Alabama publication believes Deion Sanders responded to Paul Finebaum's Colorado football rant
AL.com's Mark Heim framed Deion Sanders' June 12 motivational post on X as a direct response to Paul Finebaum's scathing and viral criticism of Coach Prime's initial season with the Colorado football program.
Sanders' post was a straightforward motivational quote about being the person you want to be, not who others see you as.
"We're spending to much time trying to be who we think people want us to be instead of who we are," Sanders' post read. "Ain't nobody close to perfection & everybody's judged so be you flawed & unfinished. A flawed u is better than being the lie you're pretending to be. God bless you. #CoachPrime."
The insinuation here is that Sanders gives more respect to an SEC Network host across the country saying things to generate interest than certain players he specifically recruited to his program, or current/former teammates of said players. I don't know if I subscribe to that thought. Coach Prime went viral for being dismissive of Jaheim Ward after he defended Xavier Smith on X. This doesn't come off as him defending himself or going at anyone.
It's more likely that it was a scheduled tweet from Sanders' PR team than a dig by design. While Finebaum was harsh, he didn't cross the line and drag Sanders' family into it. He addressed a season worth criticism, even if it came with an inappropriate amount of venom toward a first-year head coach in charge of a team that hasn't seen consistent success in decades.
Sanders has always invited the spotlight, though, and he got it from Finebaum in a most noxious form.
Deion Sanders rarely responds to critics of Colorado football
It'd be more likely for Bucky Sanders to go after an analyst than Coach Prime. Sanders would focus on letting his team do the talking on the field.
Sanders wasn't shy about defending his program from former players, but it's a different beast entirely to address shock jock comments. It's the media's job to chirp, and it's his, and every college football coach, to respond with program success.