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Deion Sanders recalls call with Mike Leach to understand Air Raid offense

On3 imageby:Dan Morrison09/13/23

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Mike Leach
Wesley Hitt / Contributor PhotoG/Getty

When he was the head coach at Jackson State, Deion Sanders had a problem. Despite being confident in his defense, he wanted to find a way to improve the offense, as well as the play of his son Shedeur Sanders. So, the solution was to reach out to other coaches.

One of the people who Sanders called was the legendary Air Raid coach Mike Leach. Sanders was hoping he’d share information on how the offense works.

“I called several persons,” Deion Sanders said. “Honestly, I think my initial call, I’m going blank, my initial call was to Mike Leach, was to Coach Leach. That’s what I was trying to grasp his name. Coach Leach, God bless him, that’s who I called initially because he’s it. He’s it.”

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Ultimately, the decision to reach out to other coaches while at Jackson State was a good one. Under Sanders, Jackson State became a premier FCS program and that success ultimately led to him taking the Colorado job.

“So, that’s pretty much how we did it, and I interviewed several persons and that’s how I met Brett, through that, but definitely because I knew had a stout defense led by Dennis Thurman and we wanted to put up more points. So, I wanted to know the intricate details of that offense.”

Incidentally, Jay Norvell was another one of the coaches who Deion Sanders called. Now, Norvell and Sanders will meet on the field when Colorado plays Colorado State.

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Deion Sanders wants to turn the page on the Matt Rhule rift

Deion Sanders made sure the world knew that he didn’t like Nebraska and after the game, Shedeur Sanders claimed that Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule had disrespected the family.

Rhule denied this, claiming that he and the Cornhuskers were only praying in the middle of the field and asking Shedeur if he wanted to join them. That, notably, didn’t match the young quarterback’s initial story.

Despite all of this, Deion Sanders now wants to find a way to move on from the incident in some way. He even called the rift unfortunate and said that he’s happy if they were praying.

“Not really,” Sanders said. “That was unfortunate. I didn’t know anything about it and they said they were praying in the middle of the field. So, it’s cool with me. I mean, I’m happy if that’s what they were doing. Amen. I’m all for that. Let’s turn the page. Let’s get on to Colorado State, that’s over.”