Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, and Matt Rhule cited to dispel Coach Prime's Colorado football recruiting claims
On3's Jesse Simonton really didn't appreciate Coach Prime's explanation for why he doesn't go to the homes and high schools of Colorado football recruiting targets, calling Deion Sanders out for simultaneously claiming he's too much a celebrity to go on visits but also wants to save CU money.
In order to illustrate his point, Simonton evoked the names of Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, and Matt Rhule to show examples of coaches who navigated the same waters while still making an effort to go on visits.
"Sanders absolutely has one of the top Q-ratings in all of college football in 2024 — especially in a Nick Saban-less sport — and he’s probably correct in his assessment that he could upset some local high school coaches in Florida if he takes the Deion Show to one school but not another," Simonton prefaced before saying. "But plenty of other very famous coaches have managed to navigate such waters.
"Before retiring, won eight national championships and went in-home with all 26 Alabama commits in the Tide’s No. 2 recruiting class in 2024. visited 100 high schools a week after Georgia won its first national title. went on a barnstorming tour across Texas when he got the Baylor and Nebraska jobs. Coaches visit schools and go in-home with prospects because it’s part of the relationship-building with high school coaches, parents and players. If Smart skips one major high school in Atlanta in favor over another, he’d hear about it, too."
Coach Prime's Colorado football recruiting tactics drew comparisons to late-era Joe Paterno
Mike Farrell (of the Mike Farrell Sports brand) believes Coach Prime's inability to visit recruits is akin to late-era Joe Paterno being unable to because of his age.
"A report came out that Deion hasn’t done any home visits on the recruiting trail since he’s been hired at Colorado," Farrell prefaced before saying, "This wasn’t shocking to me; I knew this. I’ve talked to former staffers of his and people in the know who told me this was happening from the beginning. It’s the most uncommon recruiting practice ever. Joe Paterno stopped doing home visits when he was in his late 70s, which is understandable in a way. He was old and feeble. Should JoePa still have been the head coach? Nope. Did that end well? Obviously not. JoePa was a figurehead at the end and a bad one at that. Deion Sanders has been a figurehead since day one at Colorado but his fans and the cult that follows him won’t admit it. And here we are."
Sanders has had his own health issues in the last several years, having toes amputated due to bloodclots in his leg. That said, he still has more energy now than Paterno did in his final years coaching; which turned out to be his final few years on this earth as well.