Unprompted Tuesday, Deion Sanders made his feelings about Utah coach Kyle Whittingham without mystery.
Safe to say, Coach Prime is quite the admirer of Whittingham, the 20-year Utah leader whose Utes travel to face Sanders's Colorado Buffaloes Saturday.
Colorado is 7-2, 5-1 in Big 12 Conference play and can clinch a spot in the league's conference championship by winning its final three games, starting with the Utes.
"I respect the head coach that we're getting ready to go up against so dern much," Prime said during his weekly press conference. "It's unbelievable. He is one of the pillars of the Big 12 and of course he was like that in the PAC-12. He's a legend, he's a legend. A true legend, what he's done consistently at Utah is just unbelievable.
"I have not only respect but admiration for what he's accomplished and I just wish my career could be a portion of what he's accomplishing, all the young men he's sending on to the NFL as well as a betters situation for themselves with the tools he's instilled in them. But my hat's off to that whole staff and what they've accomplished over decades."
The Utes have struggled to a 4-5 mark on the season amidst offensive woes, the exit of coordinator Andy Ludwig and anemic quarterback play.
But the team's defense has kept it consistently competitive; its last four losses are by a combined 18 points, most recent being the last-second defeat to heated rival BYU which prompted a postgame outburst from Utah A.D. Mark Harlan.
"You can not take this team lightly," Deion Sanders emphasized. "I don't give a dern what their record is. As long as (Whittingham's) over there on that sideline, you better be prepared for a tough game.
"Thank God it's at home, and it's early. I like it like that."