Weekly Press Conference Quotes

Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders

Opening Statement
"Wonderful game, tremendous win. The sellout crowd atmosphere was astonishing, impeccable, grand. First time ever truly experiencing that at the college level. It was tremendous to see all the celebs and alumni coming back. It was tremendous. And seeing the kids take the field at the conclusion of the game was unbelievable. I'm proud, I'm happy to be your coach and proud to coach these young men. 16 million viewers in the last two games. Tremendous. One of the largest, second most streamed game on Fox in history. Number 10 most watched regular season college football game in Fox history. Pretty darn good to get started."

On The Coaching Staff
"When we really looked to hire them we wanted to understand their characteristics, the way they got along with people, the way they connected with the youth and parents as well as their recruiting ability. There's so many components based on hiring a coach nowadays, but all the guys that we have on this staff come from a relationship or a relationship from a relationship and they are great parents. And that's something that matters to me, because it's hard for me to give you the opportunity to lead someone's child when you're not even leading yours. So that's one of the components that I truly look for, but these coaches are unbelievable and I don't try to tell them how to do what they do. I may be the navigational system every once in a while, but we brought them here because they were really good at what they do and I'm proud of them."

On Jay Norvell's Comment On Both Being Black Coaches
"I haven't met this gentleman, but I hear he's a good man. I know he's a great coach. He has those guys playing hard. I like that and I'm glad he said that. I like that. Unfortunately, one of the brothers got to lose when you face another black head coach. And you want to see us win, that's the thing. But besides that it's just tremendous getting this opportunity and allowing the nation to see that we are more than capable of doing a suffice and sufficient and a great job. So I'm happy he pointed that out and I have the utmost respect for him, truly."

On C Van Wells' Injury
"He's healing. The thing about it is this is a game where it's next man up and the next guy came in and did a great job and we didn't miss a beat. That's the thing, when any of these running backs go out, when those receivers go out. The defensive line has a tremendous rotation and we're trying to find those two linebackers that we feel are suitable. We have rotations in some of the dime packages and the nickel packages as well. So we have the depth that we need. We could always use more, but I feel like we're okay at that position. But hopefully Van gets better soon."

On Reaching Out To Norvell Regarding Air-Raid Offense
"Yeah, I called several people. Honestly, I think my initial call was to Mike Leach, Coach Leach. God bless and rest in peace. That's who I called initially because he's it. He is it. So that's pretty much how we did it. I interviewed several people and that's how I met Brett, but definitely because I knew we had a stout defense led by Dennis Thurmon and we wanted to put up more points. So I wanted to know the intricate details of that offense."

On CB Travis Jay and LB Brendan Gant
"I don't think they're close. I don't know where they're at. I've got to see them, I got to see how they work, how they fit in and if they know the scheme. But they have tremendous attitudes, which is really positive. They have tremendous work ethics. So I really like what I've seen thus far, but I can't wait to see them on the field. I feel like they're a little bit of ways from really playing and starting the game."

On Player Recognition
"That's the goal, that's the aim. We want them to get even more accolades. They don't play for accolades. They play to be dominant, they play to go to the next level and come here and get a solid education. But when they're noticed and when they're highlighted that's tremendous. That's a tremendous plus for this program."

On QB Shedeur Sanders Getting Hit
"That has a lot to do with a multitude of things. It's not just the line. It could be what we called on that particular play, it could be if the receiver ran the right route, it could be check-offs, it could be a multitude of things. So you never really know what's going on throughout a play because we had several busts during the game. We had several things that didn't go as it should have even before the snap of the ball making sure the right protection was signaled and so forth. But we hope to get the ball out of his hands a little quicker so he can protect himself."

On Enjoying The Moment
"No, not really. I don't have time to enjoy the moment. Santa doesn't have time. He has to deliver the gifts. He doesn't have time to enjoy his cookies, that's all he gets. I ain't got time for that. I gotta keep it going. I gotta keep this machine going and make sure we stay on the right path, make sure we're locked in and we're focused on the right things. I got to make sure we're practicing adequately, make sure we give it our all, make sure we're making the right adjustments and playing the proper personnel. So it's a lot. It's a lot driving this train. It's not easy."

On LB Juwan Mitchell
"He's really an intelligent player. He really knows the game of football. Not only that he's instinctive. He's way more instinctive than other linebackers. He's very physical and his aptitude for the game is like he knows football."

