Prime Education: Deion Sanders heads up class at University of Colorado

Seemingly, there are few firsts left for Deion Sanders, aka Coach Prime.

Last Friday on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, a new aspect of the Prime Era unfolded: Deion Sanders, self-dubbed 'Professor Prime,' guest-lectured a class at CU.

Hardly just any class, this new offering is dubbed "Prime Time: Public Performance and Leadership."

And while Coach Prime has steadily grown his burgeoning, multi-faceted empire with omnipresent cameras and a video team headed by his social media guru son, Deion Sanders Jr., 'Professor Prime' also managed to deliver some brand-new information to the class.

Starting with introducing his security guard and revealing why he has constant protection.

"We get death threats, so you know, we have to bring security," Sanders told the class. "I'm dead serious, too; I'm not lying."

Aside from disclosing threats against his life, 'Professor Prime' most notably went in-depth on the current money-fueled landscape in collegiate athletics -- particularly that of college football.

He blasted the false landscape of "NIL" and took to task the collectives that have popped up nationwide and ruined the system, Sanders said.

"NIL is not really what you think it is. All these kids are not getting NIL. These kids are getting collectives," he told the class, which he is scheduled to address a second time later this semester. "Collectives, if we took an offering up in this classroom, we passed the bucket like the church and you put this collection plate, and you put your collective in and we say, 'You know what, we've got 10 players up here, let's divide that. That player right there should get $10, that player right there should get $20.' That's a collective."

Sanders then quizzed the class on how many current student-athletes they had seen in true marketing opportunities on a national scale that reflected NIL.

One student responded: "Travis (Hunter), Shilo (Sanders), Shedeur (Sanders)."

NIL is name, image and likeness. Since I've got time today, I want you to tell me how many players in college that you've seen on commercials. I got time today, let's go.

"Don't forget the kid from USC, right?," Prime said.

Another student mentioned both Caitlyn Clark. Bo Nix.

Sanders said he had not seen the Bo Nix commercial but would take the student's word for it. He then again undressed the situation with collectives. 

"This ain't NIL," Deion Sanders told the class. "That's all you've seen. All these college athletes, and you named five (football players). This is not NIL, this is not the day of NIL. That's what it is supposed to be, but it's collectives. That's where it went wrong. 

"I wish it was NIL, so the kids could earn it. Because now you gotta ball for a CEO to invest in you. You think I'm going to have, let's say a hundred-million-dollar company, and I'm going to invest in a college kid that I don't know nothing about and he could be a deer in the headlights or get drunk after the game and now my company brand is on him? There's no way. So you kind of wait to those kids prove to you that they can handle the light, can handle the stage, can handle the opportunity, then you may afford to give them that.

"But we're talking about collectives, and I'm sick of everybody in the country talking about NIL. It's not NIL."

Sanders encouraged the students to be ready for the defining moments and opportunities in their lives; he shared how he honed his "Prime Time" persona at Florida State, going as far as reminiscing on how he wrote down and practiced quotes for post-game interviews in effort to make himself a bigger, more marketable athlete. 

"We don't get many moments, and you've got to seize it," said Sanders, singling out Michael Jordan and Taylor Swift as specific examples of people who met their moments and ascended. "You're going to have a moment to deliver and go get it and catapult yourself up to another level. What are you going to do with your moment."

Sanders revealed that the verbal dust-up he had in early September with Colorado State coach Jay Norvell, who had been critical of Sanders wearing a hat and sunglasses to press conferences, resulted in the sale of "$3 million shades" that weekend through Prime's marketing deal with Blenders brand sunglasses. 

On the field in 2024, Sanders vowed major strides after a 3-1 start in 2023 dissolved into an 4-8 finish. 

"We didn't know how to win," Sanders said. "Now, we have a collection of individuals who know how to win. You should see a lot of progress. 

"Last year, we kind of gave you hope. This year, we are going to fulfill expectations."