Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders sends impassioned defense of Michael Penix Jr.

Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders was highly passionate in his defense of NFL draft prospect and former Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. in a tweet fired off a day before the first round of the NFL draft on April 24.

"I can't stand the way the mainstream media and draft experts have look over, look by & looked pass (sic) MICHAEL PENIX JR," Sanders wrote on X (h/t CBS Sports). "This is ridiculous. This young man had a GREAT year and one average game vs the #1 defense in college football. SOMEBODY stand up and tell the Truth (please)."

Penix is expected to be selected in the first round of the NFL draft but in the second wave of QBs. Caleb Williams, who Sanders has also defended in the past, is widely expected to go No. 1 overall, while Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye are expected to be the No. 2 and No. 3 picks. JJ McCarthy, who helped lead Michigan to a College Football Playoff national championship win over Penix's Huskies, is expected to be a top-10 pick. Penix and Bo Nix will be the next two off the board, though realistically they can be selected anywhere in the top 32.

Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders missing the mark with Michael Penix comments

No one is criticizing Penix to any significant degree, but his profile isn't one that projects to be as successful at the next level as the quarterbacks expected to be selected ahead of him in the 2024 NFL draft.

Sanders is doing the young man a major solid by getting his name out there, but he isn't likely to change anyone's minds. Penix has a checkered injury history and doesn't have the physique of his peers. Hence being a late-first-round pick.

There's nothing wrong with that. Penix is about to realize his NFL draft dream either way.