Stephen A. Smith, Cam Newton suggest Auburn should look at Deion Sanders for head coach

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders has become a hot name in coaching rumors of late, though it remains to be seen if he actually wants to leave the Buffaloes. If he does, though, some ESPN personalities think an SEC program should be targeting him.

Specifically, ESPN talking heads Stephen A. Smith and Cam Newton — who won a Heisman and national championship playing at Auburn — think that Auburn should go after Sanders. Smith began the case on air on Friday morning by arguing that Sanders’ current setting can’t match what the SEC has to offer.

“I understand Boulder, Colorado. I’ve seen the stadium,” Smith said. “I was there twice, for crying out loud, Deion got me to come to Boulder, Colorado. I get that part. But it ain’t 100,000 showing up in Death Valley or Alabama or Georgia. There’s a different flavor that comes with it. I didn’t say he needed it. I didn’t say that. What I said was, it doesn’t negate the fact that there’s an elevated level of fervor in certain confines that don’t exist elsewhere. Come on now, you watch Colorado, you’ve seen it. I know the crowd, they’re supporting him, they’re there for him, the whole bit, Cam. But come on now. It’s different in the SEC.”

He continued.

“And by the way, Cam: I think Auburn should be looking at him, too. How about that?” Smith said.

Newton didn’t disagree with the notion that Sanders could come to The Plains.

“Man, I’ve been saying that. I’ve been saying that,” Newton said.

Auburn’s current head coach, Hugh Freeze, is in his second season leading the Tigers. The results on the field have not been good for the Tigers, and it would reportedly cost Auburn north of $20 million to fire Freeze this year.

A third member of the crew, Ryan Clark, chimed in. His thought: If Sanders does make the jump to the SEC and Auburn, he’d better be ready for an even bigger need to infuse talent than what he encountered in Boulder.

Clark leaned on an analogy Sanders used when he arrived at Colorado about bringing his “Louis” — i.e. Louis Vuitton — luggage, a signal for current players to transfer.

“Here’s the other thing then,” Clark said, “that luggage you showed up with, better be bigger than two bags.”