, and I know what's supposed to happen. And sometimes when it's not executed, I know where that comes from, and I know how to follow the yellow brick road and understand what's at the end of it,” Sanders said.
“So it's not that kind of party right now. In some other instances, it might have been, but this is not that case,” Sanders said.
Isaac Wilson facing his former team
“Isaac is always up to the task. This ain't no different week for Isaac. Like he just broke down the huddle. We had him breaking down, and there was some profanity in it. I heard that as I was walking over out to meet you guys. But Isaac is the same Isaac, man. He don't flinch. He don't, you know, he don't place blame. He is what he is,” Sanders said.
The Utah Utes’ dual-quarterback offense
“Yeah, dual quarterbacks. They do some things that create problems, and everybody on the defense, you don't know when it's gonna be on you, so even if you’re backside and that play's going away, you have no idea if they're gonna stop, you know, drop back, and let it fly. These guys are good; they're really good schematically. They're good. We feel like we're up to the challenge and up to the task, and these guys are prepared. I like the guys I have in the locker room,” Sanders said.
If he thinks his team celebrating causes them to lose focus
“No, I don't buy that. I want them to be happy when they make a play. They work all week to make this specific play. I want them to be celebratory, but not so celebratory that it takes them out of focus on their next play. Or if they scored, I want them to celebrate, have a good time. Their parents pay a king's ransom to get to the game, and the siblings and friends that are at the game. I want them to be happy,” Sanders said.
“The main thing is, I want them to have fun. This is a journey that is going to last four to five years, sometimes six. The NCAA even let guys go seven. Not on our team, but they let it happen. But I want them to enjoy this journey, man, I really, really do. So I'm not one of those ones who says, ‘Don't do this or don't do that.’ I don't want them to get us penalized because you're in your own little thing, but they know I want them to have fun. I really do,” Sanders said.
People who haven’t played the game talking negatively about him
“Well, I don't want to discount them because they hadn't played the game. That's not fair. I mean, like I can sit here and say I've done what you guys have done for 18-20 years, right? I don't take shots at you because I've been in your seats, and I know it's not as easy as one may think it is, not whatsoever. So I don't go for that. But when it gets beyond the game, and it gets personal, that's a problem,” Sanders said.
“Now I could challenge you on that and say, ‘Why would you ask me that question?’ But I don't want to belittle you and downgrade you and say that was stupid. Like, you know that everybody in the room knows when a stupid question is asked or when I have a stupid answer. Like, everybody knows that. The alarms go off. But I'm not here to judge you, man. I'm here to pray you through the storm. I want you to make it. I want everybody in here to be happy,” Sanders said.
“I want to win. I want us just to be a great, happy room, but in that happiness, somebody's gonna be unhappy because of what they're dealing with in life. It is what it is, my brother. But let me tell you something. From day one, I've been judged and criticized and critiqued and naysayed and doubted. You think I care? You think anybody in here affects me getting in the car and going home, listening to Kurt Franklin or whoever, and having a good old praise time?” Sanders asked.
“There ain't no way in the world. I want to win for this university, for the fan base, for the kids. I really do, especially for those jokers right there [Hopper and Joseph Williams], because I know the more we win, the higher they go get drafted because a winning product seems so much better. But that’s my goal, man. That's it. Ain't got no personal vendettas against y'all, regardless of what y'all do or say. Sometimes it just don't matter. Sometimes it does,” Sanders said.
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