Fran Brown offers to accept Deion Sanders, Colorado proposal of joint spring practice

Deion Sanders floated an interesting idea on Monday, stating he’d love to see his team play a spring game against another team. It could occur after a few days of joint practices.

And it looks like he might have a taker. Syracuse coach Fran Brown tweeted his willingness to link up with Colorado on Monday afternoon.

“[Deion Sanders] we will come to Boulder for 3 days,” Brown wrote on Twitter. Within 20 minutes of his posting, Brown’s tweet had racked up more than 400 retweets and 2,000 likes.

The suggestion from Sanders came after a few weeks of back-and-forth at the college level about the nature of spring games. Many coaches are of different minds about the utility of such games.

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule kicked off the conversation when he revealed that his team wouldn’t play a spring game. He opted to make that call to address concerns over tampering. Others followed suit, albeit some for different reasons.

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian noted that his team wouldn’t have a traditional spring game due to the current length of the season for College Football Playoff contenders. He wants to manage wear and tear starting as early as spring ball.

For Deion Sanders, though, playing a spring game is a real bonus. He wants to ensure that continues.

“The Spring Game will be televised on ESPN2 … on the 19th,” Deion Sanders said. “We got to sell this thing out and pack this thing because the way the trend is going, you never know if this is going to be the last spring game. I don’t believe in that. I don’t really want to condone that. I would like to play in the spring. Actually, I (would) like to play against another team in the spring. That’s what I’m trying to do right now. 

“To have a competitive (game) against your own guys kind of gets monotonous. You really can’t tell the level of your guys because, you know, it’s the same old, same way. Everybody kind of know each other. Towards the end, I would like to style it like the pros. I would like to practice against someone for a few days, then you have the spring game and I think the public will be satisfied with that tremendously. I think it’s a tremendous idea. I’ve told those personnel who should understand that it’s a tremendous idea.”

Will Colorado and Syracuse get together to host joint spring practices and a spring game this year? It certainly seems like that is in motion at this point.

There may yet be some hurdles — is NCAA approval needed, for example? In any case, it’s nice to see coaches trying to innovate in the ever-changing world of college athletics. And few are as cutting edge in their approach as Deion Sanders.

On3’s Nick Kosko also contributed to this report.