Adam WellsSeptember 15, 2023
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As Deion Sanders’ imprint on college football continues to get bigger with each passing week, it’s only fitting that he would be praised by someone who left a rather large mark of his own in another sport.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show, The Rock credited Coach Prime for “changing the face of college football” in his short time at Colorado.
ESPN @espn”Colorado, Coach Prime changing the face of college football is incredible.” —@TheRock@patmcafeeshow is talking football in Boulder 🏈 pic.twitter.com/KoADjwxDKR
Even though it’s only been two games for the Buffaloes, it’s hard to overstate how dramatic the change feels for the program. They went 1-11 last season and have only made two bowl appearances since 2008.
Colorado’s 36-14 win over Nebraska on Sept. 9 was the second-most watched game of the day with 8.73 million viewers. The only game that was viewed more was Texas vs. Alabama in Tuscaloosa (8.76 million viewers).
The Nebraska-Colorado game actually beat Texas-Alabama in the demo rating (4.8 to 4.5). ESPN is basically doing a summit in Boulder this weekend with First Take, The Pat McAfee Show and College Gameday broadcasting from the campus.
There aren’t many people who give off the aura of being larger-than-life figures. The Rock is one of them because his acting has made him a worldwide superstar after he became one of the most iconic wrestlers of all-time during his tenure in WWE.
Sanders carries the same larger-than-life aura even as he’s moved into the coaching ranks. Primetime always felt like a superstar during his days as a player because he had immense swagger and was able to back it up by doing things on the football field no one else was capable of.
Being able to take that same confident swagger and turn it into high-level performance as a coach is special. Coach Prime took over the Jackson State team in 2020 when the program hadn’t had a winning season since 2013.
The Tigers went 4-3 in Sanders’ first season before going a combined 23-3 in 2021 and 2022 with back-to-back SWAC titles. He has Colorado off to a 2-0 start and ranked No. 18 in the AP Top 25 poll going into Saturday’s game against Colorado State.