Colorado State DB comes close to taunting Coach Prime after scoop and score

Colorado State defensive back Ron Hardge III almost did the unthinkable after picking up a Travis Hunter fumble and bringing it to the house for a scoop and score — coming dangerously close to taunting Coach Prime with the classic high step Deion Sanders popularized during his NFL career.

The fumble recovery put the Rams up by a touchdown in the first quarter, certainly a shock considering Colorado State entered Week 3’s Rocky Mountain Showdown as a four-score underdog.

What would’ve been a true shocker was seeing Hardge continue the disrespect that was initiated from the CSU program by Jay Norvell when he called out Coach Prime for wearing a cowboy hat and glasses.

Jay Norvell’s comments to Coach Prime and Deion Sanders’ response

The first shot of the Colorado-Colorado State rivalry’s 2023 edition was fired by Norvell when he called out Sanders’ fashion sense before, during, and after games.

“(CSU players are) tired of all that stuff,” Norvell prefaced before saying, “They really are tired of it. And I sat down with ESPN today, and I don’t care if they hear it in Boulder. I told them, ‘I took my hat off, and I took my glasses off.’ And I said, ‘When I talk to grown-ups, I take my hat and my glasses off.’ That’s what my mother taught me.”

Sanders didn’t take kindly to Norvell’s sentiment.

“I’m a grown man,” Sanders said on his weekly coach’s show September 14 in Boulder. “Don’t tell me what I am supposed to wear and what I am not supposed to wear. Please.”

After Rece Davis responded to Norvell’s comments from an understanding point of view, the CSU coach backed up Davis and explained his reasoning.

“With all the media involved with this game, not one reporter asked me about my comments,” Norvell prefaced before saying of Davis, “One guy got it. I wanted to send a message to our players and how we run our program.”