Long before Deion Sanders became the head coach at Colorado, and years before Shedeur Sanders became a household name in college football, there was The Truth.
That was Sanders’ youth football program in Texas, where he coached and mentored young players long before the spotlight followed him to Jackson State and eventually Boulder.
One of those players was Amir Anuar Aly, known professionally as HeadHuncho Amir. He is a Dallas recording artist now, but back then he was an eighth grader playing for Sanders. Amir suited up in The Truth football league alongside Shedeur Sanders, which made his recent sit-down with Coach Prime feel like a real full-circle moment.
Amir is not just one of Sanders’ former youth players anymore. His music career is beginning to take off, with nearly 50,000 YouTube subscribers and more than 200,000 followers on Instagram. He has also become one of the young voices connected to what he called “New Dallas.”
That made Sanders’ reaction even more meaningful.
“I didn’t know this was in your bag,” Sanders told him. “But you barely spoke. You weren’t a [very] vocal dude.”.
Amir and Prime talked about his music career, his upcoming album, his consistency in the studio and the movement forming around young Dallas artists. He explained that “New Dallas” is about artists from different parts of the city coming together without hate, without beef and without pulling the next generation into the same old cycles.
“It really was just us all in the studio one day and was just like, man, we the new up and coming artists,” Amir said. “We are the new wave. We New Dallas.”
That was one of the more interesting parts of the conversation because Sanders has always presented himself as more than a football coach. At Colorado, that can show up in the way he talks about practice standards, accountability, punctuality, professionalism and preparing young men for life beyond the field.
Sanders asked Amir if he learned anything from their time together in youth footbal and Amir immediately went back to one of Coach Prime’s old lessons.
“What you do in practice is going to show in the game,” Amir recalled Sanders telling him. “If you playing in practice, you ain’t going hard for real, ain’t paying attention, it’s going to show in the game….It’s just like that in the studio. You ain’t working in that studio really trying to perfect your craft. When you drop music, people are going to tell.”
That answer seemed to hit Sanders. “I’m so darn proud of you, man. You have no idea.”
Shedeur Sanders also came up during the conversation. Amir said he greatly appreciates what Shedeur has going on, and he said the Browns quarterback reached out after finding out Amir performed in Cleveland.
For all the criticism Coach Prime has heard about recruiting, home visits and the way he runs his program, this conversation was a reminder that there is another side to the story.
Sanders may not do everything the traditional way. He may not be the coach who checks every old-school box. But moments like this make it difficult to say his approach lacks heart.
There are plenty of fair ways to debate Coach’s methods. That comes with the job, where every move gets magnified. But when former players, students, staff members and others in Sanders’ life continue to show that kind of loyalty, it usually says something.
Sanders has always prioritized inspiring others, especially young people. Amir’s story is one more example of that.
Add us as a preferred source on Google