Head coach Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes returned to The Star, Home of the Dallas Cowboys, in Frisco, Texas, for the first of two 2026 Big 12 Football Media Days on Tuesday.
"Coach Prime" was joined by six players: senior wide receiver Danny Scudero, redshirt-freshman quarterback Julian "JuJu" Lewis, senior defensive back Ben Finneseth, junior defensive back Naeten Mitchell, redshirt-freshman defensive back Cree Thomas and senior tight end Zach Atkins.
While there was plenty to gain from the players and Sanders, from fun tidbits to serious game-planning, here is what Colorado's fourth-year head coach offered when he took center stage.
Opening Statment
Sanders: "First and foremost, we have the best commissioner [Brett Yormark]. My man, the best commissioner. We got the best commissioner in the world. He's definitely the best-dressed commissioner ever. I love him tonight, and he always raises the bar, and he's infectious. Every time I see him, I gotta hug him and appreciate who he is and what he does.
And our [athletic director] Fernando Lovo around here somewhere as well. He's been doing a heck of a job. He's just taking the reins, taking the baton from a dear friend of mine, Rick George, and you talk about a sprinter. He has sprinted, and it's been more than expected, and Fernando, you're doing a heck of a job. I love you to life, and keep up the great work.
We've lost a young man, Dominiq Ponder. We miss him dearly. Prayers go out to his family, who we're in contact with on the daily. We will wear a patch on our jerseys this season in his honor, and his legacy should encourage kids to make responsible choices and have those hard and tough conversations.
Adam Munsterteiger, I hope I got that right, sweetheart. I hope he's here. His beautiful, wonderful wife is here. Please, can we give her love and support and respect. Love her. He passed away on May 19. And I want to thank the Big 12 for reserving a seat for him today. We will hold his seat both in press conferences and in the press box in honor of him this season. His wonderful wife, Liz, I love you so much. And thank you. Your strength encourages us all, and you, whatever you need from us, the Buffs this year, you got it. He's covered CU for over 20 years for BuffStampede.
The coaching staff has 250 years of coaching experience. 172 years of college. 106 years at the Power Four level. Five coaches who served as the head coach at some level. 17 years of NFL experience. 51 years of high school experience. This is all to say we pretty good, pretty darn good. We also break down 104 [players], 83 scholarships, 21 walk-ons. I love my walk-ons. How many of you cried at the movie 'Rudy'? I did. I'm sorry, I did. When Rudy got here, it was over for me. That was it. So I love my walk-ons dearly. I think we have two or three on the team right now, on the roster, they're almost on their own scholarship right now. We hope to continue that as well.
We have over a 3.0 GPA this spring, highest GPA in CU history right now. We have a 3.035 right now, which is wonderful. We have over double digits in young men that's on our roster that were captains on their respective teams, and they're with us now. So we have a tremendous amount of leadership."
Q: How do you block out the outside news?
Question by Candice Lamb, D210Sports
Sanders: "We don't care about what people say. People are always going to have opinions. If my kids and my coaches and our staff don't understand who they are, we have a problem. They're not going to allow you to identify who we are, and just because our guys were snug off the pole, that's probably not going to be consistent with the end of the season; we don't give a darn. Our kids know who, what, when, where and how they are, and they know what they got to do and how they got to work. It just gives them that extra inside of them, and I'm thankful and appreciative of that. Thank you for that wonderful question."
Q: Why are you not in EA Sports' College Football 27 (or 25 and 26)?
Question by David Ubben, The Athletic
Sanders: "I don't know about the video games. I have a wonderful team that handles a lot of business for me. If I'm not in the game, that means they weren't paying enough. It probably didn't fit where we're going right now. That's probably it. It was probably just that simplistic. Thank you, Athletic. You guys do a wonderful job. You know I lied, right?"
Q: How has coaching at CU transformed you? What would your younger self think?
Question by N/A
Sanders: "Transformed me? I don't think Colorado has transformed me. Colorado has given me a tremendous opportunity that I'm so darn appreciative of, and I want to live up and surpass the expectations.
My younger self will be proud that I was here last year fighting a battle called cancer, and now I'm here with full strength, full energy. I got that thing back, I got that swag, I'm back, I got that dawg back, I got that charisma back.