On QB Shedeur Sanders And S Shilo Sanders Visiting CSU
"I don't know much, was it coach Bobo that was there? We had a relationship and he recruited my son. I know they (Shilo and Shedeur) had a good time and I think they got into an argument on the trip. Then they called me that night fighting with each other, probably about the room and trying to bring a girl over, something stupid like that. I promise you the other one didn't want to leave, that probably was it. That was it, a matter of fact. They enjoyed the trip tremendously, but I think they enjoyed it here much better."

On Attracting Linemen
"It's already changed. I say that so you can highlight it, print it, and run with it which is what I wanted you to do, so thank you. Obviously when you have a coach to play defensive back your attractability is skilled positions. We don't have a tremendous problem getting those bigs. I think we have a tremendous rotation of bigs right now on offense and defensive line. We haven't seen the offensive line as of yet because the solid five has been in there but now we have the six going in at center. But trust me those guys are coming. They're coming. We've been receiving so many calls at this point right now. It's absurd. Just inquiring about what we do and how we do, what we do in visitation desiring to come on unofficial or official visit. So I'm liking where we are right now."

On Going For It On Fourth Down
"That's just believing in the team, believing in the staff, and understanding the flow of the game and different possibilities of the game. A lot of things that you see that we may go for it, we've already rehearsed in practice. We already went over that situation several times during the week. Because we had an inclination that we may be at fourth and two or third and three in that particular yard line where it's risky for a field goal but too close to punt, and your defense is playing good so you might as well take a shot."

On The Rocky Mountain Showdown
"You gotta give me one at a time now you just got me all hyped up about Nebraska. That was a tremendous tradition. Now you want me to understand the Rocky Mountain showdown so you got to give me some verbiage and some literature on something you know, just to brief me. Trust me, this isn't my first rodeo when it comes to that. I think the Falcons and the Saints were quite a showdown as well as playing against the 49ers, as well as the Cowboys. I can keep going, with Baseball as well. So it's always some type of adversity that you have against someone in close proximity to you. I had two divorces, which was a heck of a showdown too."

On DE Arden Walker
"He was that guy. We're lucky that he's truly contributing for us. He can play with a lot of energy, but just a great overall young man. And I'm proud of the man he is on and off the field I truly am."

On QB Shedeur Sanders Settling Into The Game

"See the thing is when something happens you don't really know what's going on. You just see the TV cut and he is getting sacked. You don't know who missed the block. You don't know who ran the wrong route. You don't know if he missed the read. You never know what happens on those types of plays. So you will have to go over each play one by one so you can understand what transpired on those plays. I just learned not to really get emotional with him about it because when I watched the film then I saw what really transpired. So I don't really get upset with him but I know for a fact he's not wanting to hold the ball. His pre-snap reads are excellent and he knows where he's going with the ball normally so when something happens and he's getting sacked, something tremendous was supposed to happen. It didn't go the way we wanted it to go. I trust him."

On Preparation For CSU
"Well we wanted to get out to a great start of practice today. We cut practice down a little bit but we wanted the full speed and the tremendous tempo which we got out of the guys. We got to get started. Oftentimes coaches and teams wait till Saturday to get started. You get started today. On the scouting report this morning, you get started when you touch that field, when you snap on the chinstrap and having a good start translates to a good start on Saturday and that's what we need. We want to exceed expectation if expectation is to win, we may understand that but let's exceed that. Whatever the expectation is, let's exceed that individually and combined as a team. We're winning but we're not playing our best football. That's a tremendous sign and we can't wait to build off that we want to show you a game that we put together offensively defensively as well as special teams. We want to show our fan base that game and that's what we're chasing."

On Responding To Matt Rhule
"No, not really. That was unfortunate. I didn't even know anything about it. They said they were praying in the middle of the field. So it was cool with me. I mean I'm happy that's what they were doing and amen. I'm all for that. Let's turn the page. Let's get on to Colorado State."

On Current Mentality
"It's the consistency of who I am. I rock steady. I get a little feisty and a little hype and I start changing as the days grow on to the game you know, I get more determined and focused and locked in. But right now I have trust and I have a belief that we're gonna do what we need to do.
That translates to our young men that're in that locker room as well as our coaches. Not only are the young men watching me but the coaches are too. A multitude of them have been with me and they notice. But some of the new coaches got to understand we have a consistency in everything we do. From the way we act, from the way we talk. When we walk from the way we go about our business. We have consistency and we want to translate that into the young men in the locker room. That's what we're searching for. That's what all of us are searching for in consistency, not only from ourselves, but from the people we choose to befriend and love."

