"Fox NFL Sunday" commentator Jimmy Johnson monitored Coach Prime with great interest in September.
All of Colorado's games under first-year coach Deion Sanders were among the top-10 most watched college football games in September, with a peak of 10.3 million viewers in the Week 4 matchup against Oregon. Johnson saw the 3-0 start and a star-studded list of celebrities and former NFL players on Colorado's sideline, and that included former University of Miami players such as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Michael Irvin.
Sanders appears to have arrived at the perfect time. Is this the Generation Alpha version of "The U" from the 1980s? Johnson – who coached at Miami from 1984-88 and won a national championship – is not willing to go that far yet.
"It's a completely different world today," Johnson said. "The NIL and transfer portal has changed everything. Who knows what a team is going to be from one year to the next?"
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Johnson also coached the Dallas Cowboys to a pair of Super Bowl victories from 1989-93, and Sanders arrived two years later and helped the Cowboys win a third Super Bowl. Dallas became a cultural phenomenon – "America's Team" revitalized. Johnson watched Sanders become the lead story in college football – and perhaps all of sports until Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce took over the NFL.
The Coach Prime phenomenon is easier to explain.
"There is a half-dozen things here," Johnson said. "No. 1, he has credibility from his playing days. On top of that, he's an outstanding recruiter, communicator and personality. After that, he's got an outstanding agent and publicist in Constance Schwartz. She's done a tremendous job. She's done a good job of marketing Deion. Then, the bottom line is you've got the NIL and the transfer portal, so he's got talent. It doesn't hurt that he's got an outstanding player at quarterback in his son."
MORE: Shedeur Sanders may be on his way to being a No. 1 pick
There's Prime Time – the two-sport star turned coach who helped drive those ratings with his confident coaching style and polarizing personality. Colorado football became one of America's favorite shows on television in September. Blenders Sunglasses sales are through the roof. That can explain why those former Miami players are on a sideline supporting a former Florida State player.
"That allowed him to go out and recruit the top player in the country in Travis Hunter," Johnson said. "Being the celebrity and the great player has allowed him to get his foot in the door with Florida recruiting. He recruited one of the top cornerbacks in South Florida last year and he's not even on the field right now."
Even after the 48-41 loss to No. 9 USC, Sanders had a strong message afterward.
"If you can't see what's coming with (Colorado) football, you've lost your mind," Sanders said. “You just a flat out hater."
"If you can't see what's coming with (Colorado) football, you've lost your mind. You just a flat out hater."
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) September 30, 2023
Deion Sanders 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/ISkPI5JcsH
There is Coach Prime, who reshuffled Colorado's roster through the transfer portal. He led a one-win team to three September victories that should improve that recruiting with high-visibility players such as Hunter, receiver Omarion Miller, and of course, his sons Shedeur and Shilo.
Shedeur Sanders has emerged as one of the nation's top quarterbacks and a potential Heisman Trophy candidate.
Prime Time and Coach Prime combined is a powerful mechanism – and that is why September happened. Johnson – who had a 52-9 record in five seasons at Miami – inherited a program that had won a national title under Howard Schnellenberger in 1983 and produced two more national champions with his successor Dennis Erickson. It's different from what Sanders is building at Colorado.
"It didn't surprise me," Johnson said. "Not only does he have a talented team, he's hired a tremendous coaching staff. You've got talented players being well coached. They're going to win games. I don't know if I would have said they would be 3-0, but I expected them to be competitive."
After back-to-back losses to No. 8 Oregon and USC, the question became, “How long will this popularity last?" Colorado likely is out of the Pac-12 championship race, but Sanders could lead this team to a bowl game. Johnson believes the substance behind Sanders' style is what will continue to make Colorado successful beyond this season.
"A lot of extremely talented successful professional athletes; a lot of time they go into an endeavor and don't put the work into it because it always comes so easy for them," Johnson said. “Obviously as talented as Deion is, it came easy for him. What's impressed me is how he's working at it. He has worked at recruiting, he's worked at marketing and he's worked at publicity. He's worked at demanding excellence from his players, and so that's what has impressed me more than anything."
That work continues – perhaps with less spotlight – over the next eight weeks. Colorado does not have another ranked opponent on the schedule until Nov. 4 against No. 15 Oregon State. That should allow Coach Prime to continue to build toward keeping Colorado in the College Football Playoff hunt past September in the future. Johnson sees that as a full measure of success – and expects more in the future.
"I think he's got good enough players that they're going to be a solid program for a couple years," Johnson said. “I don't know about championships, but the Colorado program is 100% better than what it was."
