For all the success he has achieved on and off the field, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders never misses a chance to give back to the next generation. And in doing so, he makes his rough upbringing the headliner of his conversations. This time, he added an extra insight into the principles that guide his recruiting in Colorado while speaking to an audience of kids much younger than the ones he coaches in Boulder.

“Your mentality is everything I look for when I choose people to play with me in Colorado,” he said to the kids in a July 16 video posted on the Well Off Media YouTube channel. “Not their talent, not what they do on the field. That has a little bit to do with it, but their mentality. And this wristband that I have on says “smart,” “tough,” “fast,” “discipline,” and “character.”

“Well, you got somebody in your house who probably is not going to believe in you. Somebody in your hood ain’t believe in you, somebody in your family definitely don’t believe in you. And somebody’s trying to get you to do wrong when sitting right there in front of you. So, it takes all that, and the ability to say no… [I] couldn’t afford a camp. I haven’t gone to a camp in my life. I didn’t get recruited out of high school until senior year. I was 150 pounds when I graduated. Camp? No, we did hood stuff. We used to have recreation centers.”

Coach Prime often recounts his difficult upbringing in a rough neighborhood and how discipline and diligence helped him achieve greatness. His mother worked multiple shifts to make ends meet, while his father, who struggled with drug abuse, was barely present while he grew up. He was two when his parents divorced.

To make it worse, the Fort Myers neighborhood he grew up in was marred by crime and gang violence. It would have been easy for him to turn to that world. However, Coach Prime chose football to be his guiding light. He began playing football and baseball when he was eight. But living in an impoverished neighborhood meant he didn’t have the best facilities to pursue his interests. However, he persevered, a quality that constantly defined his career.

In Colorado, Deion Sanders has often avoided fully engaging in high school recruiting. His focus has been on getting players from the portal, as they often arrive as ‘finished products.’ That approach is no longer as rigid. The Buffs are recruiting hard for their 2027 class, with Coach Prime particularly focusing on Florida prospects.

But even while doing that, we may not see many five-star prospects land in Boulder. One reason is that Colorado can’t match the money offered by powerhouses in college football. There’s no way they can compete with the likes of Ohio State and Texas. Even within their own conference, Texas Tech will always pose a serious challenge in terms of money.

Secondly, Deion Sanders does not see the value in a player in the stars their high school profile holds. It’s likely that he’d be deterred from pursuing a player who’s after a bag. Moreover, the ‘mentality’ aspect outweighs the skills a player brings to the fore. But can that strategy survive in the NIL era of college football?