DENTON, Texas — Shedeur Sanders entered the University of North Texas practice facility, where Day 1 of East-West Shrine Bowl practices had already begun in late January. He wore sweats and a pair of Nike Air Diamond Turf Max ‘96s, which were designed for his father, Deion Sanders. In tow was Shedeur's oldest brother, Deion Sanders Jr., documenting his pre-draft journey with a video camera.
While other NFL Draft hopefuls on the "West" team went through drills, including his brother, Shilo, and four other Colorado teammates, Shedeur did his own thing. He dapped up personnel from several franchises during warmups. When he wasn’t watching practice intently with his private quarterback coach, Darrell Colbert Jr., he shared laughs with his former receivers. Giants coach Brian Daboll came over to chat a couple of times. At one point, two eager young boys asked for a picture. Sanders obliged.
Hours later at a Frisco hotel, where Shrine Bowl attendees met with teams and fulfilled media obligations, Deion Jr. had the video camera out as Shedeur walked up to the large media scrum waiting for him. And Deion Jr. also followed along as Shedeur approached a conference room to meet with a handful of teams, including the Tennessee Titans, who have the No. 1 overall pick.
When Shedeur left the room, the camera was back out, rolling.
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As the NFL Combine begins in Indianapolis, where Sanders will meet with teams but not work out, this is what the public sees: a curated brand, a life in the spotlight on and off the field. He boasts more than three million followers across Instagram, TikTok and X. On YouTube, his personal page and podcast page each have over 100,000 subscribers. He raps, too, often about his love for cars and jewelry.
At Colorado, his watch-flashing gestures before and after games went viral.
"The prime persona of who he is and who his dad was," Colbert told FOX Sports. "He is his dad’s son."
What the public doesn’t often see? Sanders' intensity toward football.
In interviews with FOX Sports, his former coaches and teammates discussed what makes the possible top overall pick a franchise quarterback. Beyond his on-field strengths — pinpoint accuracy, timing and ball placement among them — they paint a picture of a player intently focused on maximizing both his personal potential and that of his team.
"He’s gonna wear his jewelry out there. He’s gonna have his new custom cleats, his new Benz or Maybach — something like that," former Colorado teammate LaJohntay Wester told FOX Sports. "But that’s not gonna take away from the fact that he’s gonna come to work every day. He’s gonna make sure guys are in place and he’s gonna get what he wants out of the offense."
‘There’s nothing you can show him that would trick him’
Since Deion Sanders became the head football coach at Colorado, the sideline has been a show in itself, featuring a who’s who in the sports and entertainment worlds. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Kevin Durant, Offset, Terrell Owens, Rick Ross and CC Sabathia are just a few of the stars who’ve stopped by Folsom Field.
If he caught teammates’ eyes wandering, taking in the hoopla, Shedeur let them hear about it.
"Bro, stop looking at that," he’d say. "We in the game."
After three-and-outs and other bad drives, he was quick to critique his throws and drops. And he didn’t want anybody else starting conversations with the receivers on the sideline before he could talk to them. He wanted to discuss the needed adjustments immediately. Tablet in hand, he’d motion his teammates over, explaining what he saw.
Whether he was one-on-one with a teammate or having a conversation within earshot of others, it didn’t matter. He had a message to get across.
Yo, you need to get your head in the game. Let’s get back to it.
I need you to do better on this route.
Instead of doing it like this, do it like this.
C’mon, man, we don’t need that.
Hey, bro, you need to do this right here. I’m telling you, you’ll get open.
"He liked to dissect stuff during the game," former Colorado teammate Jimmy Horn Jr. told FOX Sports.
Practice wasn’t "just practice" to Sanders during the week, according to another ex-Buffs receiver, Will Sheppard; he took mistakes personally. In training sessions with Colbert, dialogue is constant. Sanders won’t move on from a concept being explained until he fully grasps it.
In-season, Sanders frequented staff meetings in Boulder. He sought to understand the "why" behind offensive and defensive play calls.
He saw football in an "elite way," according to Colorado offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur.
"When he had a thought about a play or a concept or how to do something, it was easy for me to then listen to it," said Shurmur, who has 23 years of NFL coaching experience. "There were a lot of times when we came together on things that he saw a little differently than I did. I’m at that point in my career, too, where I don’t want to let a good idea go to waste, and he had a lot of really good ideas in terms of how he saw the game. So we tried to let some of that roll."
