Deion Sanders urged his football team to take class more seriously.
Well Off Media, managed by Sanders’ son, Deion Sanders Jr., posted a clip on YouTube earlier this week in which Sanders read a letter from a Colorado professor who was dismayed with how student-athletes are conducting themselves in his class.
“I have never felt so disrespected in my ten years teaching,” the professor wrote in part of the letter, as covered by Daily Mail. “Student[s] do not follow even minimally and it slows down my class so much. They make it clear they do not want to be there…”
Sanders lectured the football team on the importance of having better decorum in the classroom.
“You present, but you ain’t really there,” he began. “You on the field, but you ain’t really doing nothing. You in a relationship, but you ain’t got no love. You at the mall, but you ain’t got no money. Got a lot of ability, but no darn talent because you don’t think.”
Sanders rhetorically asked about “draft grades”, implying that some of the players the professor was concerned about aren’t highly touted professional prospects and should therefore be put in the work at school.
“I’m a little frustrated, I’m a little angry right now, because… we got youngsters that’s all in on one side of the game,” Sanders continued.
“Ninthy percent or 95 percent of your roster ain’t going pro. So coaches, we gotta emphasize education, we gotta emphasize life, we gotta emphasize the next step, the next elevation if it don’t work in the game.”
Sanders is entering his second season at Colorado, and the Buffaloes are entering the Big 12 this year after finishing in last place in the final season of the Pac-12 in 2023.
“Student-athlete, athlete-student, I don’t care how you say it. You gon’ get something before you leave here,” Sanders said.