{"id":52854,"date":"2025-07-10T01:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T01:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/52854\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T01:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T01:32:10","slug":"does-deion-sanders-need-to-be-protected-from-himself-as-he-battles-health-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/52854\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Deion Sanders need to be protected from himself as he battles health challenge?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deion Sanders is more concerned about the health of college football than his own condition.<\/p>\n

The CU Buffs coach arrived at Big 12 media days in Frisco, Texas, after going virtually unseen since April 19 as he dealt with unspecified medical issues<\/a>. It prevented him from attending youth and high school camps last month, even though they are part of his employment conditions.<\/p>\n

Asked about his health Wednesday, Sanders offered no insight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not here to talk about my health. I am here to talk about my team,\u201d Sanders said Wednesday. \u201cI am living good. I am living lovely. God has truly blessed me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders\u2019 only acknowledgement of his recent battles came during his opening statement when he thanked Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, CU athletic director Rick George, and conference coaches for checking in on him. In June, Deion Sanders Jr. posted that his father was \u201cmaking progress.\u201d And Coach Prime tweeted a month ago that \u201ceverything is OKAY,\u201d promising an update when he was back on campus.<\/a><\/p>\n

George told The Athletic that he expects Sanders to return to Boulder \u201cin a week or two, probably.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Sanders operated Wednesday like someone ready to coach his third season at CU. He missed the Pac-12 Media Days in 2023 to undergo emergency surgery for blood clots in his legs. So, this is not unfamiliar territory.<\/p>\n

What little we know is unsettling, a man who is as public as any college coach ever fighting a private health battle. It is hard to have an opinion on something this personal, other than you hope he is receiving the best care.<\/p>\n

But how can we not?<\/p>\n

He is the state\u2019s highest-paid employee, so the questions are impossible to avoid: Does Sanders need to take time off? Does he need to be protected from himself after he admitted his goal this season is to \u201cwin at all costs?\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, it\u2019s hard to know without more information. Sanders is a polarizing figure. But this has nothing to do with his style, bravado or use of social media. This is about the man, not the legend.<\/p>\n

His heath issues have been well documented, including the amputation of two toes in 2021. Sanders said on a May podcast with former NFL cornerback Asante Samuel that \u201cwhat I am dealing with now is a whole \u2018nother level,\u201d while revealing that he had lost 14 pounds.<\/p>\n

Sanders has always leaned on his faith, family and friends in times of crisis. This is no different. He deserves space.<\/p>\n

But what should happen next? My hope is that George and others Sanders trusts remain sounding boards, providing advice.<\/p>\n

Sanders is 57, decades removed from being the best athlete, along with Bo Jackson, that some of his age have ever seen. He is always willing and ready for a fight. His supporters love this. But it would more comforting to know his body is up for it.<\/p>\n

The challenge this season is unique. Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter is in Jacksonville. His sons Shedeur and Shilo are in the NFL, marking the first time he has coached without them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have thought about it. I am going to love it. Now I only have to be a coach. I don\u2019t have to be a coach and a dad. I don\u2019t have that dilemma. It\u2019s going to be easier,\u201d Sanders told ESPN, later adding, \u201cWe are not as good individually, but we are better collectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders continues to recruit well using his model of 40% grad transfers, 40% transfers and 20% high school kids. But he is unsure of his starting quarterback, conceding that fifth-year transfer Kaidon Salter and true freshman Julian Lewis could both play \u201cas long as they are doing their jobs and we are winning.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while he loves Boulder, it is not always reciprocated when attracting and retaining players. Asked to play commissioner during a coaches roundtable, Sanders did not hold back. He wants more regulation in college football to level the playing field, forever a utopian idea in a sport where schools see themselves as adversaries and love to exploit loopholes and tattle on each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have alumni, we have boosters who are doing the best they darn could, but sometimes they just can\u2019t compete with some of the other powers. And I wish it was truly equality. They are trying to say that with a cap and collective bargaining, whatever they call it. It\u2019s equality, but it\u2019s not,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow they go back to doing stuff under the table, go back to the agent. You have parents trying to be the agent, you have homeboys trying to be the agent, you have friends trying to be the agent, you\u2019ve got a lot of bull junk going on. And quite frankly we are sick of it. Nobody will say it. So, I will say it for everybody. We are sick of it. You are not going to fix it unless you listen to all these men with all this experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders spoke like a leader. Like a veteran coach. He wants an NFL model with more parity. He wants what\u2019s best for the game. But what matters most right now is his health, and what is best for him.<\/p>\n

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver\u2019s teams.<\/a><\/p>\n

Originally Published: July 9, 2025 at 5:53 PM MDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deion Sanders is more concerned about the health of college football than his own condition. The CU Buffs…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":52855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[39425,4437,4438,1428,1369,4439,22748,39426,39427,4148,1318,4440,39428,39429,1370,1317,1315,1316,39430,19156,39431,62,2632,8016,22665,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-52854","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-big-12","9":"tag-boulder","10":"tag-boulder-county","11":"tag-college-football","12":"tag-college-sports","13":"tag-colorado","14":"tag-colorado-buffaloes","15":"tag-cu-buffs","16":"tag-cu-buffs-football","17":"tag-deion-sanders","18":"tag-football","19":"tag-front-range","20":"tag-julian-lewis","21":"tag-kaidon-salter","22":"tag-latest-headlines","23":"tag-ncaa","24":"tag-ncaa-football","25":"tag-ncaafootball","26":"tag-rick-george","27":"tag-shedeur-sanders","28":"tag-shilo-sanders","29":"tag-sports","30":"tag-sports-columnists","31":"tag-travis-hunter","32":"tag-troy-renck","33":"tag-united-states","34":"tag-unitedstates","35":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114826362537670997","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}