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LAS VEGAS — Colorado coach Deion Sanders took some time at the start of his first Big 12 media days appearance Wednesday to salute some of the other coaches in the league.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame player, now going into his second season coaching in a power conference, then told everyone that he has to operate under an entirely different umbrella.
“I’m judged on a different scale,” Sanders said. “My wins are totally different than your wins. Your wins, you just judge football, that’s why I start out (talking about) education and academics and so forth. I have to give you those things so you understand there’s a greater scope.”
Sanders touted the team's GPA, the 16 Buffs coaches and staff members with NFL experience, a 20% increase in student applications to Colorado and a “crazy” economic impact for the school.
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After Sanders led HBCU school Jackson State to a 27-6 record over three seasons, including 23-3 with back-to-back Southwestern Athletic Conference titles the last two, he got off to a fast start at Colorado winning his first three games last season before going on to finish 4-8. Colorado was picked to finish 11th in the Big 12 preseason media poll.
“I can’t win nine games and our GPA suffers,” Sanders said. “Our GPA can’t be high and we lose another eight games. We can’t not go and grab high school players, and you’ve got a bunch of guys in the portal, out of the portal getting incarcerated. My wins are different. We have to win in every area. That’s the way we’re judged.”
Sanders' sons, senior quarterback Shedeur and graduate safety Shilo, also took part in Big 12 media days.
Shedeur Sanders threw for a school-record 3,230 yards with 27 touchdowns in his first season at the FBS level while completing 69% of his passes. But he was also the most-sacked quarterback (52) in the country.
“I remember first media day when I was in HBCU, I said we won’t lose the game. I’m undefeated in the SWAC, so I already know what the expectation comes with, I know we’re everybody’s Super Bowl," he said. "So, I always stay level-headed, stay grounded because I would never want to be that guy, look back, and not being able to take advantage of the moment that we have right now.”
Shilo Sanders is going through a bankruptcy case he filed last October because he faces a nearly $11.9 million judgment stemming from an alleged assault against a Dallas school security guard who was trying to confiscate his phone in 2015. Shilo Sanders, now 24, was 15 at the time.
The security guard said he suffered a broken spine and nerve damage after getting elbowed in the neck. He immediately filed a police report, sued in a Texas court the next year and was awarded the judgement after Shilo Sanders didn’t show up for hearings in 2022.
“Honestly, that kind of stuff, you’re not gonna win a court case on social media,” Shilo Sanders said when asked about it Wednesday. "And at the end of the day everybody is gonna know the truth about everything. So there’s no point just going out of my way to just do that. So everything’s good.”
AROUND THE BIG 12
JAYHAWKS: Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels says he could be ready to play a game now. Coach Lance Leipold and the Jayhawks just need him to be ready for the season. Daniels played only three games in September before missing the rest of the season because of a back injury.
MOUNTAINEERS: West Virginia coach Neal Brown and his team remembers being picked last year to finish at the bottom of what was then a 14-team league. The Mountaineers instead went 9-4 overall, with a 6-3 record in the Big 12. West Virginia, which finished last season on a three-game winning streak, is now picked seventh in the expanded 16-team Big 12. The coach believes people may be underestimating his team once again.
COUGARS: New Houston coach Willie Fritz is already getting requests for tickets when he gets to play a Big 12 game close to home. The Cougars play Oct. 19 against Kansas at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the NFL's Chiefs. That stadium is less than 20 miles from Shawnee Mission, Kansas, where Fritz was born and attended high school.
COUNCIL: Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young, and Heisman Trophy winners Robert Griffin III and Andre Ware are among 32 former student-athletes who will make up the first Big 12 Alumni Council. The council announced Wednesday includes two former athletes, one man and one woman, from each of the 16 schools that will make up the league.
ACC countersuit
Clemson’s request to dismiss an Atlantic Coast Conference lawsuit filed in response to the school challenging the conference bylaws in court has been denied by a judge.
The case stems from Clemson’s attempt in March to release itself from the ACC’s grant of rights and a potential $140 million exit fee if it were to leave the conference.
Clemson sued the ACC in South Carolina to strike down the grant of rights and avoid the exit fee if it were to leave.
The ACC countersued the next day. Clemson wanted that countersuit thrown out but a judge ruled Wednesday only a North Carolina court can decide the case.
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