Nike to reveal an early “Story” in the 'Prime Time' Journey with Falcons Air Diamond Turf 3's

Previous details from a meeting with the Sanders Family is beginning to materialize on how the signature shoe will be released

Deion Sanders Jr./Well Off Media

Two months ago in Las Vegas during the week of the Super Bowl, a meeting took place between most of the Sanders “Football Family” (Deion, Shedeur, Shilo, Bucky, Darius-technically not family but part of the media machine, Sam Malone, Deion’s special assistant), and a rep from Nike. They were discussing some of the details surrounding future Diamond Turf 3 releases. For those who were keeping track, there were a number of details that were shared, but none of them necessarily fully-fleshed out concepts or connected any specific colorways. We know the Varsity Maize will drop later this month. Also, the Colorado Away will be coming before the season starts. Another colorway gives a retro NFL twist to Prime’s early days. What’s being dubbed as the “Nike Air DT Max 96 Falcons” is set to release during the holiday season later this year. All of which is very much not first.

Nice Kicks/Sole Retriever

The initial detail may not be earthshattering but it opens the door to something we already knew. Coach Prime said almost immediately, “All the colorways are great, all the different colorways.” Some of this is basic understanding of how words work, and some or it is understanding sneaker vernacular. If the Nike Air Diamond Turf 3 was just another signature release, the modifier of “all” would not be necessary. There is a built-in expectation with the release of about 3-5 colorways.

As an example, previously this year, Nike dropped the Jordan IV “breds” (black and red). In addition to that, we know Nike plans to release a Military Blue (white and lighter than royal; but not Carolina blue), Oxidized Green (white and halfway between Kelly green and Forest green), “Paris” (three different shades of grey), White Thunder (Mostly black with about 15% white), plus at least three exclusive women’s colorways. So, that’s five primary releases for the Jordan IV, a very iconic shoe for the brand. Even if it goes without saying, we are prepared to say, the Nike Air Diamond Turf 3 will have more than the typical three colorways during its run of releases.

The next tidbit from this meeting that seemed curious was when the meeting happened. Now it seems, we know at least one of the “stories” Prime referred to. The Nike rep begins to reference a previous conversation. Before he has a chance to say the thing, Deion smartly interjects as to not reveal too much about those specifics. The rep said, “then as far as kind of similar to what we talked about…” Then Deion jumped in with, “I don’t even mind it, I just don’t want to start out with it”. The Nike rep quickly qualified that the colorway they are discussing is not first, it will come much later. “Holiday 2024” as it seemed to be.

The next part really caught our attention, and this plays directly into today’s focus. After a short part of the conversation surrounding the initial roll out plan, which was not scheduled for 2024, but rather 2025, the Nike rep acknowledges that Prime’s leaks and promotion on social media have increased demand. That’s great news for sneakerheads looking for more than Jordan retros and artist collabs. After that section of the meeting the Nike rep mentioned the colorways and stories “authentic to coach” will play a big part in it. Then Prime gives us this gem:

“I want to associate a story with them. If we're going to do white and gold, black and gold, I would expect a story about peer pressure. When you're a kid in Ft. Myers FL you don't have any gold, you know, around your neck… You were considered not anything. The peer pressure was not selling dope or using drugs, it was having gold. To associate each shoe with a story would be phenomenal.”

There is one important word that informs today’s colorway leak…. “Story.” Coach Prime wants each colorway to come with a story. There are a number of stories we should be able to glean from with or without Sanders articulating it. The first “story” seems to refer to that idea that Prime “just doesn’t want to start with it.” Which makes sense to push closer to the start of the season with the buzz at a fever pitch.

The most intriguing concept for the DT3 “Falcons” is that The Diamond Turf 1 was introduced in 1993. That was Deion’s last year in Atlanta. A ‘Falcons’ colorway on a DT3 is a nod to the beginning of the signature shoe journey. Showing respect to Deion’s first NFL team, even if it's prior to the DT3’s original release, it’s a fantastic design choice. That DT1 that debuted in 1993 had some interesting details that might not have made complete sense in 1993, but due to the contents of this Nike meeting, it makes sense now. That original DT1 did come in a Falcons like colorway. Black, red, white, with a touch of gold.

The near metallic color was always constant. Even in later retros, purple and gold, black/teal/gold, and almost always in a gold mesh as to differentiate from the rest of the materials of the shoe. Like wearing “gold around your neck” as different from the rest of your fit.

This is also the first primarily black Diamond Turf that Nike plans to release that is not a Colorado Buffaloes specific colorway. Everything about the Diamond Turf 3 signature shoe makes it a performance shoe, but Nike is smart to create wardrobe versatile colorways in addition to the team specific ones. A hill to die on is that the Nike Book 1 is a great shoe because it’s a street/casual look. Which is categorically a bad idea. Instead, the DT3 offers a more Nike centric idea of creating a high-end performance shoe that one can wear casually (based on colorway not a lack of structure/support features) as opposed to making a casual shoe for an athlete to wear in game.

The Book 1 might be the worst performance shoe made since 2000. Case in point, the Nike Foamposite One which was created for Penny Hardaway during his Orlando Magic years came in bright royal blue, black trim with an ice soul. That shoe would later be in almost every color combination you can imagine from eggplant to galaxy to anthracite. While expecting the Diamond Turf 3 to get the Foamposite or AF1 or Nike Dunk treatment colorway wise may not be on the table (Nike this week announced they are planning to release less AF1s and Dunks might be next), it is clear the Diamond Turf 3 release plans will move into the ‘diversify beyond the immediate demand’ level.

The Diamond Turf 3 “Falcons” is a “story” that we believe writes itself. The first stop on his professional career. Where the legend of “Prime Time Sanders” was popularized, even though Sanders has confirmed “primetime” was actually a nickname born from basketball in high school. A Jordan 10 like nod to North Ft. Myers High School on the outsole might be a nice touch if the first “primetime” is part of the story.

As for the Falcons colorway specifically, it will include traditional black covering most of the shoe, the flame like sections that run up the shoe vertically will be ‘team anthracite’ (think halfway between black and gunmetal grey-an almost black, grey), white for the swooshes and ‘diamond turf’ logo, metallic silver mesh for the holes between the ‘flames’, and a varsity red trim which does fit the Falcons motif better than the popular Nike “infrared” that some had speculated prior to this leak.

The admission that all colorways (specifically non-Colorado Buffalo colorways) should carry with them a story behind the colorway as well as the existence of a “Falcons” colorway almost guarantees future releases highlighting stories from his playing career.

If a Falcons colorway exists, one can deduce that we should expect a Forty-Niners colorway and a Cowboys colorway at minimum. At this stage, even a Braves, Yankees, Reds colorway isn’t outside the realm of possibility. If the comments from Coach Prime over time are any indication, a retro back to the Florida State days could be on the docket (as Nike had already released an FSU DT2 colorway), but perhaps only if a Talladega College colorway is also in the mix. Regardless of what and when, the emergence of the Falcons colorway should shed some light on potential future releases and ‘stories’ we can begin to expect.