Colorado football coach Deion Sanders was back in class this week as Professor Prime, this time with lessons for University of Colorado students about self-identity, California taxes and getting to bed by 7 p.m.
Sanders spoke to the class in Tuesday, April 21, marking the third consecutive year he’s spoke to the class that was named after him and inspired by him at Colorado – a class entitled “Prime Time: Public Performance and Leadership.”
He arrived there by golf cart accompanied by his bodyguard and proceeded to hold court with students about his NFL and Major League Baseball careers while also fielding questions from them, as documented by his son Deion Jr. on YouTube. Sanders, 58, has spoken to the class several times since it started in 2023 and is among a number of guest faculty to speak in it.
Here are some of the stories and advice he shared Tuesday:
Sanders told the students that the general problems they have now are small in the grand scheme of things: breakups, college class issues, etc. He said they complain too much and need to quit “trippin.’”
“You’re dealing with petty stuff” said Sanders, who recently finished his fourth spring practice season in Boulder. “Then we claim mental health, and it ain't mental health. It's you. I’m going to say that again: It's you. You know why I know it's you? Because when everything going good, you ain't (saying), ‘Oh man, mentally I'm really healthy right now.’ I've never heard nobody say that when it's going really, really good.
“But when it goes bad, you blame something. You want you want to blame something. And this generation is better than that. Like, you guys are smarter, more intelligent, more insightful. Like, you traveled and visited more places. You're having opportunities that we would never been afforded. And you complain too dern much. Like, quit tripping. Like, I'm serious. Quit trippin' and man up. Woman up. Do the doggone thing. And tell your parents you love them.”
Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders and his father Deion Sanders on the sideline before the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Huntington Bank Field on Dec. 28, 2025. Shedeur Sanders made seven starts during his rookie season with the Browns, going 3-4 in those games.
1 / 30Deion Sanders through the yearsCleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders and his father Deion Sanders on the sideline before the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Huntington Bank Field on Dec. 28, 2025. Shedeur Sanders made seven starts during his rookie season with the Browns, going 3-4 in those games.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders and his father Deion Sanders on the sideline before the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Huntington Bank Field on Dec. 28, 2025. Shedeur Sanders made seven starts during his rookie season with the Browns, going 3-4 in those games.
Colorado associate professor Rick Stevens asked Sanders about his move from the San Francisco 49ers to the Dallas Cowboys in 1995. Sanders told him he considered signing with the Oakland Raiders as an NFL free agent instead of Dallas but didn’t in part because of the high cost of living in California. He was coming off a Super Bowl win with San Francisco earlier that year.
“I didn’t buy a home in California,” Sanders recalled in the class. “It was crazy. … Oakland offered me the most money in my free agency, but it was too expensive. I calculated the expenses and the taxes, and I said, ‘No, I'm not doing that. I'd rather go to Texas.’ There's no state (income) tax. Cost of living is phenomenal. And … to me at that point in time is a better place to raise my kids.”
He signed with the Cowboys instead and won another Super Bowl there. Sanders still owns an estate outside of Dallas.
The memory of his quarterback son Shedeur’s disappointing experience in last year’s draft still stings. Shedeur Sanders was projected as a first-round pick last year but fell to the fifth round instead. A year later, the NFL draft starts Thursday.
“They got the draft coming up, right?” Sanders asked. “I’m still angry about the last year’s draft, so I’m not even watching.” He laughed and then proceeded to tell the story about how he got drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in 1989.
One student asked him if it was difficult for him to figure out who he was away from the spotlight when he was putting on a persona for the news media and television cameras.
Sanders responded that there always was a “distinct difference” between his “Prime” public personality and himself.
“Like even right now I'm not probably who you think I am until I told you I didn't drink or smoke and use profanity,” Sanders said. “You didn't know that. I'm in bed by what time, son?”
“They know not to call me after that,” Deion Sr. said of his children. “Like, this is the persona, but this is the man.”
He offered a similar example: Actor “Arnold Schwarzenegger is not the Terminator. He's Arnold Schwarzenegger.”