NCAAF News

Home

Teams

Quizzes

Newsletter

NFL, American Football Herren, USA Oakland Raiders at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Oct 30, 2016 Tampa, FL, USA Tampa Bay Buccaneers former player and hall of famer Warren Sapp prior to the game against the Oakland Raiders at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports, 30.10.2016 11:42:41, 9665058, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, NFL, Warren Sapp, Raymond James Stadium, Oakland Raiders PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xKimxKlementx 9665058

Deion Sanders’ Close Friend Throws Warren Sapp Under the Bus to Deflect Blame for Colorado Struggles

Originally posted on EssentiallySports | By Kamran Ahmad | Last updated Sep 28, 2025 2:53 PM ET

Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes hosted BYU at Folsom Field, with BYU a 49.5-point favorite. Despite that, many touted Colorado to turn around its season against BYU, considering Coach Prime went nuclear in his recent press conference. “I’m at a loss for words. I take responsibility for the foolishness we call football.” The result, however, wasn’t in Coach Prime’s favor as the team lost 21-24. Much has been talked about the loss after the game. But one of Deion Sanders’ close friends pointed to flaws in the trenches instead of blaming it all on Coach Prime.

Shannon Sharpe, the legendary tight end who has been a close friend of Deion Sanders, sat with Johnny Manziel and Chad Johnson and discussed flaws in the Buffs’ trenches on the Nightcap on Saturday. According to Chad Johnson, the major flaws were in the offensive line and the defensive line, taking an indirect dig at DL coach Warren Sapp. “You live and die in the trenches. That is the only thing that separates the Power Five schools from everybody else: the fact that they excel in the trenches, both offensively and defensively. You got some hogs that can really go and can really play. If you can’t stop the run, you’re dead in the water. You’re going to lose every game,” said Johnson. The D line undoubtedly has been a major weak point, at least this year, for Colorado.

Colorado sits at 125th nationally in rushing defense, giving away a whopping 986 yards already through the ground game, giving away 197.20 yards per game. The weaker D line is thus an issue against weaker teams, too, as Colorado’s Houston loss highlighted. Losing 20-36, Colorado gave away 209 rushing yards in that game. The pass rush, too, which was a strong point for Colorado last year, has been weak, with the team generating 1.20 sacks per game, with ESPN projecting the team to finish 100th nationally in the department. So, is Warren Sapp, who is the pass rush coordinator, to blame here?

Last year, while Warren Sapp was working as the Senior Quality Control Analyst for the Buffs, under his guidance, Colorado showed impressive upgrades. The team’s sacks went up to 39 last year from 28 in 2023, and the team was ranked 16th nationally, accumulating 243 sack yards. In 2025, however, Warren Sapp’s pass rush is ranked 111th nationally, and the team has accumulated just 29 yards in sack yardage. Not just that, Shannon Sharpe also went furious with the D-line after they allowed 98 rushing yards from a little-known freshman QB, Bear Bachmeier, who wears no. 47.

“36 rushes, 206 yards, giving up a touchdown. Hell, they ran like a handoff to the wide receiver, and then nobody touched him with a 32-yard touchdown, and nobody touched him till he got to the two. Ain’t no way I’m losing to a guy wearing 47. I get it. In the 1920s and 30s, quarterbacks had 60 numbers; they had all kinds of numbers. Yeah. In today’s game, this man got 47,” said Shannon Sharpe. The 47 jersey number isn’t a coincidence. Bear Bachmeier was a backup and came to the limelight after BYU’s QB1, Jake Retzlaff, was dismissed from the program. BYU undoubtedly ran effortlessly without significant challenges from the D line.

Bear Bachmeier carried the ball 15 times in the game for 98 yards while completing 19 of the 27 passes for 179 yards. The running backs in particular had a field day, and the 32-yard run that Sharpe was talking about came early in the fourth quarter. At the time, Colorado was leading 21-17 over BYU, but when Cody Hagens ran on 1st and 10 for a 32-yard touchdown, the possibility seemed to have faded away. But what now for Colorado?

Johnny Manziel outlines a bleak timeline for Deion Sanders to achieve redemption

Deion Sanders has largely focused on rebuilding through the portal and heavily prioritized positions like the WRs and QBs, leaving the O-line and D-line under-recruited. That was then exacerbated by 2024 departures, including BJ Green II and Taje McCoy from the roster. The comeback, then, isn’t a week or two weeks’ work, but may take years of rebuilding, as highlighted by Johnny Manziel.

“The question is, does he got to get out of there? Because it’s going to take a lot of money, a couple years to get guys in the program to compete in the trenches like that. Because the talent you’re playing and the teams you’re playing aren’t SEC caliber. What happens when you get into the playoffs and you play one of these top dogs? It ain’t going to go very well,” said Manziel. Despite that take, Manziel acknowledged the level of the program has reached under Coach Prime and said, “We wouldn’t be talking about Colorado if Prime wasn’t there.” The verdict?

Colorado, in its 2024 class, brought in 46 transfers, while bringing in 34 transfers this year from the portal. It seems all Deion Sanders needs to do is go back to recruiting and make a team from scratch. Because of the kind of games the team is having, it looks far from likely that the team will have at least a fighting chance against teams like Iowa State, Utah, TCU, and Arizona State later in the season.

This article first appeared on EssentiallySports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: