Deion Sanders praises consistency of Shedeur Sanders as leader

Shedeur Sanders had an eye-popping performance in his first game as the Colorado Buffaloes starting quarterback. The Dallas Fort Worth area native threw for 510 yards with four touchdowns, completing over 80 percent of his pass attempts.

Some have noticed a change in how the Buffaloes quarterback has been handling himself as a leader. And as Colorado prepares for their Week 2 contest against Nebraska, his father and head coach, Deion Sanders, explains the noticeable change in Shedeur Sanders’ leadership. Moreover, according to the Buffaloes’ headman, it is not his son that has changed, just the amount of attention he is receiving.

“Nah. We’re in Boulder, Co, at a Power-5. I think our press conferences are a little larger than they were last year. I think the notoriety and the television component is a little larger than it was last year. Much larger than it was in high school,” said Sanders.

Transitioning from the FCS to the FBS in Division 1 college football is a significant step up in competition. It is even more so when you are quarterbacking a Power-5 program with aspirations of returning to their national championship contending ways. That transition has helped Sanders evolve as a leader both on and off the field. However, according to the Buffaloes headman, his son has remained relatively the same despite all the changes and adjustments.

“He’s been the consistent same guy. That’s what I love about him; he rocks steady. He hasn’t allowed the attention and the focus, the lights to turn him or deter him or to lead him in a certain direction. He is who he is unapologetically. He’s gonna speak his mind. He’s not abrasive, but to everybody, he is a very intelligent young man. So if he talks, you might wanna listen because what he’s saying he’s not saying to be offensive. He’s just saying to educate because he’s trying to tell you what he sees,” said Sanders.

“And that’s the first thing I ask him when he comes off the field; ‘What do you see? What did you see?’ ‘I didn’t like that. That wasn’t good; that wasn’t good for us.’ So he shakes it off, and he is ready for the next series. But he analyzes everything on and off the field, and that’s something you want from a quarterback.”

Sanders put together quite the performance against TCU in Colorado’s season opener. His performance was one of record-setting proportions. However, it was Sanders’ ability to consistently lead Colorado down the field on touchdown drive after touchdown drive while staying cool, calm, and poised throughout that was arguably the deciding factor in their victory against the former No. 17 team in the country.

That poise is precisely what type of leadership programs need for their team to be successful and what his father and head coach love about who he is as a quarterback.