Tyler Brown, one of Deion Sanders' Jackson State-to-Colorado football transfers for the 2023 season, defended Coach Prime from accusations from ex-Buffs who were cut from the 2022 roster that Sanders broke their spirits and created a hostile environment for them in the locker room.
"Absolutely frustrating seeing all these negative articles about my coach and our program," Brown tweeted on April 30. "You work hard and you will be rewarded! Coach Prime and the wonderful staff at CU checked on me every single day and made sure I was okay when I couldn’t play! Don’t believe the lies."
Former safety Xavier Smith, who didn't play a single snap at CU and transferred to FCS Austin Peay, implied that Sanders' delivery when he cut players from the 2022 team was seemingly designed to destroy their confidence.
"He was destroying guys' confidence and belief in themselves," Smith said (h/t Bleacher Report). "The way he did it, it could've been done with a little more compassion."
Chase Sowell, who played in three games before suffering an injury with the Buffs in 2022 and transferred to ECU, was the one who floated the idea that Sanders wanted to alienate players already on the team for his own transfers.
"We felt like it was us vs. them instead of all of us together," Sowell said. "That's the best way I can put it. The new guys were going against the players that had already been there. It wasn't a good environment to be in. It wasn't a team environment."
Former Colorado football QB on Deion Sanders: 'That's how coaches talk'
One former Buff who didn't complain about how Coach Prime handled the transition from the Karl Dorrell era to his own, Maddox Kopp, acknowledged that what Sanders did wasn't unprecedented by any stretch.
"The whole world was a little bit shocked … but that’s how coaches talk and that’s how they think," Kopp said (h/t CBS Sports). "And just says it."
So there you have it. Some players see what Sanders did as sacrilege while others saw it as unsurprising and not newsworthy.
Of course, many talking heads ran with the former trying to bring Sanders down. That's the least surprising development in all of this.