Why Deion Sanders built his Colorado team with a strong Florida influence

ORLANDO, Fla. — Deion Sanders didn’t need to hear the finished question before jumping into his argument.

“What makes Florida players different?” Coach Prime was asked as his Colorado team prepared for a road game Saturday at Central Florida.

“That hunger. That thirst, that will, that want. That me-against-the-world (mentality),” Sanders explained. “That 'we don’t have the best of things, but we’re going to make the most of things.' The way our parents came up, the desolate and turbulent times that we’ve come through. The naysayers, the haters.”

Why was Sanders so quick to answer that question? He was describing himself, once upon a time, when he was a blossoming football star in Fort Myers, Fla., in the early 1980s.

Unlike the thousands of high school football players who attempt every year from the Sunshine State, Sanders hit the big time. He was given the chance to play for Bobby Bowden at Florida State and ascended into one of the country’s best players.

Over the course of a Pro Football Hall of Fame career, Sanders became an icon — and not only in Atlanta, Dallas and San Francisco where he starred, but across the entire country. Still, nowhere treasures Sanders like Florida.

“That was my dad’s favorite player,” Buffaloes wide receiver LaJohntay Wester, who’s from the small town of Palmetto, Fla., told The Denver Gazette.

Now, Sanders returns to his home state — for the first time as the leader of the CU program — as Coach Prime. When he takes the field against UCF at FBC Mortgage Stadium, he’ll do so with nearly two dozen players on his roster either from Florida or who played high school football in the state.

The headliner is Travis Hunter, the Buffs' two-way star who grew up in West Palm Beach before moving to Georgia in middle school. Hunter might be the best Sanders comp since Sanders retired in 2005.

The Central Florida game is a special one for the Florida products on the Colorado roster.

“I can’t wait,” Wester said. “The city’s going to be out there. My hometown’s gonna be out there. My hometown’s real small and they’re supportive. I can’t thank Palmetto enough. Me and (brother) Jaylen on this big stage right here, I know they’re proud so they’re gonna come out and support us.”

The 18 players on CU’s roster who call Florida home is second only to Texas in terms of number of players from a single state. The Texas-raised Buffs went home for the 2023 season opener at TCU and now are watching their Florida teammates experience the same feeling.

“Lord, these guys are ready to go back home,” safety Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig said with a laugh. “Everybody’s trying to trade tickets and everything. We’ve got a million people coming to the game. Everybody’s excited to go down there to Florida.”

While Sanders has consistently praised the players that come from Florida, it’s still somewhat of a surprise to those who recruit the state that it keeps churning out quality players year after year.

“Florida may have the least-paid high school coaches in the country, but may produce the most athletes in the country. I don’t know how that happens,” Coach Prime said. “Even when it comes to facilities, I’m sure Texas is No. 1 and Florida is still putting out dawgs. If you want to put an all-pro team out there with Florida, we’ve got one.”

Speaking of an all-pro team of Florida players, you can start on defense with two Hall of Famers on CU’s coaching staff. Sanders, regarded as one of the best cornerbacks of all-time, is a no-brainer. So is graduate assistant Warren Sapp, who’s from the Orlando area and became a star at Miami.

How the likes of Sanders and Sapp got where they are now is no secret.

“I think it’s our mentality and just where we come from,” said Wester, who caught a game-tying Hail Mary touchdown pass last week in a win over Baylor. “A lot of Florida guys, they’re not blessed with a lot of opportunities. Once we get an opportunity that’s gonna help us get to the next level or help us accomplish a goal, we just work 10 times harder than the next man. We’re real hungry and desperate.”

It should be a memorable game for almost all of those 18 Florida natives representing CU, many of whom will have family members in attendance for the only time all season. But they know it will be more memorable if they return to Boulder with a win.

“It’s good now, until you get down there and play,” Coach Prime said. “You gotta win. We don’t want to go down there and think it’s just a field trip. Our Florida boys are excited, but they know we’re on the job.”