Sanders’ defensive teammates felt his presence, too.
"That’s what a lot of guys don’t realize about Shedeur: We come from Jackson [Mississippi]. It’s not sweet [out there]," said former Buffs safety Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig, who also played with Sanders at Jackson State and Trinity Christian School in Cedar Hill, Texas. "You really have to earn your keep out there. … He worked his butt off. He competed.
"The way he places the ball, you can be there and not be there at the same time," said the DB. "It’s like someone shooting a jump shot [in basketball]. You can play the best defense and he still makes the shot. …. There’s nothing you can show him that would trick him. He’s going to know what [defense] you’re in."
‘He has a heroic nature’
When Shurmur looks back at his time with Sanders the past two seasons, he thinks of how well he performed in clutch situations — his ability to win games in the end, his two-minute execution at the end of halves. No matter how dire circumstances may have been, with the ball in Sanders’ hands, there seemed to be a good chance something positive would happen for the Buffaloes.
In one of the most thrilling games of the 2024 college football season, Sanders forced overtime in a September matchup against Baylor by completing a 43-yard touchdown pass as the fourth quarter expired. He then led the go-ahead touchdown drive in overtime before Travis Hunter’s game-sealing, goal-line forced fumble.
In 2023, Sanders led three game-winning drives, including two in the final seconds of regulation/overtime. As a junior, he paced the FBS in third-and-10-plus passing conversions and was the only quarterback with more than six touchdowns and no interceptions in the fourth quarter. Sanders had 11 TDs.
"He has a heroic nature," Shurmur said. "Just look at the players in the NFL playoffs, right? Most of the quarterbacks are good within the pocket, but they also have that heroic nature where they can make a play off-schedule, and I think Shedeur can do that.
"I think there’s something natural about it. That’s why there aren’t that many outstanding quarterbacks on the planet," he continued. "But there’s also something developed about it."
Multiple Colorado teammates said Sanders emanated calm in the huddle and pocket in critical moments. Even when he was sacked on back-to-back plays, he’d have a positive message: ‘OK, we got it. We gonna drive down this field.’
He stayed even-keeled after making big throws.
"I think the things that make him great and will make him last a long time in the league is just his ability to not respond negatively to the pressure," Sheppard said. "His ability to perform under the bright lights all the time.
"Quarterbacks are always under that microscope. He’s been in that microscope his whole life. His dad is Coach Prime; it comes with it. He’s used to people on social media saying negative things. It doesn’t faze him."
‘I’m always going to be myself’
During a press conference in September, Sanders went viral for saying he didn’t have a trust fund. He explained that failing in football wasn’t an option. He didn’t see a Plan B.
Growing up, Sanders and his siblings were constantly reminded that the nice home they lived in belonged to their father, not them.
"We grew up — I’d say until [I was] 10 years old — 10 minutes from here in Prosper [Texas]. Then we moved across town to Cedar Hill and put us in a school in the inner city," Sanders said at the Shrine Bowl. "So that’s when we got a different type of attitude and a different type of grit to us. … So we inherited that mindset. So us going into any situation, we’re comfortable wherever we at."
Even if that means dealing with how he’s perceived by the public.
Sanders doesn’t hide his lifestyle. He recorded one recent episode of his podcast from a hot tub. Not long after Colorado’s 36-14 loss to BYU in the Alamo Bowl, ending his college career, he shot an episode from an undisclosed tropical location.
"He calls it his mental relaxation, which I completely understand. I think a lot of [players] just don’t post it," Colbert said of Sanders’ trips. "I think when he really takes those breaks, he relaxes from football. So when it’s time to get back into football, he’s really locked into it."
Ultimately, Sanders’ goal is not to please the masses.
"I’m not here to prove that I’m a great guy or just prove anything outside of who I am," Sanders said on a recent podcast episode. "At the end of the day, they’re going to like me as a person when you actually get to know me and meet me as opposed to looking at headlines. Because you know how people try to paint a picture of this, this, this.
"Money can’t change me," he added on another episode. "Fame can’t change me. We done had it all. There’s nothing that can really change. It’s just more so about playing football and winning games. That’s more so what it is for me. Whatever team I go to, whatever program I represent, I’m going to represent that program in the best light. But I’m going to always be myself."
Even with the cameras out, football is the focus.
Ben Arthur is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.
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