Analyst explains why Deion Sanders is 'more like Nick Saban than he is different'
Alabama head coach Nick Saban has a coaching career that spans more than 30 years. He's won seven national championships and is considered potentially the greatest football coach of all time.
Deion Sanders, the new head coach at Colorado, has his Buffaloes flying high after a season-opening upset win over TCU. He's 1-0 at Colorado and came into Power 5 territory with a 27-7 record from three seasons at Jackson State.
By numbers alone, it would seem that Sanders has a lot of catching up to do in order to be compared to Saban, but college football analyst Joel Klatt seems to think they're more similar than most realize.
The reasons? Sanders is hard to play for, Klatt told Colin Cowherd (h/t On3). Much in the same way that Saban is known for running a tight ship with extremely high expectations. All of those players who left Colorado this offseason? They weren't as much kicked out as they took themselves out of the running, per Klatt.
“I will say that I think that I think that the narrative isn’t correct that he essentially ran off everybody. If you actually know what happened, there was only, I know this seems like a large number, but there were only about 19 to 20 guys that they sat with and said ‘hey, listen, it’s not going to work out here. Can we help you get to another program?’" Klatt told Cowherd.
“Everybody else quit. It was too much for them. And why was it too much for them? Because his standard is really high. This is what I think also people don’t understand about Coach Prime, is that he’s more like Nick Saban than he is different from Nick Saban.”
That's quite a comparison after just one win, but to his credit, "Coach Prime" did earn the praise this week. He talked a ton of talk this offseason, and his Buffaloes came out and walked the walk in Week 1. Not only was TCU ranked No. 17 coming into the game, but remember, the Horned Frogs were last season's College Football Playoff runners-up.
Still, comparing Sanders at 1-0 in Power 5 football to Saban's 286-69-1 overall record, much of it which has come at either LSU or Alabama?
“I know that sounds crazy,” Klatt said. “But it’s true. And it’s in this respect, the reckoning that is every day and each of their programs is really high. Every player the standard that they set and expect from their coaches, their staff, their players is really high. It’s what makes it hard to play and coach for Nick Saban."
Apparently the same can be said for Sanders.
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