See, last year I had on shorts up on the suit, I had on the sweatsuit up on the suit, because I was, I was probably 15 pounds down, looking like Eddie Kane up here. Those of you that seen "The Five Heartbeats." But now I'm ready, I'm back, I'm trying, I'm close to 204 [pounds], legs slightly bowed. I'm back, baby. I cannot wait to get back on that sideline to do our thing. I can't wait to get back to camp. I can't wait to get back. I ain't even seen the kids yet that are here, I can't wait to see them, because I know they're looking good in our units, but I'm excited about this season and expectations."
Q: What will the two road games before playing Texas Tech tell you about your team?
Question by Donovan Bridgeworth, TXAN 24 News
Sanders: "Well, let's digress a bit and think about Georgia Tech. Let's think about going to Atlanta and handling our business on Thursday night on that big stage. We're going to take one game at a time, man. I'm not thinking about those two games as far as down the road. We're thinking about that first one.
First of all, we think about going to camp and having a wonderful camp and getting it on, pressure-wise, our coordinators and our team in certain situations, because Coach Brennan Marion and Coach [Chris] Marve are there. This is the best coaching staff that I've had in my new coaching career, and I'm excited about it. I'm excited about the young man. I'm excited about everything that we have on this roster, because I feel like we have the team to win, and I cannot wait to see it."
Q: Players discussed falling short as leaders last year. Do you think that was the case? Are you confident in them as leaders?
Question by Schuyler Dixon, AP
Sanders: "Well, I'm thankful that God didn't allow my neck to go all the way back and look back, because I would be in tremendous pain right now. And I'm thankful that I look ahead and I'm right on point. But the young men, they're close. Some of them weren't even here last year, so I don't think the collective would have that opinion. Maybe a couple of them that were here [have that opinion], and they're pretty accurate, but I'm loving everything I've seen in the spring. I'm loving everything that we've added. I'm loving what we did in the portal. I'm loving what we're doing recruiting-wise right now. We're right what we want to be, right where we want to be, and we're going to even get better."
Q: What has the landscape of college football and personal battles taught you as a coach and person?
Question by Andrew Cherico, Knights247
Sanders: "That's a great question. As a coach, patience. Taught me tremendous patience. It taught me that a lot of young men want to benefit from the game financially. A lot of young men want to benefit from the game because they love the game. You got to really understand there are two sides of this coin, and make sure you're flipping these kids on the right side, because it's a whole different game. Sometimes you can't get stuck in the old ways. You gotta go forward and welcome and invite some of the new school ways and adapt to them.
Thank God, I got kids, I got five of 'em to keep me on my toes, keep me on my game and keep me hip to what's coming and what's going on right now. So I'm thankful for that, and I got a little grandson; he can't really talk right now, but he could ask, so I'm thankful that they're keeping me on point. That's tremendous."
Q: What can you say about your faith?
Question by Dan Tortora, WakeUpCallDT
Sanders: "Well, that's the only way I can rock steady, because you guys flip, flip and you blow with the wind, and you ride the waves that you're supposed to ride, and I understand that. You've got to understand that I've been up here and I've been out there, so I know what you're thinking, but you don't know what I'm thinking. I understand life, and I understand the trials and tribulations of life. But I have a God who's been so darn good to me, I can't help but acknowledge him and praise him every opportunity I get, and I don't allow anyone out there to tell me who I am, what I am and why I am. I have a God that has showed me all of that, and that's why I embrace him, and that's why I'm never going to stop praising him and talking about it tremendously."
Q: What is one thing you expect to surprise people?
Question by Skyler Gerard, Colorado Buffaloes on SI
Sanders: "Oh, we better win. That's going to be the surprise. That's the surprise. We better win. We're going to win. I love what I got. I love what I see."
Q: Could you tell us about the retreat to your house?
Question by Ro Parrish, CBS Texas
Sanders: "We had a good time, the young men, the coaches, the staff. We had a great time. We really did, and we got closer. We bonded, and I loved every last minute of it. I could not wait until they left, but I love every last minute. You got three days in my house, you got to go. Jesus got up on the third day; you could get up, too. You got to go."
Coaches Mentioned
