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Deion Sanders Says Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter Will Pull an ‘Eli’ in Resurfaced Clip

Sanders says Hunter and his son Shedeur will both go in the top four.

Stephen Douglas

Aug 29, 2024; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders before the game against the North Dakota State Bison at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 29, 2024; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders before the game against the North Dakota State Bison at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports / Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
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Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes beat FCS school North Dakota State on Thursday in their season opener. Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter both had huge games with Sanders throwing for 445 yards and four touchdowns while Hunter played the entire game at cornerback and had 132 yards and three touchdown catches on offense.

The hype quickly reached 2023 levels with some wondering how high in the draft the players would go next year. This, of course, is nothing new. Deion Sanders previously said that Hunter and his eldest son would both go in the top four of the 2025 NFL draft earlier this year.

While Sanders originally said this on a podcast appearance in March, Barstool Sports reposted it on social media on Friday where people again marveled at his claims.

"Top four," said Sanders. "Anywhere from one through four. One of them is going to be one. And the later one will not go behind four. Now, all this is subjective becuase I know where I want—kind of want them to go. And let's not forget Shiloh, okay? But I know where I want them to go. So there's certain cities that ain't going to happen. It's going to be, sorry, it's going to be an Eli."

Deion references the most prominent modern example of this with Archie Manning not wanting Eli Manning to play in San Diego two decades ago. LaVar Ball did something similar by willing Lonzo Ball onto the Los Angeles Lakers a few years ago.

But the truly wild part about this is that Deion is not just trying to determine where his own son plays, but Hunter, who is definitely not his son. There's obviously a connection as he recruited him to Jackson State and then got him to follow him to Boulder.

Trying to affect when and where he gets drafted? That's on a whole other level.

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Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a Senior Writer on the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in journalism and media since 2008, and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Stephen spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and has previously written for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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