Defending Shedeur's jersey retirement, Deion Sanders almost stumbles into a moment of self-awareness

Deion Sanders met the media in a defensive posture on Thursday, and for good reason. For the first time in his 2-plus years in the mountains, Coach Prime has angered the locals. 

In case you missed it, on Monday Colorado announced it will retire the jerseys of outgoing Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and outgoing quarterback Shedeur Sanders, to much shock and dismay. 

"Retiring numbers is a huge honor and something that should never be taken lightly. I believe strongly that there should be a cooling off period, the same as with the Hall of Fame in the NFL, so decisions are not made out of emotion," former Buffalo Darrin Chiaverini said in a well-circulated post on Twitter. Chiaverini noted that Colorado's first Heisman winner, running back Rashaan Salaam, waited 23 years to get his jersey retired, while Hunter will wait zero games. Players like College Football Hall of Famer Alfred Williams and the iconic Kordell Stewart, among others littered through Buffs history, are still waiting. 

Clearly, the talk has gotten to Deion. When a reporter broached the topic, calling it a "sore subject," Sanders shot back "not really. This is is the first time I've ever seen it sore."

Sanders then claimed every jersey he ever wore is retired, which is not even close to true. The Atlanta Falcons and Dallas Cowboys do not retire jerseys, but his No. 21 is currently issued out by both teams. (He is in the Falcons ring of honor, but not the Cowboys.) The 49ers have retired 12 numbers, but Prime's No. 21 is not among them. 

"We're talking about Shedeur, we're not talking about nobody else. If his last name wasn't Sanders, we wouldn't be having this discussion. The only reason we're having this discussion is his last name is Sanders. Okay? That's it," 

Sanders is 100 percent correct, but 180 degrees away from the direction he thinks he is. 

Before we go further, let's acknowledge Sanders had an impressive college career, no matter his last name. He set a Division I record with a touchdown pass in 49 straight games, won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award as the top upperclassman quarterback in college football, and was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year by the conference's coaches and writers. All due respect to Kordell Stewart, he never won the Big 8 Offensive Player of the Year. 

But if Sanders's name was Shedeur Johnson, he's not getting his No. 2 retired. At least not yet. If he played at a more traditional power than Colorado -- no offense to Colorado -- he's not getting his number retired yet. If his coach was anyone other than his father, he's not getting his number retired.

I think that's what cut to the core of why Colorado fans are so upset by this. It's the first time they've had to publicly reckon with how much autonomy over their proud university they've given over to an employee that's been on the job for less than three years. Deion Sanders will be gone from Colorado one day, and statistically speaking probably sooner than later. But Shedeur's No. 2, the quarterback of teams that went 13-12, did not play for a conference championship and were blown out of the only bowl game they qualified for, will hang at Folsom Field forever. Ohio State is not doing this, at least not now. Oklahoma is not. Nebraska is not. But Deion has Colorado so leveraged to him personally that he can make such a permanent, monumental decision (or, worse, have one made on his behalf) on a relative moment's notice. 

Breathing life into those fears, Sanders pivoted into a rant that made it appear getting the Sanders name into Colorado lore was a way to thank him for all he's done for Colorado.

"There's been so many things accomplished at this university expeditiously, it's been unbelievable. And I think we should be appreciative, we should be thankful. We have a wonderful room full of people that covers us, and I don't know if you all were in this room two, three years ago. It's a new day. We're doing things a little different. The training table's better, the food's better, nobody's said nothing about that. There's a whole lot of things that are brighter and they're better because someone stands on business and makes it that way, and he is resilient when it comes to it being that way because everything I do is to improve everything for us. One time we came in here and it was hot and I said, 'Let's turn the air conditioner on.' Night game, right? The next time we came in, what happened? I think about those details. Because it don't just benefit me, it benefits all of us. So if all of us are happy, all of us should be happy. 

"The root to all of it is personal. Sometimes we've got to get out the way, man, and be thankful for our people. Love thy neighbor as thyself, that's what the Bible told me. If we loved thy neighbor truly, we wouldn't have a problem with anybody else."

Finally, Deion was asked one more question on the topic, and again he cut in. A reporter opened a question by saying that he's sure it's a big moment for Shedeur when Deion interrupted, "He don't care. Let's get this straight: he's a Sanders, he don't care. Travis don't either." Deion then closed with the most grandiose statement of the entire week: "I don't, either."