There’s been a bit of an online kerfuffle over some comments that one of Deion Sanders’ former Colorado players recently made about him.
This week former Colorado player Xavier Smith recalled in an interview with The Athletic when he was told by Coach Prime to enter the transfer portal because he didn’t see a path to him playing. Smith admonished Sanders for being so callous in his assessment and was highly critical of the coach.
Those comments led to Sanders’ son and starting quarterback Shedeur Sanders to dismiss Smith as “very mid at best,” which in turn led to a lot of backlash on social media.
But there was one person who hadn’t spoken on the matter: Deion Sanders.
Taking to X this morning, Coach Prime made a somewhat cryptic statement about “haters” that many interpret as his response to the whole situation. He declared that people don’t “hate” those they don’t know, but rather “admire” them in a “negative way.”
“Folks don’t hate u because they really don’t know u. They admire u in a Negative way. They realize they can’t be u, think like u, talk like u or walk in your shoes. That Bothers them. Always smile when u see them because that makes them admire u so much more in that negative way,” Sanders wrote.
Sanders’ post has gone viral with over 20,000 impressions and over 500 likes in less than 15 minutes. Not everyone has seen it yet so there’s likely going to be plenty of debate over whether his message holds up under scrutiny.