Xavier Weaver, Gr., WR

On Having Success This Year
"It's unexplainable, it feels good. I can't really explain the feeling, but just all the hard work coming together and finally showing on the big stage, it feels good, it's a blessing."

On Playing CSU
"We just got to keep on stacking days and getting better in practice so that we come out with a fast start, not like how we came out last week versus Nebraska. We want to come out fast, score on the first drive and score on almost every drive. So we got to come out and execute plays and the game plan that coach gives us and we'll be smooth."

On Unselfish WR Room
"We know the top playmakers we got in the room. We know that everybody could do the same thing and pretty much we could all do a lot. Shedeur told us one day it might be your game, one day it might not. Certain defenses give us certain looks, maybe the scheme for this week might be the safeties, maybe it might be the corners that are not as good so we want to attack certain people on defense so you never know when it's gonna be your game."

On How The Offense Can Improve
"A lot of things. We practice the run a lot. We got to establish that run, establish that line of scrimmage. Our o-line is doing a really good job of that. We also got to practice more deep balls. We got to practice a lot of things because we're not anywhere near our potential or our standard so there's a lot more coming."

On The Attention
"It's a blessing. It's a blessing in disguise. I've been training in practice for moments like this pretty much my whole life. And now that we're on the stage that I want to be on it's starting to come to light and it's a blessing."

On His Own Performance
"There's always room for improvement. I feel like I still can go out there and get 200. A lot of us think we can go out there and still get 200. So there's definitely some improvement still left in my game and everybody's game in the receiving room and everybody's game on the team. Nobody's played up to the standard yet so like I said, there's still a lot more to come."

On Pregame Energy
"You got to come out with some type of juice, some type of energy. If you come out flat you're gonna play flat so I feel like we always got to come out with that type of edge on our shoulder. Everybody's coming out looking at us regardless if we're coming out for warmups or we're coming out for the game. Everybody wants to see us, we have cameras on us 24/7 so we have to come out with that type of energy or else we're gonna play flat."

On What Makes Sheduer A Great QB
"Ball placement, his leadership, his attention to details. Coming out of your break you better know that that ball is coming. Scrambling, you better scramble because he's going to scramble. The play is never dead even when you think it's dead. So it's just just the little things he does and how he carries himself as a person and as a leader is different. He's different."

On Being A Black Player Playing For A Black Coach
"Seeing myself reflected as the man that's taking us out to battle and we're going out to play for is great. We got all these cameras around all the time so them seeing us they see him and them seeing him they see us so it's definitely a blessing."

On Dealing With The Attention
"We know what we got in the room. We know what we got on the team. Maybe the people on the outside looking in only see YouTube videos and stuff like that. They don't know what we got. So I say that's really what it is. We know what we got and pretty much people don't."

On Hall Of Famers Helping Out
"That's self explanatory. You got those types of guys in your room and you got those types of guys on your back helping you out every day. Just looking up to them, critiquing you on certain little things. You can feel like you've messed up, go talk to one of the greats. So it's just amazing to have them in our room. And they've all been level headed down to earth people. They're just like us and they come to teach us and coach us and stuff like that. You can ask them any question you want, so it's a blessing."

On If The Mindset Changes Being Favored
"Not at all. Not at all. We just still have to come out strong and come out fast. We can't come out flat. We can't take any team for granted. Every game we're gonna have a big target on our back no matter who we play. So it could be Alabama we have to play, we have to come out strong. It could be whoever y'all want to say, but we have to come out strong regardless because this is everybody's Super Bowl when they play CU. They want to get this dub because they know the stage that they're going to be on as well."

On The Offensive Line
"The o-line is special. As a team, we're hard on the o-line because we can only go as far as they can go. So we're really hard on them, but they prove a lot every week. Every week somebody from another team talks about how that's our weakest link, but day in and day out they prove everybody wrong. They prove us wrong and prove the coaches wrong. So we bank on them a lot and they just lead the way. Congrats to those boys."

On The Locker Room Believing
"You know, we've only been a team for a couple of months so it's still kind of hard for some people to believe the things that we are doing in such little time. It's just like the outside people looking in. I know there's still people out there that don't believe. They think a lot of this stuff is lucky, a lot of this stuff is a fluke. So I definitely believe we got some people on the team that probably don't believe, but I know it's coming along. I know they're believing now."

On The Rocky Mountain Showdown
"I haven't really heard too much about it. I just know it's the in-state rivalry and they're the next opponent so like I said, we just got to go out there and play and dominate."

Colorado University Athletics

Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders

Xavier Weaver, Gr., WR

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